I've recently been researching the life and activities of the hitherto rather shadowy Lucile Carter.
Mrs Carter rates a cursory mention in most 'Titanic' literature as one of the more socially prominent passengers but, beyond that, I've known little about her. Yet I've been intrigued to discover that she was in fact a very heavy-hitter on the party circuits of turn-of-the-century New York, Newport and Philadelphia. Indeed, it could reasonably be claimed that she and her husband, William, were among the most truly 'social' of all those travelling in first-class. Furthermore, if contemporary press reports are to be believed, then Lucile herself would have been one of the most attractive, elegant and fashion-conscious women aboard.
Lucile Polk was born in Baltimore on 8 October, 1875, the daughter of Mr and Mrs William Stewart Polk, representatives of 'a very old Southern family' which could count among its members James K. Polk, eleventh President of the United States. She triumphed during her debutante year, during which, chaperoned by her cousin, Mrs Tillotson Hutchings, she came to be regarded as 'a great belle and a beauty'. Her engagement to William E. Carter of Philadelphia was announced in 1895 and the marriage took place in January of the following year. Making their main home at their estate, Gwedna, outside Bryn Mawr, the Carters had two children in quick succession; a daughter, Lucile Polk, in 1898 and a son, William Thornton, in 1900. Thereafter, the couple were seldom out of the Society columns, for they moved in the most illustrious of circles, attending every notable wedding, party and ball, besides the smart sporting events that William took a keen interest in. He was a polo player of some repute - he was part of Reggie Vanderbilt's team in a match at the Westchester Club in 1904 and later suffered a near-fatal accident on the field only months after the 'Titanic' disaster - and seems to have pursued other equine activities with similar fervour. In a letter of support and encouragement that she penned to Bruce Ismay in May 1912, Mrs Carter makes mention of the family having been in Melton Mowbray, Leicestershire, which was the very heart of fox-hunting country. Furthermore, their English chauffeur, Charles Aldworth, was from the neighbouring village of Rotherby. The hunt at Melton was the most glamorous in the world and I think it likely that the Carters took a house in the neighbourhood to facilitate William's active participation. Aldworth (who would perish on the 'Titanic') was presumably recruited during their stay. Besides polo and riding, Mr Carter was a noted man-about-town and belonged to numerous prestigious clubs, among them the Sons of the Revolution, the Rittenhouse, the Radnor Hunt, the Philadelphia Country and the St. Anthony.
By 1905, Charles Wilbur de Lyon Nicholls, in his book 'The Ultra-Fashionable Peerage of America', could name the Carters in his list of the smartest married couples in the States, along with the John Jacob Astors, the George D. Wideners and the Henry Siegels (Julia Cavendish's father and stepmother). When they came to board the 'Titanic', William and Lucile would have found many friends making the same crossing - besides the Wideners and the Astors (at any rate, the Colonel - probably not yet the much younger and relatively impecunious Madeleine), they were also well acquainted with J. Clinch Smith and the horse-loving Clarence Moore, having moved in the same circles since the beginning of the century. The activities of the Carters during the voyage are not documented but it is known that they were present at Eleanor Widener's highly exclusive dinner party, held in honour of Captain Smith in the crowded a la carte restaurant on the night of 14 April. Aside from George, Eleanor and Harry Widener, the other guests were Major Archibald Butt, President Taft's military aide, and John and Marian Thayer, who also hailed from the top-drawer of Philadelphia Society. Only hours after finishing their desserts and coffee, Mrs Widener, Mrs Thayer and Mrs Carter (the latter with her French maid, Auguste Serreplan, and two children) made their escape from the sinking 'Titanic' in Lifeboat No. 4. In her subsequent letter to Bruce Ismay, referenced above, Lucile was able to relay the news in a 'PS' that Marian and Jack were 'doing well' in the wake of their terrible ordeal.
