Who Were They Wednesday

Adolphe Saalfeld

content: Elena Vukosa

Adolphe Saalfeld was a German born chemist who moved to Britain in the 1880’s. He married in 1888 to Gertrude Harris. The couple would remain childless throughout their marriage. He was a self made business man and chairman of the chemists and distillers Sparks-White & Co. His main responsibility was overseeing the marketing of his line of concentrated perfumes and fragrances for distribution and sales.

Saalfeld occupied cabin C-106 during the voyage to New York and was travelling with samples of his perfume products to open up a new outlet of floral fragrances in America.

He was in the smoking room at the time of the collision and went back to his cabin. He left his perfume samples behind in his haste to leave the ship.

During his account of the sinking he saw a few men and women go into a boat and promptly followed. He would later state that had they had enough boats there would’ve been time for saving every soul on board.

On his return to England he would be, like many other male survivors, ostracized for surviving the sinking of the Titanic. His family would report that he never slept properly again and often he would call on his chauffeur to drive him around the empty streets late in the night until he drifted off.

Saalfeld died on June 5, 1926. His nephew Paul Danby would later be imprisoned in England throughout WWI for being an ethnic German. Paul and his family fled to the Netherlands but Paul, his wife, and elderly mother Clara would meet their deaths in concentration camps after the German invasion of that country as well. Paul’s two daughters would survive the holocaust.

In 2000 Saalfeld’s satchel of oils was recovered in tact.

The following video includes footage of Saalfeld’s satchel being recovered:

Sources:

Photos: https://tamlynamberwanderlust.com/expo-review-titanic-artifact-exhibition-cape-town-part-1/adolphe-saalfelds-perfume/

TITANIC CONNECTIONS