Evelyn Marsden

[Matt Endacott]

Hey,
I was just wondering if any one knew of any pics of Evelyn Marsden or any other info on her as she grew up in South Australia & i am in the process of researching Australian passengers & crew. Does anyone know where on the ship she worked?
Best Regards,
matt E. (aus)

 

[Inger Sheil]

You may want to do a search, Matt, as she has been discussed before on the messageboard.

Here are a couple of threads - the first includes a photo Dave Gittens posted of the Station where she was born:

Australians

Anyone know if there were any Australian passengers or crew on Titanic; or any survivors who later settled in Australia? Thanks Tarn Stephanos

www.encyclopedia-titanica.org

Stewardesses

Dear Hildo, Can I ask why you wish to omit Mrs Bliss from the group photo. The photograph was taken on the return of survivors to Britain, while they were being detained by the British authorities and while they were all interviewed. Mrs Bliss signed off the ship's articles, and from an...

www.encyclopedia-titanica.org

 

[Brian J. Ticehurst]

Matt,
Here a bit more I hope it helps?
MARSDEN, MISS EVELYN. Saved in Lifeboat number 16. 7 West Marlands Terrace, Polygon, Southampton. Stewardess. 27. (Hampshire). RMS Olympic.
(From The Derbyshire Times, Saturday April 20th, 1912).
Miss Marsden Saved
Miss Marsden the niece of Mr. George Robinson of Chesterfield, is among the rescued. Mr. George Robinson had a telegram yesterday (Friday morning) announcing this fact.
(From The Derbyshire Times, April, 1912).
Chesterfield Victim
A young lady who has intimate relatives in Chesterfield was among the officers on the ill-fated Titanic. She is Miss Evelyn Marsden, and is a niece of Mr. and Mrs. G. Robinson, Ash Tree, Chesterfield. A nurse-stewardess in the first saloon, Miss Marsden had previously served on the Olympic and Oceana. her parents are Mr. and Mrs. Walter Marsden, of Adelaide, Australia, her father being the stationmaster at Hoyleton. Both father and daughter had a large number of friends and acquaintances in Chesterfield, and they are hoping that Miss Marsden may have been among those rescued. It was a passion for the sea that led Miss Marsden to quit hospital service in Melbourne, where she received her training, and a trip to England as shipboard companion induced her to go in for a position which would enable her to spend most of her life on the water. Miss Marsden was engaged to a gentleman who is the doctor on the Macedonia, and they were to have been married in the course of a month or two.
Later she did marry Dr. William Abel James who at that time was ships doctor on the Irishman.

 

[Hitch]

Can anyone tell me, what cabin/family Evelyn Marsden was serving?

Thank you.

 

[Lester Mitcham]

Hello Carl,

Under Cabin Numbers>>Did the Stewards and stewardesses sleep together, I noted from an earlier post by Hildo Thiel the following information:

"From Craig Stringer I have the following information about which stewardesses where on which deck.

- Mrs. Gold was on B-deck, with Mrs Martin.
- Mrs. Leather was on C-deck with Miss Jessop
- Miss Sloan was on C-deck too, with Miss Marsden.
- Miss Prichard was on D-deck. She shared her cabin with Miss Smith. So I think we can put Miss Smith on D-deck too.
- Mrs. Robinson was on E-deck, with two others. Possibly, Miss Lavington and Mrs. Bliss.
- Miss Stap may have worked on A-deck."

All we can say is that Miss Marsden shared with Miss Sloan and that they were in one of the "3" stewardesses rooms on C-deck.

 

[Hitch]

Thanks Lester. But I want to know witch cabin or family Evelyn Marsden was serving, not where she slept.

 

[Bob Godfrey]

Carl, haven't we been here before? Stewardesses did not serve single cabins or families. Each worked a 'section' of cabins with about a dozen lady passengers, and it does help to know the locations of their own cabins because that's a good clue to which passengers they might have served in neighbouring staterooms. Miss Marsden, however, was a qualified nurse and described at the time as a 'nurse-stewardess'. I think it likely that she had no fixed 'section', leaving her free to assist the two doctors and to serve mainly those 1st Class passengers who were confined to their cabins by sickness.

