Robert Edwards was a quartermaster aboard the Mackay-Bennett on its voyage to retrieve victims of the Titanic. Mr. Edwards’ daughter Anita inherited the lifebelt and donated it to the Dartmouth Heritage Museum in 1969. It was later, in 1972, traded for a collection of military hats that were collected by Mr. Mark James, then on display in the museum. Mr. James’s mother immigrated with her family to Canada on Olympic in 1921. Mrs. James recollected that Olympic had a narrow brush with an iceberg on that voyage. Mark heard this and became interested in Titanic. As he grew up he found himself consulting the 1912 newspapers which recounted the disaster, and his interest grew.

In the spring of 1972 a display of military hats was mounted at the Dartmouth Heritage museum through The Military Collectors Club of Canada. Mark James was a member of the club, and he participated in the display.

When the exhibition ended in June 1972,  Mr. James went to the Museum to collect his military headgear. He and a Mr. Gosley, curator of the Museum, began to discuss a possible trade. Mr. Gosley took him to the basement  and opened a closet-like door which revealed a long storage space, and in it was one lifebelt and a deckchair, both of which Mr. Gosley indicated were from the Titanic. Mr. James stated that his eyes probably revealed his interest. Soon afterward he took a carload of military items over to Mr. Gosley and the two of them negotiated the trade.

Mr. James also recalls Mr. Gosley alluding to a second lifebelt in the Museum's collection as being the reason why he could do this trade. –alltough Mr. James did not see this second lifebelt.–

In 1975 Mr. James lent the lifebelt (and other Titanic items from his collection) to the Maritime Command Museum for a period of five to six years.[1] 

In mid-1994 Mark James decided to sell his entire collection, and it went to a Cape Breton Island padlock collector named Francis Arsenault. It was later purchased by the “Wonders” exhibit in Memphis, Tennessee, and St. Petersburg, Florida.  It had also been on display at the “Titanic, Ship of Dreams” exhibition in Orlando, Florida. The owners of the Memphis exhibition then gave it to British collector Denis Cochrane as part of an agreement for having a number of Cochrane's Titanic -related objects on display in the exhibition. 

In September 2006 it was auctioned at Aldridge’s and was expected to go for £30,000-£40,000. It was sold for £43,500 to a private collector. In 2019 it was part of an exhibition at Titanic Branson and then Titanic Pigeon Forge showing six lifebelts worn by Titanic passengers, the first time since the sinking that so many lifebelts had been reunited in one place. From April 7th until April 24th, 2022, it was on display at the Titanic Belfast Museum attraction, Northern Ireland, to commemorate the 110^th anniversary of the disaster. 
On March 4th, 2023, the "Reimagined Titanic Experience" was opened at Titanic Belfast, and the lifebelt is part of the display, on loan for a period of five years.

The artifact itself is in fair condition with the usual characteristic signs of age. Two blocks of cork are missing from their pouches on one side. It still has its original ribbon ties.[2]

[1] The Mark D. James Titanic collection, compiled by  C.A. Ruffman, Geomarine Associates, Ltd. Sept. 17^th .1996.

[2] Aldridge & Son auction catalogue, September 2006, Barb E. Peterson collection.

The lifebelt currently in a private collector’s possession was on display at Pigeon Forge in 2019.

Top photos, Pigeon Forge / Branson Titanic Museum Attractions.

Bottom photo gives a nice view of the inside of this lifebelt.

Photo,  Henry Aldridge and Son - Andrew Aldridge.