17 Facts About Cosmo Duff-Gordon

Sir Cosmo Edmund Duff-Gordon, 5th Baronet, DL was a prominent Englishman and sportsman who owned land in Scotland, best known for the controversy surrounding his escape from the sinking of the RMS Titanic.

Cosmo Duff-Gordon became the 5th Baronet of Halkin in 1896, his title stemming from a Royal licence conferred on his great-granduncle in 1813 in recognition of his aid to the Crown during the Peninsular War.

In 1900, Cosmo Duff-Gordon married the celebrated London fashion designer "Madame Lucile".

Cosmo Duff-Gordon served on the organizing committee at the 1908 Summer Olympics, appointed by Lord Desborough, chairman of the British Olympic Association.

Cosmo Duff-Gordon took part in pistol duelling competitions and was a member of the British team demonstrating the sport in the fencing arena at the 1908 Games.

Cosmo Duff-Gordon was a self-defence enthusiast who trained with champion Swiss wrestler Armand Cherpillod at the Bartitsu Club in London's Soho district.

Cosmo Duff-Gordon was a co-founder of the London Fencing League, a member of the Bath Club and the Royal Automobile Club.

Cosmo Duff-Gordon was a sheriff and magistrate in his native Kincardineshire, near Aberdeen, where his ancestral country estate Maryculter was located.

Cosmo Duff-Gordon is best known for the circumstances in which he survived the sinking of the RMS Titanic in 1912, along with his wife and her secretary, Laura Mabel Francatelli.

Cosmo Duff-Gordon was a witness at the inquiry into the sinking.

Cosmo Duff-Gordon stated that the money was to allow the sailor to buy new clothes.

Cosmo Duff-Gordon denied the allegation that he disobeyed orders, maintaining there had been no women or children in the immediate vicinity when his boat was launched, as was confirmed by others.

Sir Cosmo Duff-Gordon continued in his social and sporting interests in Scotland and later in London, where he lived at 5 Alfred Place in London.

Cosmo Duff-Gordon was estranged from his wife from 1915 until his death, although they never divorced and remained friends.

Cosmo Duff-Gordon died on 20 April 1931 of natural causes and is buried at Brookwood Cemetery, Woking, Surrey.

Cosmo Duff-Gordon's wife died exactly four years later, on 20 April 1935.

In that film there is an indirect reference to the alleged bribe that Sir Cosmo Duff-Gordon gave to officer Murdoch, when a fictional character gives Murdoch some money for a place on a lifeboat.