Her own cabin (shared with Miss Sloan) was probably the one adjacent to stateroom C127. This was very close to the surgery and to the doctors' cabins. Miss Sloan wrote that Dr Simpson came to their room within a few minutes of the collision and then took them both to his own cabin for a fortifying glass of whisky and water.
.

 

[malcolm john cheape]

I post here a letter received from WA James by Bruce Ismay 29th july 1912. which may be of interest to people looking for info on Evelyn Marsden.

Poste Restante
General post office
London
29th july 1912

Bruce Ismay Esq
Dear Sir
I had wished to write to you before this but now i have to;for i wish to ask you influence on my behalf.
I was married on wednesday last 24july. and to you i feel so unspeakably, undyingly grateful, for as she says, had it not been for you ,she would not have been alive, and so my wife today- words, and words written are very cold, Sir - but do__believe me, when i say how utterly grateful i am to you for saving her life. She was a stewardess, only a stewardess, but that made no difference to you. and so you saved her. and i am happy to have made her my wife as soon as i returned to England. She is Australian, a nurse qualified at the Adelaide General Hospital. I am wishful to take her back to Australia and make a home for her out there. and so i ask your favour, that you will allow me to work my passage out to Australia as Surgeon on one of your ships. and also that you will allow her to accompany me. I have saved enough money to pay her passage.
I called today at your London Office and i was instructed to call again on wednesday. In the meantime i am making my appeal to you.
Well Sir whether you grant it or not , i shall get to Australia somehow or other. I cannot tell you how i thank you. she never ceases to sing your praises. and so from two hearts there will daily come a prayer for 'Bruce Ismay' this , as you said 'you are all women now', and she and i sincerely say 'Dieu vous [unread word]
yours ever gratefully
W A James

 

[Dave Gittins]

Malcolm, as one of the main researchers of Evelyn Marsden, I thank you for this interesting letter. I'll pass it on to another Australian researcher.

It may help us find out when and where the couple reached Australia. From local records it seems they went to Sydney before moving to South Australia in late 1913. If they went on a White Star ship we might be better able to find the record. I've long suspected that one or both worked their passage. It's interesting that a ship's doctor couldn't afford a fare to Australia.

The reference to the Adelaide General Hospital is possibly wrong. Today the main hospital is the Royal Adelaide Hospital but it might not have been Royal in those days. According to another source she trained in Melbourne.

 

[Dave Gittins]

I see the Adelaide Hospital was not Royal until 2 November 1939. Dr James is therefore roughly correct. I'll see if the RAH Heritage Unit has a record of Evelyn. I've already proved that Dr James never worked there, contrary to information on her ET biography.

Here's part of Dr James's surgery sign from his Wallaroo surgery. The Dr Harbison mentioned was one of a notable South Australian medical dynasty.

 

[Adam Went]

Hi all,

The other night on television here in Australia, there was a feature story on a current affairs program about a Titanic survivor named Evelyn Marsden. She is special to us because she is the only Australian to have survived the sinking - though there was only 5 on board all up. As it turns out she has quite an interesting story to tell, being that she was a champion rower back at home and thus was one of the ladies to take the oars in the lifeboats and help to keep them moving until the Carpathia arrived. It was not particularly considered to be a woman's domain in 1912 but she had already made it her own. Also, she had sailed on the Titanic to pursue a love interest with a doctor who was supposed to be working aboard the Titanic, but who had been transferred and so Evelyn had had to sail anyway.

You can watch the story here, it really is very interesting:
Sunday Night Videos - Yahoo!7 TV

Cheers,
Adam.

 

[Dave Fredericks]

Very interesting. thanks for the link Adam.

 

[181214]

The Southampton church where Evelyn and William were married does survive down Commerical Road, opposite the Mayflair.

 

[Adam Went]

Thanks for that Andrew!

 

[181214]

>>oppisite the Mayflair. Ooops I am thinkning of the Mayflair Pub on the River Test at Stockbridge. My fault - humble apologies. I meant the Mayflower.