Thomas Clinton Pears, the great-great grandson of the founder of the soap company A & F Pears Ltd, the fourth son of Andrew and Marianne Pearson Pears. He boarded the Titanic at Southampton on 10th April 1912. Travelling with his wife of one and-a-half years, Edith, Thomas Pears was just one of many wealthy business men travelling in first-class aboard the Titanic.
Andrew bore his paternal great-grandfather's name, that of the founder of the famous A & F Pears Ltd, manufacturers of the transparent soap. First manufactured in 1807, the soap is believed to be the oldest registered brand in the world.
The Pears company had a large presence in the USA and it is believed that Thomas was heading to America with a view to furthering the company's activities. The Titanic disaster interrupted those plans, Thomas Clinton Pears died in the sinking of the Titanic, aged just 29. He left a young widow, Edith, aged 22 at the time of the disaster. His body, if recovered, was not identified. He is remembered on the impressive family grave in Isleworth Cemetery, in Middlesex.
A memorial service for Thomas was held at St John the Baptist Church in Isleworth, Middlesex, on 21 April 1912. A reported 1,200 people attended. Thomas was later remembered in Isleworth Cemetery, on the family grave.
The Pears family grave is a large, impressive memorial dwarfing the other gravestone and grave markers in the cemetery. The grave in the form of a tall granite "pepper-pot" memorial. The memorial stands on a 16-sided granite base, with a rebated circular column of granite above.
The lateral face of the column is interrupted with three equally-spaced pilasters, each with a plain plinth and base mouldings and surmounted by simple, Tuscan-style capitals. The column has a projecting cornice surmounted by six small urns around a central column. The urns support a rebated cornice, which forms the base of a dome at the top of the column.
The dome is surmounted by a decorative Celtic cross. The three sections of the body of the cylinder are inscribed with dedications to members of the Pears family. The inscription to Thomas Pears reads:
In Loving Memory Thomas Pears Fourth Son Of Andrew and Marianne Pearson Pears who was lost on the S.S. Titanic April 15th 1912 Aged 29 Years
Until the day dawns and the shadows flee away
More information
- Hind, Philip et al (2014) Mrs Edith Pears (née Wearne) Oxford: Encyclopedia Titanica, http://www.encyclopedia-titanica.org/titanic-survivor/edith-pears.html
- Hind, Philip et al (2014) Thomas Clinton Pears Oxford: Encyclopedia Titanica, http://www.encyclopedia-titanica.org/titanic-victim/thomas-clinton-pears.html
- Umney, John C (1912) Perfumery and Essential Oil Record, Volume 3 London: G. Street & Company