Alfred Pirrie Middleton, the son of the manager of the local corn and flour mill, was born in Ballisodare, Co. Sligo, Ireland in 1885.

He was educated at the Intermediate School, Sligo and was placed with a firm of electrical and mechanical engineers in Glasgow for practical training. During this time he studied at Glasgow Technical Institute and later worked for Telford, Grier & Mackay Ltd of Glasgow and superintended electrical work for them in Ireland.

In July 1911 he was engaged by Harland & Wolff and joined the Aberdeen White Star Line ship Demosthenes in August 1911 for its maiden voyage to Brisbane. After that voyage he returned to Harland & Wolff and shortly thereafter was appointed as Assistant Electrician to the RMS Titanic, at a salary of £8-0-0 per month.

He signed the crew agreemant on the 6th of April 1912 in Belfast and was told to be on board in Southampton by 06:00 on the 10t April. He sailed with her when she left Southampton on her ill-fated maiden voyage, stopping at Cherbourg and Queenstown (now Cobh) before heading across the Atlantic for New York.

He had signed on with a close friend, Albert Ervine. Neither wanted to sail without the other and they had both written to the White Star Line requesting positions aboard the liner. Ervine wrote to his mother from Queenstown that he was on duty 'morning and evening from 8 to 12; that is four hours work and eight hours off', so would have been at work when the collision occurred. He was one of six electricians whose skill and ability would be called upon on 14th April and helped ensure power was maintained for the wireless set and the lights right up until she sank.

Alfred Middleton died when the Titanic went down in the early hours of 15 April 1912. His body, if it was recovered, was never identified.

The 'Demosthenes'

The 'Demosthenes' was built by Harland & Wolfe in Belfast for the Aberdeen White Star Line in 1911 and was managed by Geo.Thompson & Co.Ltd of London.

Launched at the beginning of March and passing her sea trials without incident, advertisements for the maiden voyage began to appear in The Times from 6th June 1911 for her maiden voyage, from from the Royal Albert Docks, London to Melbourne via the Plymouth, Teneriffe and the Cape of Good Hope on the 31st of August - a passage which, at an average speed in excess of 14 knots, lasted thirty six days.

Prior to the voyage, The Times reporter was invited on board and a lengthy description of the vessel was published on the 18th of August.

The vessel operated on the Australia run continuall and, during WWI was pressed into war service as a Troop Ship, 164 HMAT 'Demosthenes', before returning to the Australian passenger service in 1920.

In 1928 she came under the management of The Oceanic, but remained on the same route, which now included Brisbane. In 1929 'Demosthenes' sailed for Australia from Liverpool, instead of London.

The end of her days came in 1931 when she was broken up at Jarrow.

Although carrying the Dyzart family to their new life in Australia is the only known connection between the ship and Oatlands, during our researches we did uncover a sad connection between the Demosthenes and probably the world's best known ship, the RMS Titanic - see here. (opens in new window)