some notes from my dig last night
>What ‘class of people’ were guaranteed a lifeboat
first class
The first class passengers were the well-off upper and middle classes (and their servants), they included American millionaires such as Benjamin Gugghenheim, John Jacob Astor and railway magnate Charles M. Hays as well as the cream of British society including the Countess of Rothes, the eminent journalist W.T. Stead and noted couturière 'Lucile', Lady Duff Gordon.
full list
https://www.encyclopedia-titanica.org/titanic-first-class-passengers/
>Why did select ‘individuals’ not make it into the lifeboats?
women n children first
also
The White Star Line preferred to maximise the amount of deck space available for the enjoyment of the passengers and an area that was free of lifeboats was the First Class promenade
>How were names and bodies recorded back then?
CS Mackay-Bennett
The cable repair ship CS Mackay-Bennett became famous as the very first ship to be contracted by the White Star Line for the task of recovering the dead from the North Atlantic following the sinking, and the ship that recovered the vast majority of the bodies that were found.
306 – the number of bodies that were recovered by the CS Mackay-Bennett (bodies 1 to 306).
116 – the total number of bodies recovered by the Mackay-Bennett that were buried at sea, due to damage or the shortage of embalming fluid.
>etc
A and D in the Q post - leaning more towards decks A and D over boats A and D
DR. WASHINGTON DODGE GIVES HISTORY OF
TITANIC DISASTER AT COMMONWEALTH CLUB
http://www.sfmuseum.org/hist5/dodge6.html