Sir Cosmo Edmund Duff Gordon, 5th Baronet DL (22 July 1862 – 20 April 1931), the son of the Hon. Cosmo Lewis Duff Gordon and the former Anna Maria Antrobus, was a prominent Scottish landowner and sportsman. He was particularly noted as a fencer, representing Great Britain at the 1906 Summer Olympics, winning silver in the team épée event. He was also a self-defense enthusiast who trained with champion Swiss wrestler Armand Cherpillod at the Bartitsu Club in London's Soho district. Duff Gordon was the co-founder of the London Fencing League, a member of the Bath Club and the Royal Automobile Club. He was a sheriff and magistrate in his native Kincardineshire, near Aberdeen, where his ancestral country estate Maryculter was located.

Titanic HistoryEdit

Cosmo Duff Gordon is best known for surviving the sinking of the RMS Titanic in 1912, along with his wife, Lucile Duff-Gordon and her secretary, Laura Mabel Francatelli. Rumors that the Duff Gordon's bribed the crew in their lifeboat not to rescue people in the water threatened their reputations, but the British Board of Trade's Inquiry into the disaster cleared them of any wrongdoing and a letter written by the secretary further clears their name. It is known that lifeboat 1 of the Titanic was barely filled as many on board still believed it to be "unsinkable" and that First Officer William Murdoch was glad to offer Duff Gordon and his wife a place (simply to fill it) after the couple had asked if they could get on.

Film PortrayalEdit

A Scottish baronet who is rescued in Lifeboat 1. He and his wife were among only 12 people in Lifeboat #1, whose capacity was 40. He was accused of bribing the boat's crewmen not to row back and rescue those struggling in the water, but the British Board of Trade's inquiry into the disaster cleared them of any wrongdoing and a letter written by the secretary further clears their name.

In James Cameron's 1997 film, Titanic, he was portrayed by Martin Jarvis.

SourcesEdit

• Sir Cosmo Duff-Gordon at Wikipedia

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