Merseyside's Own by Christine Dawe

Author:Christine Dawe
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780752482477
Publisher: The History Press
Published: 2012-03-05T00:00:00+00:00

Thomas Ismay’s preferred younger son, James, completed his degree at Oxford and joined the company, working alongside his father in the Liverpool office. In 1891, both brothers were made partners in the firm of Ismay, Imrie and Company – a further slight to J. Bruce, in that he had not been promoted before his younger brother. This caused him to become even more withdrawn, taciturn and sarcastic. J. Bruce eventually returned permanently to England. Ultimately he and his wife had five children, one of whom died soon after birth. When old Thomas died in 1899, J. Bruce became head of the business. He certainly had a talent for administration. He was known as a perfectionist, unpopular with staff and colleagues, his shyness being mistaken for arrogance and callousness. Instead of vowing to distance himself from his late father’s cold-hearted pomposity, it now became a situation of, ‘The King is dead. Long live the King’. J. Bruce adopted his father’s obsession with cleanliness and punctuality. While not an out-and-out Scrooge, Bruce became miserly in domestic matters yet donated grandiose sums to charities. Instead of a chauffeured car, he would walk or take the tram to his office. Yet, on seeing children in an orphanage playground on his way to work, he sent a personal cheque for £500 (worth at least £25,000 now), delivered by hand the same day.

Disability is no respecter of persons, however rich or high-born. J. Bruce was just such a one. He could not express in words his love for his wife and he found it totally impossible to give a public speech or talk to the press at any time. Instead he created a publicity department through which all information was routed. Reporters couldn’t understand this, as old Thomas Ismay had always courted publicity and had an excellent rapport with all the local journalists. J. Bruce’s antipathy with the media caused a rift with the American press baron, William Randolph Hearst who, after the Titanic disaster on 14 April 1912, conducted a personal vendetta against Ismay Junior, via his own newspapers. Headlines such as ‘J. Brute Ismay’ and ‘Coward of the Titanic’ vilified him unmercifully. Spin doctors and post-traumatic stress disorder counselling were as yet unheard of – although J. Bruce was in dire need of both.

J. Bruce Ismay’s two huge mistakes were firstly in his financial planning estimates and secondly in not understanding the emotional devastation of those bereaved by the loss of so many human lives. The first of his disastrous mistakes was in the mindless decision to reduce the numbers of lifeboats to be carried by the Titanic. His reasoning was that ‘too many’ lifeboats would occupy deck space which could be better used as promenade areas for the many super-rich and titled first class passengers travelling on the Titanic’s prestigious maiden voyage. Nevertheless, these pitifully few lifeboats were still within the official guidelines. The numbers had never been upgraded to match the growth in capacity of recent liners. Ismay, now president and managing

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