Thomas Ismay

Thomas Henry Ismay was born in Maryport on 7 January 1837 to parent’s Joseph and Mary. He had three sisters including a twin sister Charlotte. The family home called ‘The Ropery’ was close to his great- grandfather Joseph Middleton’s shipyard (1820-1860) and this is where Thomas got his first job. It’s said that he loved to chew tobacco as he walked around Maryport harbour and so got the nickname ‘Baccy Ismay’.
At the age of 16, Ismay became an apprentice with Liverpool shipbrokers Imrie and Tomlinson and later travelled to South America. On his return, he began a business trading with Australia and then bought the White Star Line, with a view to expanding into the profitable transatlantic passenger trade.

When Ismay retired in 1892 he retained the chairmanship of the White Star Line, active control of the firm passing to his son Joseph Bruce Ismay. By the end of the century, the White Star Line, best known for ownership of the ill-fated ‘Titanic’, was the most powerful British shipping company in existence, its vessels trading not only to the American continent but to Australia and South Africa as well. He was succeeded by his son, Bruce Ismay, who in April 1912 was aboard the Titanic when it collided with an iceberg on its maiden voyage. Bruce Ismay survived by boarding the last lifeboat to leave the starboard side of the sinking liner; and this began one of the greatest witch-hunts of modern times.