Award for man who gave life boatseat

A FRENCH chemist who died on the Titanic after giving up his seat to a woman passenger is to be honoured 100 years later by the Royal Society of Chemistry for his bravery. He shouted Au revoir and was never seen again.

Descendants of René Jacques Lévy, who was born in Nancy, will receive a special posthumous President’s Award later this year after the RSC recently discovered his story in Jewish genealogical archives in France.

Lévy worked in Manchester for several years as an industrial chemist for a dye firm before emigrating to Quebec with his wife and three girls.

He should not have been on the Titanic, but had changed plans after hearing it would get him home 10 days earlier than his intended ship, the France.

Lévy had been on deck with Noel Malachard and Marie Jerwan, two passengers he shared his cabin with, when the Titanic struck the iceberg. They headed for the lifeboats and Jerwan, an American woman of Swiss origin, recorded in her diary how he gave up his seat for her. He was 36 years old.

His wife, Jeanne, lived in Montreal until her death in 1955, aged 73. Two daughters, Simone and Andrée, also lived in Canada while the other, Yvette married a Frenchman in Paris.