HE has entered in to legend as the priest who led a group of passengers in prayer on the deck of the Titanic as it sank in to the icy depths of the north Atlantic on April 15, 1912.

But many in the areawill not know that Father Thomas Byles set off on the fateful voyage almost 100 years ago from St Helen’s Church in Ongar High Street, where he was priest for seven years.

Father Byles was born in Staffordshire in 1870 into a clerical family.

He studied at Oxford University before being ordained as a Roman Catholic priest in 1902 at in 1905 took up his role at St Helen’s.

During his time in Ongar Father Byles humbly devoted himself to his small congregation.

As well as performing his clerical duties, the learned priest would give lessons, and even taught boxing to young members of the congregation in sheds behind the church when they expressed an interest in the sport.

He boarded the Titanic at Southampton with his £13 ticket on April 10, 1912 and was making his way to officiate at his brother’s wedding in New York.

The ship made its way across the Atlantic, and Father Byles took mass for passengers, making use of a portable altar stone he brought with him for the purpose.

As disaster loomed on April 15, Father Byles was one of the few passengers on deck, reciting the Breviarium Romanum in his priest’s robes when the vessel struck an iceberg at about twenty to midnight.

He immediately descended below deck in to the third class area, and led passengers up to the lifeboats, offering comfort and reassurance to women and children as he saw them safely seated.

As the seriousness of the situation became apparent, father Byles took confessions and gave absolution to those on deck, and according to eyewitnesses was twice offered a place on a lifeboat and refused.

With the last lifeboat rowing to safety, Father Byles led the passengers stranded on board to the aft end of the boat, and with a group of more than 100 kneeling around him, led them in prayer as the front of the boat slipped underwater.

Many passengers later testified to the courage and heroism of Father Byles as the disaster unfolded.

On May 2 1912, a large congregation attended a memorial service for father Byles in St Helen’s, and later that year Pope Saint Pius X declared Father Byles a martyr for the Catholic Church.