Kate Phillips' lover Henry Morley perished in the sinking of the Titanic, but not before he gave her a sapphire necklace as a token of their love.
Public DomainKate Florence Phillips and her daughter, Ellen.
On April 15, 1912, Kate Phillips lost everything. During the sinking of the RMS Titanic, she lost her lover, Henry Morley, who perished, as well as the dream of their new life together in California. But as Phillips boarded a lifeboat, she left the Titanic with two things — a child in her womb, and a blue sapphire necklace that Morley had gifted her as a token of his love.
For fans of the 1997 film Titanic, this story of lost love may sound familiar. And indeed, Kate Phillips and her sapphire necklace — later called the “Love of the Sea” — is believed to have inspired the character of Rose DeWitt Bukater, and her necklace, the “Heart of the Ocean.”
This is the true story of Kate Florence Phillips, the “real-life Rose” who survived the Titanic.
The Love Affair Of Kate Phillips And Henry Morley
Born in Worcestershire, England, on Jan. 1, 1893, Kate Florence Phillips’ life changed after she started working as a shop assistant at a local confectionary store. There, she crossed paths with Henry Samuel Morley, a senior partner at L. Morley Confectioners — and Phillips’ boss.
Though Morley was married — and 20 years older than Phillips — the two began an affair. As Titanic Encyclopedia reports, their relationship soon intensified, and Morley decided to abandon his family for Phillips.
Public DomainHenry Samuel Morley in an undated photograph.
The couple agreed to escape Britain — and Morley’s marriage — and to start anew in Los Angeles. Morley told his family and friends that he needed to travel for his health, then purchased two second-class tickets for himself and Phillips on the RMS Titanic.
Kate Phillips and Henry Morley boarded the doomed ship at Southampton on April 10, 1912, traveling under joint ticket number 250655. To escape detection, they used the pseudonyms of Mr. Marshall and Mrs. Marshall.
But they would never make it to California.
The Sinking Of The Titanic In April 1912
Public DomainThe Titanic leaving Southampton, England, on April 10, 1912.
At first, Kate Phillips’ and Henry Morley’s voyage went as planned. The Titanic was large, luxurious, and thought to be “unsinkable.” As second class passengers, Phillips and Morley would have enjoyed meals like baked haddock, chicken and rice, and American ice cream, slightly better fare than the rabbit pie and baked potatoes served to passengers in steerage.
As RMS Titanic Inc. reports, the couple enjoyed themselves aboard the ship. They no longer had to hide their love, and could live openly as a couple. During the voyage, Morley gifted Phillips with a beautiful sapphire necklace as a token of their love and to mark the start of their new life together.
But on the night of April 14, 1912, the Titanic catastrophically collided with an iceberg and started to sink.
As women and children were ushered into lifeboats, Kate Phillips escaped the sinking wearing only a nightgown. But Morley did not. According to Encyclopedia Titanica, his body was never recovered.
Public DomainAn illustration of the sinking of the Titanic, which occured in the early morning hours of April 15, 1912.
However, in a way, Morley did live on. Not only did Kate Phillips have the necklace he’d given her, but she gave birth to a baby, Ellen, in January 1913. For the rest of her life, Phillips would swear that the baby was Morley’s.
Kate Phillips, The Real Life ‘Rose’ Of The Titanic
After the Titanic sinking, Kate Phillips lived an unhappy life. She had a contentious, perhaps even abusive relationship with her daughter Ellen, suffered from deteriorating mental health, may have tried to die by suicide, and was ultimately abandoned by her husband. Phillips died in 1964.
She had never been able to prove that her daughter Ellen was Morley’s child. Nor could Ellen, who died in 2005, prove it. But in 2020, a DNA test finally established that Ellen was the child of Kate Phillips and Henry Morley.
By then, some aspects of Kate Phillips’ tragic life had allegedly made their way to the silver screen.
In the 1997 film Titanic, the character of Rose, played by Kate Winslet, is gifted a sapphire necklace by her cruel fiancé, which she later wears while posing nude for the character of Jack, her love interest played by Leonardo DiCaprio. Decades later, Rose drops the necklace into the ocean.
Paramount PicturesThe character of Rose in the 1997 film Titanic, played by Kate Winslet, is gifted a sapphire necklace which was purportedly inspired by Kate Phillips’ necklace.
Rose’s necklace, the “Heart of the Ocean,” is said to be inspired by Phillips’ necklace, the “Love of the Sea.”
“This pendant is from the Titanic and was the inspiration for [Titanic director] James Cameron to write the love story that he included in his film with Kate Winslet,” David Scott-Beddard of the Nomadic Trust told the BBC in 2007, when Phillips’ necklace went on display in Belfast.
Scott-Beddard, who explained that the necklace had been sold by Phillips’ daughter, Ellen, described it as “quite small, only about an inch long,” with an “oblong sapphire surrounded by diamonds and attached to a very simple thin chain.” In other words, Phillips’ necklace is quite a different piece than Rose’s enormous sapphire. It has since been displayed around the world.
But while the story of Rose and Jack from the Titanic is well-known today, the story of Kate Florence Phillips and Henry Samuel Morley has all but been forgotten. In 1912, the couple took a risk. They tore up their lives, and set out to start over in the United States. Sadly, things took a tragic turn.
That said, Phillips left the Titanic with two valuable reminders of her lost lover: their daughter, Ellen, whose paternity was proven in 2020, and Morley’s sapphire necklace. Today, the necklace is a valuable Titanic artifact, and an enduring reminder of their doomed romance.
After reading about Kate Florence Phillips, the real-life “Rose” of the Titanic, discover the harrowing stories of other Titanic survivors. Or, go inside the sad story of Ida and Isidor Straus, the couple on the Titanic who chose to die together on the ship rather than be separated.
