Maids as Paying Passengers

[Christopher Gill]

I was just reading about a 2nd class passenger Ms. Clear Annie (Forget last name) on the Titanica passenger list. She was a personal maid and usually made 25-30 dollars a month! That seems like a good amount of money, being she could have saved a months pay and went first class. She booked second and still had more to spare. So was Titanic really reasonably priced? Or were maids just payed very well? (Personal Maids)

~Chris

 

[Lester Mitcham]

Christopher,

The minimum 1st Class fare was $130 - that could be rebated by $15 if you did not eat in the main Dining Room, but paid for your own meals in the Restaurant. - A servant's ticket in 1st Class cost their employer $77.50. - A 2nd Class ticket cost $65. Miss Cameron only paid $52.50 as she had booked to sail on another ship.

 

[Bob Godfrey]

Chris, I think perhaps you've seen the listed ticket prices quoted in UK pounds and thought them to be in US dollars. If so, then you need to apply the 1912 exchange rate, which was roughly 5 dollars to the pound. So a typical 3rd Class ticket, for instance, cost 8 pounds or 40 dollars - quite a lot more than the monthly income you specified. Women working in domestic service were not in general well paid, but a lady's personal maid like Clear Cameron would be relatively well paid compared to a housemaid, who would typically earn around two pounds (ten dollars) a month.
.

 

[Christopher Gill]

Oh.

Thanks for clearing that up. She must have had to save a bit before booking second class. Thanks for the help.