In the early years of her marriage, Mrs Carter was a relatively pedestrian (albeit stylish) dresser. Her attire at the numerous functions she attended was widely reported and she was held up as one of the most elegant women in American Society. During the summer of 1902, for example, she attended a dance at the Newport Casino in white mousseline-de-soie with black chiffon trimmings (on a slight 'Titanic' tangent, Mrs J. Clinch Smith was also there, in white satin with chiffon trimmings). The following year, Lucile was conspicuous in the crowd of spectators at the Newport Tennis Tournament, wearing a white embroidered batiste coat over a white lace gown, with a mazurine blue hat topped with feathers. And the autumn of 1910 saw her at the Horse Show, also in Newport, attired in a tasteful cream chiffon tailor-made gown with a white polo coat and a large black hat. However, as the influence of Paul Poiret and the Ballets Russe crept over the Atlantic around 1911, so Lucile's wardrobe choices became more outlandish. It was noted that her 'freakish' gowns caused a sensation in conservative Philadelphia and she seems to have taken pleasure in flaunting the latest looks. Once, for example, she appeared at the Bellevue-Stafford in a Poiret-inspired ensemble of cream and green coloured satin with an ultra-modish harem skirt - the first time a garment of that type had been seen in the city. She walked through the entrance hall several times to make sure that everybody saw her (the Bellevue-Statford being THE hotel of choice for the Philadelphian elite of the period) and then went to the opera, where she showed off some more.
One can't help speculating that this new sartorial assertiveness may have been a symptom of the widening breech in the Carter marriage. Myself, I think it likely that the 'Titanic' disaster in the spring of 1912 was just one more step on the journey to divorce, rather than the reason for it. I've observed that Lucile has received something of a bad press in the 'Titanic' community. She and William underwent their sticky separation in early 1914 and the implication has been that Lucile didn't hesitate to blacken her husband's name by reviving the story that he actually left the sinking 'Titanic' BEFORE she and their children. The actual facts don't bother me so much - many people on the board will know to the precise second the relative departure times of Lifeboat No. 4 and Collapsible C. Yet it has been asserted in other threads that Lucile suffered something of a backlash after the split and was dropped by many of her Society friends who found the whole episode rather distasteful. I have to say, I've found precious little evidence to support this notion. Both the Carters continued to lead very active social lives in the years following the sinking and Lucile, both pre- and post-divorce (and her subsequent remarriage), was entertained by, and entertained in her turn, the very cream of New York and Newport Society.
An excellent example would be as follows. In August 1913, Mrs Stuyvesant Fish, the social powerhouse and particular crony of Lucile Carter, gave 'the party of the season' at Crossways, her Newport cottage. According to the press, 'the full membership of the summer colony' came flocking, besides assorted grandees from New York, Baltimore, Philadelphia and Boston. The theme (a typically bizarre choice by the hostess) was Nursery Rhymes - the house and grounds were festooned with electric lights, 'which made all as bright as day', and black cats with blinking electric eyes sat on the lawn. There were sunflowers and sheaves of wheat in the hallway, illuminated pumpkins, a life-size witch on a broom hanging in the well of the staircase and a 'huge open volume of Mother Goose', from the pages of which stepped a Fairy Godmother and her attendants, bearing standards and golden geese. Mother Goose herself then presented the characters from her rhymes - Little Bo Peep, Jack and Jill, Tom, Tom the Piper's Son etc - to the assembled throng and quadrilles and 'fairy dances' followed, during which balloons were sent up from all over the ballroom. Appropriately, the hostess attended as the Queen of the Fairies, in a costume covered with rhinestones and spangles, electric stars in her hair, silver slippers laced with ropes of diamonds, and a train of silver cloth carried by two small fairies (presumably local children brought in for the specific purpose). Lucile Carter was naturally present and caused a stir in her silver fairy costume. I find the image of this close-to-middle-aged Society matron, mother of two and 'Titanic' survivor, skipping around Mrs Fish's ballroom, 'fluttering her gauzy wings', pretty hard to resist!
