Walter Douglas

Walter Donald Douglas (born April 21, 1861 in Waterloo , Iowa , USA ; † April 15, 1912 in the North Atlantic when the Titanic sank ) was an American entrepreneur , stockbroker and industrialist who was mainly active in the food industry and several companies Board. Because of his many ventures, he was called the "Captain of Industry".

Career

Walter Douglas was born in 1861 in the town of Waterloo, Iowa, which was then still a small town . He was the son of George Douglas (1816-1884) and Margaret Boyd (1825-1901), who had both immigrated to the United States and married there. The father was British, the mother Irish. He had a brother, George Bruce Douglas (1859-1923), who also became a successful entrepreneur and made a large contribution to the industrialization of Cedar Rapids . His father George was one of the co-founders of the Chicago food manufacturer Quaker Oats Company, founded in 1901 .

After graduating from high school , Douglas attended Shattuck Military Academy in Faribault , Minnesota . Together with his brother he founded Douglas Starchworks and operated the largest starch producing factory west of the Mississippi at the time . Douglas Starchworks later evolved into Penick and Ford and eventually Penford Food Ingredients, a division of the Penford Corporation. In 1895 Douglas moved to Minneapolis , where he acquired shares in the linseed oil producing Midland Linseed Oil Company, which was sold in 1899 to the American Linseed Oil Company, which developed into Archer Daniels Midland .

After selling the Midland Linseed Oil Company, Douglas became a partner in the grain producer Piper, Johnson & Case. He also had connections with numerous other companies such as the Canadian Elevator Company, the Monarch Lumber Company and the Saskatchewan Valley Land Company. He has also served as a stockbroker, board member and managing director of Empire Elevator Company, and managing director of Quaker Oats Company. These many business ventures earned him the nickname "Captain of Industry". He amassed a fortune of four million US dollars (in terms of monetary value at the time ).

family

On May 19, 1884 he married Lulu Camp, with whom he had two sons, George Camp Douglas (1885-1925; artilleryman in the Royal Garrison Artillery ) and Edward Bruce Douglas (1888-1946; sculptor in France ). Lulu died in December 1899 at the age of 37. Eight years later, on November 6, 1907, he married Mahala Dutton (1864–1945). No further children were born from this marriage.

death

Walter Douglas retired on January 1, 1912 and then spent three months with his wife in Europe , where the couple gathered furniture for their new property in Deephaven on Lake Minnetonka , among other things . To return home, Walter and Mahala Douglas went on April 10, 1912 in Cherbourg, France, as passengers on board the new luxury steamer RMS Titanic , which set out for its maiden voyage to New York, which was accompanied by much public and media interest . They were accompanied by their French maid, Berthe Leroy, who had worked for them since 1910. The couple occupied the first-class cabin C-86, while Berthe was housed in C-138 or C-140 with the Carter family maid.

When the Titanic collided with the iceberg late in the evening of April 14, 1912 , Walter and Mahala Douglas, like most of the other passengers, felt only a slight tremor. Douglas initially did not assume an emergency situation. Only when the seriousness of the situation became apparent in the course of the evacuation and they heard the instruction to put on life jackets did Douglas help his wife into lifeboat No. 2, which left the Titanic 35 minutes before her sinking with only 18 people on board (the capacity was 40 people). The couple's maid was also in the boat. Berthe Leroy and Mahala Douglas had previously lost sight of each other, had stepped into the boat separately and were unaware of each other's presence in the darkness and the confusion.

Walter Douglas was killed in the sinking. Eyewitnesses later reported that he refused to leave the ship while others had to stay on board. To his wife he said "no, I have to be a gentleman". His body (No. 62) was discovered by the cable layman Mackay-Bennett and buried next to his first wife in Oak Hill Cemetery in Cedar Rapids. Mahala Douglas was operating the tiller of lifeboat No. 2 and had a fit of hysterics when the boat came alongside the rescue ship RMS Carpathia . She suddenly rose from her seat and shouted "The Titanic went down with man and mouse". The boat's captain, fourth officer Joseph Boxhall , harshly told them to be quiet. Mahala Douglas was the first of the 705 Titanic survivors to climb aboard the RMS Carpathia in the early hours of April 15 . She died in 1945 and was buried next to her husband in Cedar Rapids.

swell

• Biographical data of Walter Douglas in Encyclopedia Titanica
• Walter Douglas in Find A Grave Memorial
• Photo in military uniform
• Illustrated History of the Douglas Family from Iowa