100 Years Ago...

So, as it is the 100th anniversary of the sailing of the Titanic, I thought I would do a bit of research into a photographer who was actually on board the ship. Father Frank Browne spent only a small amount of time on the ship, but the priest captured some of the most iconic and enduring images of the ship - images upon which our naiive modern-day knowledge of the interior of Titanic and the atmosphere on board are based. Father Browne was so much more than an amateur photographer who snapped away. The fact that he has captured real people going about their business on board ship, and that the majority of those people were dead a few days later makes his images interesting and treasured. 


He really knew the value of what he had captured because in the Spring of 1913 he contacted the White Star Line’s advertising department to seek permission to use photographs and further materials in his lectures on Titanic. The reply he received was astonishing. “We shall be glad to obtain photographs of the illustrations to which you allude in the Olympic booklet but shall appreciate it if in any lectures you deliver you will abstain from any reference to the Titanic as you will easily understand we do not wish the memory of this calamity to be perpetuated.” In the end, a good story could not be kept down and Father Browne’s pictures were central to its telling over the past century. 

"Photographer Father Francis Browne Year 1912 Location Cork Francis Browne received two gifts from his uncle Robert that would change his life. The first was a camera, given to him when he was 17 as he left his native Ireland to tour Europe. The second was a first-class ticket for the first leg of the RMS Titanic's maiden voyage in April 1912, when he was 32. 
Consequently, Browne, a trainee priest at the time, produced dozens of photographs documenting life aboard the most famous ship to set sail. 
On his passage from Southampton to Cork, Browne was befriended by an American couple whom he met in the firstclass dining saloon. The couple, who were millionaires, offered to pay for him to continue his voyage to New York. He telegraphed his superior to ask permission to stay. The reply was short but indisputably clear: "Get off that ship - Provincial." - The Times, 2010. This was incredibly ironic and fortunate, because now we get to enjoy his fantastic photography that is now celebrated for the ship's 100th anniversary.