Thomson Beattie, Thomas McCaffry, and John Hugo Ross: Same-Sex Intimacy on the Titanic, 1912

Brewster

Hugh Brewster writes of "A trio of Canadian bachelors who were known as 'the Three Musketeers' " -- Thomson Beattie, Thomas McCaffry, and John Hugo Ross. "Ross and Beattie were both successful real estate agents in Winnipeg, Manitoba, than a boomtown with Canada's largest per capital population of millionaires. To escape the fierce prairie winters, Beattie and his close friend McCaffrey, a Vancouver banker, were in the habit of boarding liners for destinations like North Africa or the Aegean. This year [1912] they had been joined by Ross, another dapper, witty bachelor, and the three men had departed from New York in January bound for Trieste and a three-month tour of Italy, Egypt, France, and England. . . . Beattie and McCaffry, whom the Winnipeg Free Post would describe as 'almost inseparable,' shared cabin C-6. . . ."

Hustak

Alan Hustak writes of "three well-heeled Winnipeg bachelors: realtor Thomson Beattie, Beattie's best friend and Union Bank Present Thomas McCaffry.., and John Hugo Ross, the son of Arthur Wellington Ross, the Liberal-Conservative Member of Parliament. . . ."

As a child, Ross, born in 1875, in Ontario, "was described as 'a rosy faced boy in knickerbockers, riding his dog sled or off skating. On Sunday and special occasions he was the little gentleman in a kilt.'" As an adult, says Hustak, Ross was was "dapper and flamboyant" and "had a sarcastic wit". He and Beattie had offices across the hall from each other.

Thomson Beattie, born on November 27, 1875, "was a precious child, a shy, dreamy boy who was close to his mother. He apprenticed at his father's bank where he was programmed to become an accountant. But when his father died in 1897,, Thomson and another brother, Charles, took their share of the estate and moved to Winnipeg. . . . In Winnipeg, Beattie teamed up with another young, resourceful, and determined Scott, Richard Waugh. Together they took over the Haslam Land Company, and within five years their enterprise was so successful that Beattie was able to buy a large house that he shared with a medical doctor <name ? bachelor?> in Fort Rouge at 560 River Avenue. . . . He didn't display a high profile in the community but was generous in support of civic causes. . . ."

"Beattie was a prominent member of Winnipeg's bachelor subculture. It was often said 'that he was of such a retiring disposition that little was known of him except by his most intimate friends.' The person who knew him best was Thomas McCaffry. Beattie and McCaffry resembled each other, dressed alike, and were often mistaken for brothers. The Winnipeg Free Press remarked on how similar they were, and observed the two of them 'were inseparable.'"

Hustak says that "McCaffry, a forty-six year old banker . . . grew up in Trois-Rivieres and Montreal before he was transferred to Winnipeg. He and Beattie often vacationed together. In 1908 they went to the Aegean and in 1910 to North Africa. They spent a lot of time in each other's company, but they were not without female admirers. Maud MacArthur, a stenographer who worked in [John Hugo] Ross's office was drawn towards Thomson Beattie in a way she could not articulate until he was gone."

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