Joseph J. Fynney and Alfred Gaskell
Joseph J. Fynney, approximately 35 years of age and a Liverpool rubber merchant, boarded the Titanic at Southampton as a second class passenger en route to visit his mother in Canada. He travelled with Alfred Gaskell, 16, an apprentice barrel maker from Liverpool. The two men died in the sinking. Fynney's body was recovered by the Minia and is buried in Mount Royal cemetery in Montreal, Section G-1701A. Gaskell's body, if recovered, was never identified.
Annotated Bibliography
Brewster, Hugh. Gilded Lives, Fatal Voyage: The Titanic's First-Class Passengers and Their World. New York: Crown, 2012.
- Discusses Fynney as probably homosexual.
Encyclopedia Titanica, s.v. "Mr. Alfred Gaskell," accessed July 22, 2024, https://www.encyclopedia-titanica.org/titanic-victim/alfred-gaskell.html.
- Provides limited biographical information about Gaskell.
Encyclopedia Titanica, s.v. "Joseph Fynney," accessed July 22, 2024, https://www.encyclopedia-titanica.org/titanic-victim/joseph-fynney.html.
- Joseph J. Fynney, 35, a Liverpool rubber merchant was going to visit his widowed mother who lived in Montreal, Canada. Fynney's father died in 1894, and his mother moved to Canada to live with her daughter, Martha Hoseason.
- Fynney was a handsome bachelor, and spent a lot of his time in the company of younger men. He worked with delinquent youngsters at his parish church, St. James, Toxteth, and neighbours often complained about the late night comings and goings of young boys to his house at 13 Parkway in Liverpool.
- He often travelled to Canada to visit his mother, and each time he made the trip, he brought a male teenage companion with him. On this occasion he was travelling with a sixteen year old apprentice barrel maker, Alfred Gaskell. Both men boarded the Titanic at Southampton as second class passengers. They died in the sinking.
- Fynney's body was recovered by the Minia and is buried in Mount Royal cemetery in Montreal, Section G-1701A.
Hustak, Alan. Titanic: The Canadian Story. Toronto: Vehicule Press, 1998.
- "Fynney's neighbors recall that he was a man of exceptional good looks, but a bit of a Nancy boy.' Fynney worked with delinquent youngsters at his parish church St. James, Toxeth, and local gossip had it that his interest in some of his charges was more than spiritutal. Rumours circulated about his conduct with some of the young men who rang his doorbell at 13 Parkway at all hour of the night. He often travelled to Canada to visit his mother, and each time he made the trip it was in the company of a male teenager. On this occasion, his travelling companion was Alfred Gaskell, a swarthy seventeen-year old apprentice barrel maker with youthful looks and an attractive open face."
- "Joseph Fynney was laid to rest in Montreal's Mount Royal Cemetery. Fynney left one-quarter of his estate, almost a thousand pounds, to Alfred Gaskell's family, as their compensation for the death of his under-aged travelling companion. Which is why, perhaps, carved into his modest tombstone are the words 'his delight was in doing good.'"
- If Fynney, who died on the Titanic, willed money to Gaskell's family, this indicates that his relationship with Gaskell was ongoing and serious, for Fynney's will was, of course, prepared and signed before his death.
- Documents describing Fynney's body found after Titanic sinking, and the claiming of his body and effects.
Scarth, Alan. Titanic and Liverpool. Liverpool: Liverpool University Press and National Museums, 2010.
- Mentions Fynney.
Scarth, Alan, curator. "Titanic and Liverpool: The Untold Story. 30 March 2012 - 21 April 2013, Merseyside Maritime Museum, Liverpool, England.
- Mentions Fynney.