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Leonard Septimus Brew was born 28 February 1887 in Gateshead, County Durham, England, 20 weeks after his father died when his ship sank in a gale. His mother died in September 1897, when he was only 10 years old, so he was taken under the wing of his uncle and aunt John (Jack) and Elizabeth Dall who lived in Liverpool. On 29 July 1902, he began a five-year apprenticeship as an Engine Fitter with the Liverpool company "David Rollo and Sons", which he successfully completed. Thereafter, he went to sea for several years as an engineer, his first ship being S.S. Oanfa, as 7th Engineer, on 7 May 1908. He spent 2 1/2 years with her after which he served on the steamships Peleus and Terence. |
Shortly after leaving Terence, he passed the exam for his First Class Engineer's Certificate of Competency, in August 1912. He went on to be employed by the world renown shipbuilding company "Harland and Wolff", of Belfast, builders of the infamous Titanic.
He married Elsie Lavinia Smith, a tracer at Harland & Wolff, on 6 July 1914, but she died prematurely on 10 December 1922. They had 2 children, John Sidney (1916-1942), and Ralph Leonard (1919-2001). A few years after Elsie's death, in 1925, Leonard married Annie Elizabeth Forbes, who died 31 March 1972. They had one child, Alan Wesley (1925-1991).
Leonard died 12 September 1947 in an engine explosion on the ship Reina del Pacifico during her post refit sea trials, while Victoria Works Manager Harland & Wolff.
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1. John Sidney Brew was born in Liverpool, England on 27 January 1916 and died 15 November 1942 while on active service on the HMS Avenger. (See The Sinking of H.M.S. Avenger). John married Violet Mitchell on 19 October 1939, who was born 11 December 1917. They had 2 children, David John (1941-) and Brian Sidney (1942-1959). John was serving on the armed merchant cruiser, Dunvegan Castle, when she was torpedoed by a German U-Boat off the Irish coast in August 1940.(See The Sinking of Dunvegan Castle) |
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2. Ralph Leonard Brew was born 2 July 1919 and married Stella Nicol on 5 September 1949. They had no children. Like his father, Ralph was also employed by Harland & Wolff, from 1937-1982, as Contracts Costing Supervisor in the Finance Department. Ralph died 31 August 2001.
3. Alan Wesley Brew was born 8 February 1925 and died 19 June 1991. He married Jeannie Loughead who died 15 September 1993. They had 2 children, Peter, and Elizabeth. Alan, too, was employed by Harland & Wolff, from 1942-1946, after which he went to sea with the Union Castle Line for 6 years, returning to Harland & Wolff in 1951 as a junior manager. He remained there until his retirement in 1986, lastly as Production Manager in the Engineering Division.
