Sir Arthur Henry Rostron, KBE, RD, RNR (May 14th, 1869 – November 4th, 1940) was a British sailor and a seagoing officer for the Cunard Line. He is best remembered as the captain of the ocean liner RMS Carpathia, when it rescued hundreds of survivors from the RMS Titanic when the latter ship tragically sank on April 15th, 1912, after colliding with an iceberg in the middle of the North Atlantic Ocean.
Rostron won wide praise for his energetic efforts to reach the Titanic before she sank, and his efficient preparations for and conduct of the rescue of the survivors. He was awarded a Congressional Gold Medal by the U.S. Congress, and in 1926, he was appointed Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire. He rose to become the Commodore of the Cunard fleet, and retired in 1931, 9 years before he died.
History[]
Arthur Rostron was born at Bank Cottage, Sharples, a suburb of Bolton, Lancashire, England to James and Nancy Rostron in 1869. Educated at Bolton Grammar School from 1882 to 1883 and Bolton Church Institute. In 1884, Rostron then joined the Merchant Navy Cadet School Ship HMS Conway as a cadet. After two years of training on the Conway, he was apprenticed to the Waverley Line of Messrs Williamson, Milligan and Co in Liverpool on the iron clipper ship, Cedric the Saxon.
In 1887 Rostron joined the barque Red Gauntlet as a second mate. Soon after, he left the Waverley Line and joined the barque Camphill. He was commissioned a sub-lieutenant in the Royal Naval Reserve on April 28th, 1893. In December 1894 Rostron served on board the steamship Concord after which he passed the examinations for his extra master's certificate. He joined the Cunard Line in January 1895 and earned a position as fourth officer on the ocean liner RMS Umbria.
On September 14th, 1899 Arthur Rostron married Ethel Minnie Stothert, daughter of Richard Stothert in St. John the Baptist church Atherton.
In the years afterward he would serve on other Cunard ships including the Aurania, Etruria, Servia, Cherbourg, Ultonia and Saxonia. As a member of the Royal Naval Reserve, Rostron regularly attended training at HMS Excellent (including in September 1902). He temporarily left the Cunard Line to serve with the Royal Navy during a period of international tension occasioned by the Russo-Japanese War of 1904–1905.
Rostron subsequently returned to the Cunard Line. He was made first officer of the RMS Lusitania in 1907, but was transferred to the Bresica and promoted to ship's Captain the day before the Lusitania's maiden voyage. The Bresica and his next several ships served the Mediterranean region, including his first passenger ship, the Pannonia, whose New York City – Mediterranean route he commanded from January 1, 1911. He became captain of the passenger liner RMS Carpathia on January 18th, 1912. By this time a lieutenant in the RNR, Rostron was decorated with the RNR Officer's Reserve Decoration (RD) on November 9th, 1909. He was promoted to commander in the RNR on January 18th, 1912.
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