Stories from The Titanic
United in death, the Sage family appear on page 71 of the Register of Deceased Passengers, 1912. Catalogue reference: BT 334/52

The story of
The Sage family

Third class passengers, Titanic
John George Sage was born in Stamford Hill, Hackney, in 1867 and married Annie Elizabeth Cazaly on 2 November 1890. Their marriage certificate shows John’s profession as a Corn Chandler, residing at 253 Queen’s Road, Walston, Hackney.
United in death, the Sage family appear on page 71 of the Register of Deceased Passengers, 1912. Catalogue reference: BT 334/52

United in death, the Sage family appear on page 71 of the Register of Deceased Passengers, 1912. Catalogue reference: BT 334/52. John is listed as a tradesman and Ada as a housewife. Of the children, Stella is shown as a dressmaker, George a barman, Douglas a baker, Frederick an assistant cook and Dorothy a scholar. The four youngest are simply listed as child.

By the time the family moved to Norfolk, in 1897, they had five children – Stella (born 1891), George John (born 1892), Douglas Bullen (born 1894), Frederick (born 1895) and Dorothy Florence (born 1897). John became the landlord of the New Inn at North Wotton. Three further children followed, Anthony William (born 1899), Elizabeth Ada (born 1901) and Constance Gladys (born 1904). John later became the landlord of the Bentinck Arms in West Lynn. The family then moved to Peterborough, where they ran a bakery and off-licence at 237 Gladstone Street. A final child, Thomas Henry, was born in 1911 and the census of that year shows the family as having moved out of the shop and residing just down the road at 246 Gladstone Street.

In 1910 John and his eldest son George went off to Canada to scout out the possibility of the family emigrating there. During the trip John purchased a fruit farm in Jacksonville, Florida, and on his return the family prepared to leave England. The Sage family had originally planned to sail on the Philadelphia, an American Line ship operating out of Liverpool, but the ship was laid up in dock owing to a coal strike. The Sages were then forced to travel to Southampton, where they would board Titanic as third class passengers. On the passenger list they are all listed on a family ticket, number 2343.

The entire Sage family died in the sinking. The body of Anthony William Sage was recovered a week later by the cable steamer Mackay-Bennett and he was subsequently buried at sea.