Courtesy of Miguel F. Sarria Daly
Mr Peter Dennis Daly was born on 17 July 1860 at 2:30 am in Liscard, England.1 His father was John Bernard Daly (1830-1894), a descendent from the O'Dalaigh and O'Neill families of Ireland, and his mother was Isabel Fermina Charon of French descent. As a child, he lived outside Liverpool in England by the river Mersey.2
Maria Rosalba Ramos
Courtesy of Miguel F. Sarria Daly
Peter Dennis spoke 7 languages: English, Spanish, French, German, Italian, Greek, and Latin. After graduating from Cambridge University with honours, his father John gave him a ticket to South America. There he met the beautiful Rosalba Ramos, born in Peru of Spanish descent. They fell in love and married on 9 July 1887. By this time Isabel Charon, his mother, had passed away, leaving John Daly a widower. While in Lima, Peru to attend his son's wedding, John met a Ms. Arbulu, whom he later married. Both father and son therefore began new families simultaneously in Peru. 3
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A Commemorative medal cast for the wedding of Peter Dennis Daly.
Its is about 30 mm in diameter and is dated July 9, 1887. It bears the names of Peter Daly and Maria Rosalba Ramos and the reverse side has the names of the Godfathers inscribed Courtesy of Albert E. Daly. |
Peter Dennis and his wife Rosalba Ramos had 10 children, 5 boys: Nicanor, Alejandro, Ricardo, Enrique (died in his early teens) Miguel and then 5 girls of whom 4 survived to adulthood: Ines, Rosa, Isabel, and Maria (Mary). Two of the boys later moved to Buenos Aires, Argentina.4
As the Lima, Peru representative of the London firm Haes & Sons, Peter Dennis went to London on business, and decided to return home through New York on the Titanic's maiden voyage. He visited his friend Henry Hammond while in London.
The story, certainly apochryphal, that is passed down is that Henry Hammond begged Daly not to board the Titanic on her maiden voyage because of the book "Futility" published 14 years in which a ship named Titan sinks during her maiden voyage.5
He boarded the Titanic at Southampton as a first class passenger (ticket number 113055, £26 11s, 6 Cabin E-17 7).
According to his grandson Albert Daly, Ricardo's son, and his granddaughter Elvira (Billie) Daly de Sarria, Alejandro's daughter, on the night of the disaster he had changed from his dinner clothes to warm clothes and boots, including an overcoat. He also was wearing a money belt around his waist, where he placed his passport, cash, and his silver cigarette case, which contained a Holy Stamp of an "Our Mother of Perpetual Help." 8
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From left to right: Richard, Nicanor, Miguel, (Youngest seated), Peter Dennis Daly, Enrique (died in his early teens), Alejandro
Courtesy of Albert E. Daly |
He remembered that the musicians played upbeat music to the very end.9
According to his later accounts Daly remained on deck as long as possible. As he helped a female passenger over the side he was washed off the deck by a wave which rolled along the boat deck. 10 He then swam in the water before being picked up by a collapsible boat. 11
Peter Dennis Daly was taken to New York aboard the Carpathia.12 Nicanor, his eldest son, was at the time living and working in New York City and was the one who traced Peter Dennis at a New York Hospital. 13
Daly returned to his family in Lima, Peru after his recovery in New York. His granddaughter, Rosalba Daly, recalls how every winter he suffered from pain in his legs due to the hypothermia suffered in the icy waters of the Atlantic. He took baths in hot springs to alleviate his pain. 14
Peter Dennis Daly with his family (c.1926).
