On this day in April 1912 Christopher Head, Mayor of Chelsea 1909-1911, died in the sinking of the Titanic.
He boarded the Titanic at Southampton as a first class passenger and occupied cabin B-11. If recovered his body was never identified.
Educated at Lancing and Trinity College, Cambridge, he practised as a barrister for a time before entering the family firm at Lloyds, where he specialised in shipping insurance. It was business in New York that took him aboard the doomed ship. He was only 43 and had married just 18 months previously. The paper reported that as he was insured against “ocean accidents” his wife had been left financially secure. Money for a memorial portrait was quickly raised amongst his colleagues on the Council and the work was commissioned from his friend, the well-known artist Miss Norma Labouchere. The Council still has the portrait today. It can be viewed on request at the Central Library, Hornton Street.”
