Mrs Annie Margaret Hold (née Hill)

Mrs Stephen Hold (Margaret Annie Hill) was born in the village of Porthoustock, Cornwall in 1884 (1). She was the daughter of Mary Alberta Hill and grand-daughter of James Hill, a fisherman who was also the coxswain of the Porthoustock Lifeboat.

Annie married Stephen Hold also originally of Porthoustock at the parish church in St Keverne on 18 October 1909. He was by then an American citizen having moved, in the early 1880's, to Sacramento, California. After their marriage they both moved to live in Sacramento at 630 M Street (since renamed Capitol Mall).

They returned to England in November 1911, staying for part of the time with her husband's mother and aunt's at 31 St Georges Terrace, Devonport, Plymouth, Devon. During their stay they also visited her mother (by this time married and called Mrs Gregory) who was living at 99 Irsha Street, Appledore, North Devon. They also went to visit her grandfather in Porthoustock, Cornwall. A San Francisco newspaper article reported that Annie's husband had sent a post card to his employer (W. H. Bradley) in April 1912 saying that they were shortly to return to Sacramento. Interestingly the card bore a Liverpool postmark which may indicate they were due to return to America from Liverpool and, like so many others, their passage was switched to the Titanic because of the coal strikes.

They embarked Titanic at Southampton under ticket number 26707 costing £26 0s for them both, travelling in second class.

Annie was saved in lifeboat 10 and it appears she lived in Sacramento for a while after the tragedy. She later returned to Cornwall where she found work as a bookeeper. She had been left $4000 in her husband's will.

She lived in the St Keverne area for the remainder of her life, most of the time spent suffering from severe rheumatism as a result of the tragedy. She went on to marry for a second time to Joseph Northey Bailey.

Annie died on 1 March 1960 and was buried in the parish churchyard of St Keverne.

© Steve Coombes,UK

The full inscription reads:

Travelling Companions (on same ticket)
Mr Stephen Hold