The most famous face of the Titanic disaster belongs to a newsboy nobody thought to name, taken by a photographer nobody credited either
- Edward John Parfett, the boy in the iconic Titanic newspaper-selling photo, was a war hero who tragically died in World War I.
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Credit: Getty Images
It's over a century since the RMS Titanic sank in the North Atlantic, on April 15 1912, after striking an iceberg during its maiden voyage that resulted in the loss of over 1,500 lives.
And yet, this tragedy still has a hold over our collective consciousness. So much so, that even this much-circulated photo of a boy selling a newspaper announcing it will be instantly recognizable to many.
But who was this boy, stood outside the White Star Line's offices on Cockspur Street, just off Trafalgar Square in London, the following day, holding a placard reading "Titanic Disaster, Great Loss of Life"?
For most of the 20th century, he was simply known as "the newsboy." In fact, his name was Edward John Parfett – known to his friend as Ned. And unfortunately, this would not be the only time in his life that he was associated with tragedy.
The story of Ned
Born in 1896 to an Irish Catholic family, Parfett worked in construction before an injury pushed him into newspaper selling. He was around 15 or 16 when the Titanic photograph was taken, one of four brothers from Cornwall Road, Waterloo, who'd all eventually enlist for the First World War.
He joined the Royal Artillery in 1916, first as a dispatch rider, later moving to reconnaissance duties at the front. It was dangerous, exposed work – and Parfett was good at it.
He was mentioned in dispatches and awarded the Military Medal for gallantry, with an officer later writing that Parfett had accompanied him "on many occasions" through severe shelling and that he'd always placed "the greatest confidence in him".
Of the four Parfett brothers who served, three came home. Ned didn't. On October 29 1918, less than a fortnight before the end of the war, he was killed near Valenciennes when a shell hit the quartermaster's stores where he was collecting fresh clothes ahead of leave.
Had he survived another two weeks, he'd have been going home to England. He's buried at the British war cemetery in Verchain-Maugré in northern France.
A face that outlasted its name
Ned Parfett in his army uniform in 1917 | Credit: Alamy
The Titanic picture Ned is remembered for today did its job well, conveying the shock and grief of the moment far better than any headline. Yet Ned was never identified in the picture caption and, for decades, he remained an anonymous figure, even as the photo continued to circulate.
It took researchers and Parfett's own descendants, including his great-nephew Dominic Walsh, to finally identify Ned in the late Nineties; a soldier who'd been mentioned in dispatches and decorated for bravery, and who died in a war only a few years after the Titanic sank.
Oceanic House, where the picture was taken, is now home to a Tex-Mex restaurant. And the photographer? We still have no idea who they were.
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