Encyclopedia Titanica
Philip Hind
Staff member
Member
Sarah Daniels : Titanic Survivor
Bess Allison's maid wrote from the Titanic: I wish you were here, it is a lovely boat... am just going on deck.
www.encyclopedia-titanica.org
M
mary mason
Member
does any one know what became of sarah daniels after the disaster, like if she married and had children and when she died?
thanks
thanks
S
Shannon Duff
Member
No clue, sorry
J
Jason Lee Daniel
Member
I am also intrigued to know what became of her.....I am trying to trace my ancestry and find out if any of the three "daniels" in the first class are in my lineage.....so if you find something, please let me know.....
B
Brian Ahern
Member
Jason et al,
Judith Geller's "Women and Children First" discussed Sarah. I don't remember if it discussed her ultimate fate, although it did include a letter to relations in England following the disaster. She discussed the somber travelling party back to Canada consisting of the surviving servants and Allison family relatives; and described trying to seem respectfully solemn when she was really feeling euphoric at being alive.
Judith Geller's "Women and Children First" discussed Sarah. I don't remember if it discussed her ultimate fate, although it did include a letter to relations in England following the disaster. She discussed the somber travelling party back to Canada consisting of the surviving servants and Allison family relatives; and described trying to seem respectfully solemn when she was really feeling euphoric at being alive.
G
Garret
Member
She left with Trevor with him in boat 11, as in says here ... please get your information right and so which boat did they enter/leave in
P
Phoebe Head
Member
Alice Cleaver had Trevor.
J
Jane (2586)
Member
How do you know that Sarah Rebecca Daniels was THE Sarah Daniels on the ship? WHat connects them?
Arun Vajpey
Member
I have been meaning to try and research about Sarah Rebecca Daniels' life following the Titanic disaster. Very little information is available on the web but I'll keep searching.
I did not know about the letter that she is supposed to have sent her British relatives after the disaster (see above post). I think I do have a copy of Judith Geller's book somewhere (most likely packed with many others in a warehouse waiting to be shipped to our second home in India once this Coronavirus situation improves) but have so far missed the account about this letter. As far as I am aware, she sent a postcard to a friend from Queenstown - the famous "Wish you were here card" that was later auctioned, complete with the 1912 Irish stamp. But this other letter is news to me.
After failing to convince Hudson Allison about the seriousness of the situation, Sarah Daniels was rescued on Lifeboat #8 on the port side. Her colleague Alice Cleaver, as is well documented, rescued baby Trevor Allison and the two escaped on Lifeboat #11 on the starboard side.
The only other post-sinking mention about Sarah Daniels is a supposed short interview in Canada. She told the Manitoba Free Press: “The boat I was in was not very crowded. There were only 4 men in the boat and they took the oars. There was no officer in the boat and a woman steered as we were rowing away in the darkness.”
There are speculations that later Sarah Daniels settled down, got married and lived out her life in Canada, probably somewhere in Quebec.
I would be grateful for any reference, link etc about Sarah Daniels after the Titanic disaster.
I did not know about the letter that she is supposed to have sent her British relatives after the disaster (see above post). I think I do have a copy of Judith Geller's book somewhere (most likely packed with many others in a warehouse waiting to be shipped to our second home in India once this Coronavirus situation improves) but have so far missed the account about this letter. As far as I am aware, she sent a postcard to a friend from Queenstown - the famous "Wish you were here card" that was later auctioned, complete with the 1912 Irish stamp. But this other letter is news to me.
After failing to convince Hudson Allison about the seriousness of the situation, Sarah Daniels was rescued on Lifeboat #8 on the port side. Her colleague Alice Cleaver, as is well documented, rescued baby Trevor Allison and the two escaped on Lifeboat #11 on the starboard side.
The only other post-sinking mention about Sarah Daniels is a supposed short interview in Canada. She told the Manitoba Free Press: “The boat I was in was not very crowded. There were only 4 men in the boat and they took the oars. There was no officer in the boat and a woman steered as we were rowing away in the darkness.”
There are speculations that later Sarah Daniels settled down, got married and lived out her life in Canada, probably somewhere in Quebec.
I would be grateful for any reference, link etc about Sarah Daniels after the Titanic disaster.
Encyclopedia Titanica
Philip Hind
Staff member
Member
Let's look at what we actually know about the Titanic survivor and go from there. She appears to not be in the passenger list, like several other servants, but she is in the immigration list of passengers leaving the Carpathia. This gives her name (we have to assume it is genuine but some passengers used aliases), states she is 33 years old, born in London, single, is Maid to Mrs Allison, gives a physical description, and a home country contact of Miss (or Mrs) Green, Harborne, Birmingham. It says it is her first trip to the USA, this leaves open the question of whether she had ever been to the Allison's home country of Canada. There is nothing here to say how long she had been in the Allisons' employ. We know from her own testimony (in a letter to Walter Lord) that Alice Cleaver was taken on at the last minute, but we have no firm information on Sarah Daniels' career.
What else do we have?
The transcripts of the Senate Hearings lists her as Sarah Daniels with the last address and destination as the Allisons i.e. 152 Abbey Road, West Hampstead, N. W. and Montreal, Quebec. She is also listed as Sarah Daniels in the Senate survivors list transcript.
