Miss Margaret "Mary" Mannion was born in the townland of Loughanboy, Ahascragh, Co. Galway on 1 November 1883 (1), the daughter of Lawrence Mannion and Margaret Small. She had two sisters, Cecilia and Mary.

Margaret bought her ticket at the nearby village of Ballygar and set off for America (2) with a group led by Martin Gallagher of Currafurry. Thomas Kilgannon, Thomas Smyth, Margaret and her friend Ellen Mockler were all from the parish of Caltra and were persuaded to come to America by Martin Gallagher who was visiting his family in Ireland after living in the United States for several years.

She boarded the Titanic at Queenstown as a third class passenger (ticket number 36866, £7 14s 9d).

After the Titanic collided with an iceberg, Margaret and Ellen Mockler were assisted to the Boat Deck by Martin Gallagher and Tom Kilgannon and were placed in Lifeboat 16.

Upon arrival in New York City where her sister Mary was already living, Margaret became a domestic and lived there for seven years.

In 1919 she returned to her home in Ireland for a visit (3) and married Martin Hopkins there. She spent the rest of her life in the village of Ahascragh where she raised her family, with the exception of the last eleven years when she lived in the town of Clontuskert. She died in Clontuskert, Ireland on 15 May 1970.

Notes
1. Ray (1999) gives her age as 24.
2. Sources differ: some give her destination as New York City, others as Chicago.
3. It was reported that she returned to Ireland on the Carpathia, but this is in error as the Cunard vessel was torpedoed and sunk in 1918.

Sources
Contract Ticket List, White Star Line 1912 (National Archives, New York; NRAN-21-SDNYCIVCAS-55[279]).
Noel Ray (1999) List of Passengers who Boarded RMS Titanic at Queenstown, April 11, 1912. The Irish Titanic Historical Society
Connaught Telegraph (Co Mayo), 4 February 1998

Contributors
Cameron Bell, Northern Ireland
Robert L. Bracken, USA
Michael A. Findlay, USA
Senan Molony, Ireland
Noel Ray, Ireland