Miss Elizabeth Margaret Burns

Photo: © Leighton H. Coleman III

Miss Elizabeth Margaret Burns was born December 15th, 1870, in Newark, New Jersey. In 1898, she was a member of the first graduating class of the Roosevelt School for Nurses.

By 1912 she had been the nanny (private nurse) to Robert Douglas Spedden for more than three years. Douglas called her "Muddie Boons," because he had trouble pronouncing her name.

She boarded the Titanic at Cherbourg (ticket number 16966), and was rescued in Lifeboat 3.

Miss Burns died on May 29th, 1921. At the time she was living at the Central Club for Nurses in New York, and was a member of the Executive Committee of the Nurses Association.

Notes
On the "List or Manifest ..." her age is given as 39.

References
Contract Ticket List, White Star Line 1912 (National Archives, New York; NRAN-21-SDNYCIVCAS-55[279])
Colonel Archibald Gracie (1913) The Truth about the Titanic. New York, Mitchell Kennerley
List or Manifest of Alien Passengers for the United States Immigration Officer At Port Of Arrival (Date: 18th-19th June 1912, Ship: Carpathia) - National Archives, NWCTB 85 T715 Vol 4183
Daisy Spedden (1994) Polar, the Titanic Bear

Contributors
Dave Aldworth, USA
Leighton H. Coleman III, USA
Phillip Gowan, USA
Hermann Söldner, Germany

Travelling Companions (on same ticket)
Mr Frederic Oakley Spedden
Mrs Margaretta Corning Spedden
Master Robert Douglas Spedden
Miss Helen Alice Wilson