Page 344 - Reading Mercury

The missing boats were found, with 37 passengers on board of one, 20 miles down
the coast.
(Mr. and Mrs. W.T. Brown, members of St. Paul’s Church, Wokingham were on
board.)

th
Sat 16 April 1887 Berkshire Chronicle
THE WRECK OF THE VICTORIA
It is believed that Mr. Towers Brown, the eldest son of the Rev. J.T. Brown, St.
Paul’s Rectory, with his wife, to whom he was only recently married, were on board
the steamship Victoria, which was wrecked near Cape D’Ailly on Wednesday last. No
tidings have been received at Wokingham of or from them. The Rev. J.T. Brown
proceeded to London on Thursday afternoon to prosecute enquiries, and subsequently
crossed the channel in furtherance of the same object. Up till now (Friday afternoon)
no information has been obtained.

th
Sat 30 April 1887 Berkshire Chronicle
THE LATE MR. & MRS. W. TOWERS BROWN.
Nothing further has been heard of those unfortunate young people. On Sunday the
services at St. Paul’s Church, of which the Rev. J.T. Brown is rector, were made
appropriate to the occasion, and very large congregations assembled both morning
and evening. Most able and eloquent services were preached by the Rev. A Peile from
the Isle of Wight, a relative of Mr. Brown’s family. A muffled peal was rung out in
the evening.

th
Sat 28 May
FUNERAL OF MR. & MRS. WILLIAM TOWERS BROWN, AT WOKINGHAM
th
It will be remembered that in the wreck of the steamer Victoria, on April 13 , the
life of Mrs. Towers Brown was lost through the accident to the first boat, and her
husband, with noble self-devotion, flung himself into the sea with a view to save her
and also died. No traces of the bodies were found, although a vigilant watch was kept
along the coast, till Friday evening in last week, when that of Mrs. Brown was
recovered at Verangeville, and a few hours later on her husband’s was found at
Quiverville, both places being near Dieppe. There was no doubt of their identity, from
the watches and rings and other effects which were on their persons. The Rev. H.F.
Wolley, the vicar of Shortlands, Kent, a great friend of the family, instantly started to
superintend the removal of their remains. The greatest care was shown by Mons.
Marcellet, the resident superintendent at Dieppe of the London and Brighton Railway;
with his own hands he tended the bodies, and gave the utmost attendance to the
arrangements for their transport to England; indeed too much praise and gratitude
cannot be given to the French officials at the above-mentioned places, and to the
proprietors and secretary and servants of the Hotel Royal, Dieppe, and to all employed
under the Railway Company.
It was a very effecting sight, and one which will be long remembered by all who
were present, when the remains of the husband and wife were deposited in the same
grave in St. Paul’s Churchyard, Wokingham, on Wednesday afternoon, the two plain
coffins of foreign shape telling the tale of their death in the waters on the French
coast. The coffins bore the inscriptions (added after their arrival):--

th
“WILLIAM TOWERS BROWN, died April 13 , 1887, aged 28,”
and

342