John Hugo Ross

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John Hugo Ross John Hugo Ross.jpg
John Hugo Ross

John Hugo Ross (November 24, 1875 - April 15, 1912) was a RMS Titanic victim. It has been suggested that, with travel companions Thomas Francis McCaffry and Thomson Beattie, he was one of the gay passengers aboard the Titanic.

RMS <i>Titanic</i> British transatlantic passenger liner, launched and foundered in 1912

RMS Titanic was a British passenger liner that sank in the North Atlantic Ocean in 1912, after colliding with an iceberg during her maiden voyage from Southampton to New York City. Of the estimated 2,224 passengers and crew aboard, more than 1,500 died, making it one of modern history's deadliest commercial marine disasters during peacetime. RMS Titanic was the largest ship afloat at the time she entered service and was the second of three Olympic-class ocean liners operated by the White Star Line. She was built by the Harland and Wolff shipyard in Belfast. Thomas Andrews, chief naval architect of the shipyard at the time, died in the disaster.

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Biography

John Hugo Ross was born in Glengarry Co., Ontario, on November 24, 1875, the son of Arthur Wellington Ross, a Canadian politician, educator and lawyer, and Jessie Flora Cattanach. The family moved to Winnipeg, Manitoba, when he was two years old. [1]

Arthur Wellington Ross Canadian politician, educator and lawyer

Arthur Wellington Ross was a Canadian politician, educator and lawyer.

He attended schools in Vancouver from 1886 to 1889 and Upper Canada College in Toronto from 1889 to 1892. [2]

Upper Canada College day and boarding IB World School for boys

Upper Canada College (UCC), located in Toronto, Ontario, is a private school for boys between Senior Kindergarten and Grade Twelve, operating under the International Baccalaureate program. The secondary school segment is divided into ten houses; eight are for day students and the remaining two are for boarding students. Aside from the main structure, with its dominant clock tower, the Toronto campus has a number of sports facilities, staff and faculty residences, and buildings for other purposes. UCC also owns and operates a campus in Norval, Ontario, for outdoor education.

In the 1880s he worked for the lieutenant-governor of Manitoba, James Coolbrook Patterson. He then moved to Toronto to become a mining broker. From 1893 to 1895 he was junior partner with A. W. Ross & Co. and in 1895 partner in Fox & Ross of Toronto. In 1894 in Winnipeg he founded the Hugo Ross Realty Company Ltd. [2] When his father died in 1901, he inherited the family fortune and moved back to Winnipeg. [1] In 1903 he founded the Winnipeg Real Estate Board. [2]

He was president of Ross-MacMillan-Knight, a general insurance agency. He was secretary-treasurer of the Winnipeg Stock Exchange and president of the Winnipeg Real Estate Exchange. He was an active clubman and yachtsman. [2]

John Hugo Ross, Unknown, McCaffry, Mark Fortune and Thomson Beattie feed pigeons in St. Mark's Square, Venice, March 1912 John Hugo Ross, Unknown, McCaffry, Mark Fortune and Thomson Beattie feed pigeons in St. Mark's Square, Venice, March 1912.jpg
John Hugo Ross, Unknown, McCaffry, Mark Fortune and Thomson Beattie feed pigeons in St. Mark's Square, Venice, March 1912

Ross met Thomson Beattie in Winnipeg; they had offices in the same building. [1] In 1912, Beattie, McCaffrey and Ross left aboard the RMS Franconia for a 4 month-long tour to the Middle East and Europe. [3] In February they were in Cairo and visited Luxor and Aswan. After Cairo they landed in Naples and Venice. Due to the fact that Ross was ill from dysentry, they decided to come back early and changed their tickets. They boarded the Titanic as first class passengers in Cherbourg. When the ship struck the iceberg, Ross, still ill, refused to leave his room. He most likely drowned in his bed. [1] His body was not recovered and his family placed a memorial to him at Mount Pleasant Cemetery in Toronto. [2]

RMS <i>Franconia</i> (1910) 1910 ocean liner

The RMS Franconia was an ocean liner operated by the Cunard Line. She was launched on 23 July 1910 at the Swan, Hunter & Wigham Richardson Wallsend shipyard. Franconia was intended for the line's Boston service, being the largest ship of the time to enter Boston harbor, with winter service in the New York—Mediterranean cruising service.

It has been suggested that Beattie and McCaffrey were a couple and Ross was gay as well. [4]

Legacy

John Hugo Ross gave his name to Hugo Street in Fort Rouge, Winnipeg, some years before his death. [1]

There is a memorial plaque with his name, and the other victims from Winnipeg (Mark Fortune; Thompson Beattie; Charles A. Fortune; George E. Graham; and J. J. Borebank), in the Winnipeg City Hall. [1]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 John Hugo Ross at Encyclopedia Titanica. Accessed October 21, 2009.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 "Memorable Manitobans: John Hugo Ross (1875-1912)". Manitoba Historical Society. Retrieved 6 January 2018.
  3. "Local Manager Titanic Passenger - 15 Apr 1912, Mon • Page 1". Vancouver Daily World: 1. 1912. Retrieved 29 September 2017.
  4. Brewster, Hugh (2012). Gilded Lives, Fatal Voyage: The Titanic's First-Class Passengers and Their World. Crown/Archetype. p. 73. Retrieved 2 October 2017.