The Carter divorce was announced by the press at the end of January 1914, and proceedings rumbled on throughout the first half of that year. The final decree was issued in Philadelphia on either 31 May or 16 June ('The New York Times' offers two conflicting dates). Hot on its heels, and much to the surprise of her Society friends, came Lucile's speedy remarriage to George Brooke, another Main Liner, who belonged to many of the same clubs as William Carter. Quite how the two men negotiated each other, when their paths crossed at every turn, I have no idea. The low-key wedding took place in London and was allegedly hastened by the outbreak of the Great War on 4 August. Lucile Polk had been enrolled by her mother at Wycombe Abbey, a prestigious English boarding school for girls (which numbered fellow 'Titanic' survivors Edith Pears and Elsie Bowerman among former pupils) but she didn't remain there for more than a year or so, since she was making her first forays in Newport by 1915, prior to her formal debut the following summer. With this end in view, the new Mrs Brooke plunged into the social whirl with renewed vigour. More elegant than ever, she was a key player in 'Fashion's Passing Show', a charity pageant in aid of Belgian war refugees hosted by Mrs Oelrichs at her sumptuous cottage, Rosecliff. Lucile's ensemble was singled out as especially worthy of praise: '...a beautiful dress of silver tissue cloth draped with black embroidered lace and a tulle bodice with sparkling trimming. Her pretty pale gold hair was beautifully dressed, as usual, with an ornament of diamonds and a black aigrette'. Three weeks later, she danced at the house-warming party Eleanor Widener threw at her sumptuous new villa, Miramar, wearing 'a soft white satin embroidered dress over silver, with a court train of white tulle with diamond shoulder straps'. She was also spotted on the Newport golf links in a group with, among others, the William K. Vanderbilts, Governor and Mrs R. Livingston Beeckman and the Spanish Ambassador and his wife.
Forecasting the pleasures of the Newport Season of 1916, 'The New York Times' highlighted Miss Carter as one of the leading debutantes. Her father, William, gave a large dance in her honour at his cottage, Quarterfoil, on 5 August, to which around four hundred guests were invited. However, this was trumped (perhaps intentionally) by the new Mrs Brooke's ball on six nights later at Morell Cottage, Ochre Point, which was one of the largest and grandest events of the year. Once again, the cream of Society came flocking to launch Lucile in style - Vanderbilts, Whitneys, Drexels, Belmonts, Goelets and Oelrichs. The Alexander Rices were there (Eleanor Widener having remarried by this stage) and so was fellow-deb, Lois Cassatt, who was shortly to become engaged to Jack Thayer. There was dancing in a sequence of brilliantly illuminated tents pitched on the lawns and the house was decorated with pink roses and gladioli. Miss Carter herself, who received with her mother and stepfather, wore a suitably maidenly gown of white silk with silver brocade and carried a bouquet of orchids.
After launching her daughter in the approved fashion, Lucile appears to have retreated into a more subdued middle-age. Certainly, her social activities were less extensively reported by newspapers such as 'The New York Times' and so my sources chronicling her life in the Twenties and early Thirties (she would die, at the relatively youthful age of 59, in October, 1934) are sparse. As I have written above, however, I would hesitate to attribute this apparent withdrawal to any kind of reaction against Lucile on the Newport scene, either because of the 'Titanic', her divorce or for any other reason. Perhaps fellow board-members can enlighten me further - it has been suggested that she became increasingly difficult, paranoid and eccentric in her old age. The psychological legacy, semi-suppressed in an age before counselling, of her ghastly experience on the Atlantic that night? It is interesting to note that, only months before her death, Lucile would host a dinner party at her home, Cave Cliff, for Madeleine Astor's son, John Jacob, on the eve of his marriage to Ellen Tuck French. More evidence, if it were needed, of how tightly-woven was the fabric of the 'Society' to which so many first-class passengers aboard the 'Titanic' belonged.
What particularly beguiles me about Lucile Carter's story is the way in which this woman, privileged in so many ways, and insulated from the harsh realities of life by her wealth and connections, yet had to assimilate an ordeal as traumatic as the sinking of the 'Titanic'. Although the Carters were luckier than most - their family unit survived intact - I would not be surprised to discover that the stress of the experience placed terrible pressure on both husband and wife, thereby hastening the end of an already fragile marriage. As Lucile went from lavish party to party, clad in couture gowns and dripping with jewels, I wonder what was REALLY going on inside her head?