Back: Rosita Picasso Daly; Next row: Ninin
Picasso Daly, Betty Daly Gonzales, Rosalba Ramos de Daly (Peter's wife),
Pedro (Peter Denis) Daly, Billie Daly, Cesar Gonzales Daly, Tereza Picasso
Daly, Eduardo (Lalo) Gonzales Daly, Rosalba Daly; Seated: Nata Gonzales Daly, Esther
Picasso Daly, Elsie Daly, Nora Gonzales Daly
Courtesy of Miguel F. Sarria Daly
Peter Dennis was a quiet man who spent long hours in his vegetable garden. He loved to eat red radishes dipped in salt. He was possessed of infinite patience, which he demonstrated by playing Chess via the mail with overseas opponents. Overseas mail in those days was delivered by ship only. He enjoyed playing cards, especially solitaire, which he taught his granddaughter Rosalba Daly. Rosalba was born on the same day of the sinking of the Titanic in 1921. She currently works as an artist and a teacher in Lima, Peru. When she was seven, Peter Dennis allowed her to eat at his dinner table. To Rosalba, this was a sign that she had finally learned to behave like a lady. Another of his granddaughters, Elvira (Billie) Daly de Sarria, keeps a collection of photographs of Peter and family from the late 1800's and the early 1900's she lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico with her son Miguel Sarria Daly.15
Peter Dennis Daly Charon died of old age in Lima, Peru on 24th December 1932 at the age of 72. 16
Comment and discuss
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Mr. Peter Denis Daly was listed as being rescued on Boat 3 according to the info under his name. He is not, however, listed as being rescued on any of the life boats.... This might be my great grandfather so I would like to know. Thank you very much. Michele Dorsey-Baker New Jersey
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ESTOY ORGULLOSO DE SER NIETO DE PETER DENIS DALY SER DECENDIENTE IRLANDES Y QUE VIVA LA REINA
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I'm family of Peter Dennis Daly Charon he was in cabin E-17 and i want to congratulate the person that take part in the design of this web page. I'm proud of my great grang parent.
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Re: I'm researching this chap who is supposed to be my Great grandfather and I would be interested on finding out more about his life prior to the Titanic going down and afterwards.
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Hello, if possible could someone from the Daly family please get in contact with me thanks.
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The survival of English-Peruvian First Class Titanic passenger Peter Dennis Daly is something of an enigma with somewhat conflicting information from the few sources that mention him. My own copies of A Night to Remember, Dusk to Dawn and On A Sea of Glass are all inaccessible at present and so I am relying on ET, especially the letter from his grandson Albert Daly available here. I always thought that Peter Daly was rescued on Collapsible A but he is not on that boat's ET list of survivors. On his bio, it merely says that Daly was picked-up from the sea by a "collapsible" but does not specify which one and his name is not on the ET list of survivors on any of the other three collapsible lifeboats either. I recall reading that just as he was about to jump off the sinking Titanic in the final moments, an "unknown" woman ran up to him and begged him to help her. His grandson Albert Daly claims to have heard about that encounter 20 years before Walter Lord wrote A Night to Remember;...
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I am afraid I do not know the letter of Albert Daly. In 1912 Daly himself mentioned the lady who asked him to help and that he jumped with her. However no mention about it that he try to get into a lifeboat. Peter Daly mentioned that he was pulled in by R. N....
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Does anyone know if Peter Daly was a really big man? The reason I ask is the following statement by steward Edward Brown at the British inquiry who cut the falls of Collapsible A and almost certainly was rescued on it himself. 10570. Did you get on to that collapsible boat? - I did. 10571. Did you remain on it? - I remained on it. 10572. Did you pick anybody up in that boat? - When I was there I saw them pick two up, a woman and a gentleman - a very big gentleman. The only woman survivor on Collapsible A was Rhoda Abbot and since she was pulled out of the water, she must be the one that Brown was referring to in that statement. IF the "big gentleman" in Brown's statement was Peter Daly and he was rescued alongside Mrs...
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The big man stated by Brown might have indeed be Daly.
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Thanks. It looks like Peter Daly indeed jumped into the ocean with the same woman who had requested his help moments earlier but they must have become separated in the water. My feeling that the woman could have been Edith Evans comes from the George Rheims angle. As you say, Rheims and Williams pulled Peter Daly out of the water into the lifeboat and this was very likely...
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