Maids of 1st class women

[Dennis Foley]

"ANTR" lists several maids of some of the first-class women as having been lost. Is this true? If so, who were they? Thanks. Dennis

 

[Michael Findlay]

Hi Dennis,

None of the first-class maids were lost. I'm afraid the list in ANTR was a rough copy of the Senate Investigation roster which incorrectly listed several of the maids as having perished. All of them turned up alive -- most of the valets, however, were not as fortunate.

Mike Findlay

 

[Smith Mize]

No maids, but plenty of manservants and assistants.

- Smith [email protected]

 

[Kyrila Scully]

I'm aware of three crew women who were lost. You can check the biographies for the names as I don't recall them at the moment and I don't have a copy of my book for myself.

Kyrila

 

[Michael H. Standart]

Doing a quick check of the female crew members who were lost gave me these names;

Wallis, Mrs Richard James (Katherine Jane Moore)-Stewardess
Snape, Mrs Lucy Violet-2cnd Class Stewardess.
Wallis, Mrs Catherine Jane "Cissie"-Matron.

Caveat, I may have missed a couple so you may want to double check for yourself.

 

[Brian Meister]

Mike S,

You are correct that 3 women crew members
lost their lives in the sinking, however
due to the lateness of the hour, you mis-
named one of them. They were:

Mrs Catherine Jane Wallis
Mrs Lucy Violet Snape
Mrs Katherine Walsh

Each of these ladies should be honored for
their bravery in the saving of their
passengers.

 

[Michael H. Standart]

Thanks Brian. Maybe somebody should refer this to Phil Hind for action as I cut and paste the names directly from the crew lists.

 

[Bob Godfrey]

The 'Daily Sketch' newspaper on April 30 1912 offered this brief explanation for the loss of (presumably) Catherine Wallis:

The stewardess-matron, Mrs Wallis, refused to leave her room. Her remark was "I am not going on deck; I am going back where I am safe."

Bob

 

[Dennis Foley]

I recently saw a PBS show on Titanic interviewing Mrs. Wallis's granddaughter who told us that Mrs. Wallis was "invited" into a lifeboat but turned and ran to her cabin stating that she needed to get her "papers", presumably personal business. Who knows? Dennis

 

[Bob Godfrey]

I don't have much faith in newspaper accounts without credited sources, but having said that I don't feel this one conflicts with the PBS version. If Mrs Wallis preferred the 'safety' of the unsinkable Titanic to the descent into darkness in a lifeboat she was certainly not alone in her choice, at least in the early stages. But while the passengers could make up their own minds, Wallis was a crewmember under orders so if she had intended to head for her cabin and stay there she might still have felt a need to give the impression she intended to return. Once away from the officers on the boatdeck, she is more likely to have given a straight answer to any fellow steward who tried to persuade her to go back. Pure speculation, of course!

Bob

 

[Linda Walker]

I found a website saying that there were black maids on Titanic. Joseph Laroche and his two daughters wasn't the only black passengers on the ship.

http://lipstickonthebrain.tumblr.com/post/1310613400/so-id-say-over-75-of-all-the-people-that-have

[Moderator's note: This message, originally posted as a separate thread in a different subtopic, has been moved to this pre-existing thread about the maids on Titanic.]

 

[Mark Baber]

Linda, there are lots of web sites out there that have lots of incorrect information on them. This seems to be one of those.

 

[Bob Godfrey]

Specifically, that site claims: "There were black maids, who had to go down with the ship because of their skin even though all women were supposed to get on the little boats".

Untrue on several counts. Second Officer Lightoller turned several stewardesses (all white) away from the boats because they were crew members. Whatever their colour might have been, there were no maids among the victims. The suggestion that colour was a consideration in the loading of the boats does no justice to the crewmen involved, who made so such distinction. Among the 3rd Class passengers the dark-skinned Syrians, for instance, achieved a much higher rate of survival than did the white Anglo-Saxon British.