William Ernest Carter

William Ernest Carter (June 19, 1875 – March 20, 1940) was an American millionaire, polo player, and survivor of the RMS Titanic.

Early life Carter was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. However, he dropped out of college to focus on polo and hunting.

Carter showed little interest in family businesses or philanthropies but did work as a stockbroker.

Marriage Carter married Lucile Stewart Polk of Baltimore, Maryland, on January 29, 1896. They met the previous summer at Narragansett and fell in "love at first sight." They also frequently traveled to England and other parts of Europe. Carter's chauffeur Augustus Aldworth was in second class. He was also traveling with his polo ponies. Lucile, Serreplaà, and the two children were lowered into Lifeboat 4 by Carter.

Carter arrived at the Carpathia ahead of his family and waited on the deck. When Lifeboat 4 arrived, Carter "did not recognize his son under a big ladies hat and called out for him: according to some sources John Jacob Astor had placed the hat on the boy and explained that he was now a girl and should be allowed into the boat. Other sources suggest the more likely scenario that it was his mother in response to Chief Second Steward George Dodd's order that no more boys were to enter Lifeboat 4." Carter said, "Terrible, terrible. No pen can ever depict and no tongue can ever describe adequately the terrors of our experience. Everywhere was a cold, hopeless despair and grief in its most hellish forms. Some were dumb with horror; others beat their breasts like things crazed, and a few laughed hysterically and insanely." Carter fell on his head, and the pony rolled on top of him. Although most news accounts say Carter received a "slight concussion," it appears he was actually in a coma, as he was still unconscious days later. He survived, but was unable to play polo again.

Two years later, on June 15, 1914, the Carters divorced. In her testimony, she said, "When the Titanic struck, my husband came to our stateroom and said 'Get up and dress yourself and the children.' I never saw him again until I arrived on the Carpathia at 8 o'clock the next morning, when I saw him lying on the rail. All he said was that he had had a jolly good breakfast and that he never thought I would make it."

After the divorce, the Bryn Mawr home was sold. In March 1940, he died of empyema of the gallbladder while on vacation in Palm Beach, Florida. He was buried in West Laurel Hill Cemetery in Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania.

Popular culture Carter's Renault was the setting of Jack and Rose's love scene in James Cameron’s 1997 film Titanic.