Percy Snowden Ahier

Biography
Mr. Percy Snowden Ahier was born on Friday January 8th, 1892 in St. Helier, Jersey, Channel Islands. He was the son of a house carpenter with his own business, John William Payn Ahier (1864 - June 1936), and his wife Clara Tostevin (1866 - 1941), a dressmaker. The couple had gotten married on June 23rd, 1889 in St. Saviour, Jersey, Channel Islands. He had an older brother, Charles John (1889 - May 7th, 1918).

The year prior to Percy's birth, his parents and brother are seen listed on the 1891 census as residents 20 Lourmeant Street in St Helier. In the 1901 census, Percy and his family are now living at 32 Columbus Street in St. Helier. However, between 1902 and 1911, they resettled at 136 Northumberland Road in Southampton, Hampshire, England. They are seen living there on the 1911 census, although Percy is absent because he had started working at sea.

When he signed on the Titanic on April 4th, 1912, he gave his address at 136 Northumberland Road in Southampton and his previous ship as the R.M.S. Oceanic. On board the Titanic, he worked as a first class saloon steward and received £3, 15s. Percy perished in the sinking and his body, if recovered, was never identified. Nothing is known about his last moments alive.

On April 16th, 1912, Jersey's Morning News printed a misleading article stating that Percy, although referred as J. in the article, had survived the sinking:

Another Jersey man on the Titanic - Mr J. Ahier, a son of Mr J. Ahier, who formerly carried a carpenter's business in the Island, but who had been residing in Southampton for some years, is a first-class steward on board the Titanic, and the news of his safety will be welcome alike to his parents and his many relatives in the Island.

A death notice would eventually appear in The Hampshire Independent:

''Ahier - April 15th, at sea, on S.S. Titanic, Percy Snowden Ahier, the dearly loved son of John and Clara, of 136, Northumberland Road, Southampton, aged 20. Deeply Mourned.''

His parents later benefitted from the Titanic Relief Fund. The family remained in Southampton and would be struck by misfortune again when Charles, a now married man and father to three children, would be killed as a Private for the Hampshire Regiment in Iraq during World War I.