The limitation of liability hearings transcript also list her in the baggage claims section but there is no other info, not even a sum for the claim.
I'm not sure if there are any other official documents that mention Sarah Daniels the Titanic survivor?
Mildred Brown mentions Sarah (but calls her Sallie) in a letter home:
Everything else is from newspaper articles and books. I think a lot of these need to be unpicked as to the events on the Titanic after the collision and the actions of the different members of the Allison party as there is much that is contradictory and as so often the case it can be hard to tell what is direct testimony what are educated guesses by historians or journalists and what are complete fabrications. However we are just looking at the question of Sarah's identity and what other possible leads there might be.
There were a few syndicated articles that quoted Sarah Daniels.
The Chicago Tribune 20 April contains an article about Mrs Allison that mentions Sarah albeit in this case she is named Sadie and Trevor Hudson is called Wilbur! It doesn't really give us many clues though as to Sarah's identity. It talks about the account having been telephoned by the niece of a Mrs Adam Gross of Milwaukee. Although this implies Sarah's aunt it is more likely an aunt of Bess Allison who came from Milwaukee. But it would be worth checking out anyway to ascertain who that was. I have not (yet) manageed to find an aunt of Bess Alison who was married to an Adam Gross but there may be records to show it, or it may of course be another naming error (of which there are many in this article).
Sarah is directly quoted in the Winnipeg Free Press (24 April 1912), in which she describes being in a boat that was not particulalry full and had only four men (she does not say if they were passengers or crew) and no officer.
Another faint lead might be in the person of Miss Green, the person Sarah sent a postcard to from Queenstown. When this postcard was auctioned in 2018 the vendor revealed that Miss Green was his great-aunt, Ellen Louisa Green, who lived at 4 Somerville Terrace, Harborne Park Road, Harborne, Birmingham. This was her parents' home. In fact when she died in 1963 she was still living there (according to the probate record).
The vendor mentioned some other postcards that Sarah had written to Ellen from 1906 onwards and that they were sometimes signed "Fisdig" and sometimes just "S". Perhaps these other postcards might contain further clues... and perhaps someone will oneday decode "Fisdig"!
What else do we have to go on? Not very much. It has been suggested that Sarah was one Sarah Rebecca Daniels who was born at 18 East Street in Marylebone, London, England on 10 November 1875. The age isn't too far off and she was a Sarah Daniels born in London who was later a maid, but it is unclear if there is any actual evidence that this is the Titanic survivor, or just someone that might be.
Finally, Phil Gowan informed me in 2001 that Sarah's married name was Selleck (or Sellick) but he never provided any further details so I don't know if he or anyone else ever followed that up.
There is much speculation about what became of Sarah and some of this crept into our biography so I have belatedly amended it to reflect what I think we actually know. Hopefully others can help with further research.
What else do we have?
The transcripts of the Senate Hearings lists her as Sarah Daniels with the last address and destination as the Allisons i.e. 152 Abbey Road, West Hampstead, N. W. and Montreal, Quebec. She is also listed as Sarah Daniels in the Senate survivors list transcript.
The limitation of liability hearings transcript also list her in the baggage claims section but there is no other info, not even a sum for the claim.
I'm not sure if there are any other official documents that mention Sarah Daniels the Titanic survivor?
Mildred Brown mentions Sarah (but calls her Sallie) in a letter home:
Everything else is from newspaper articles and books. I think a lot of these need to be unpicked as to the events on the Titanic after the collision and the actions of the different members of the Allison party as there is much that is contradictory and as so often the case it can be hard to tell what is direct testimony what are educated guesses by historians or journalists and what are complete fabrications. However we are just looking at the question of Sarah's identity and what other possible leads there might be.
There were a few syndicated articles that quoted Sarah Daniels.
The Chicago Tribune 20 April contains an article about Mrs Allison that mentions Sarah albeit in this case she is named Sadie and Trevor Hudson is called Wilbur! It doesn't really give us many clues though as to Sarah's identity. It talks about the account having been telephoned by the niece of a Mrs Adam Gross of Milwaukee. Although this implies Sarah's aunt it is more likely an aunt of Bess Allison who came from Milwaukee. But it would be worth checking out anyway to ascertain who that was. I have not (yet) manageed to find an aunt of Bess Alison who was married to an Adam Gross but there may be records to show it, or it may of course be another naming error (of which there are many in this article).
Sarah is directly quoted in the Winnipeg Free Press (24 April 1912), in which she describes being in a boat that was not particulalry full and had only four men (she does not say if they were passengers or crew) and no officer.
Another faint lead might be in the person of Miss Green, the person Sarah sent a postcard to from Queenstown. When this postcard was auctioned in 2018 the vendor revealed that Miss Green was his great-aunt, Ellen Louisa Green, who lived at 4 Somerville Terrace, Harborne Park Road, Harborne, Birmingham. This was her parents' home. In fact when she died in 1963 she was still living there (according to the probate record).
The vendor mentioned some other postcards that Sarah had written to Ellen from 1906 onwards and that they were sometimes signed "Fisdig" and sometimes just "S". Perhaps these other postcards might contain further clues... and perhaps someone will oneday decode "Fisdig"!
What else do we have to go on? Not very much. It has been suggested that Sarah was one Sarah Rebecca Daniels who was born at 18 East Street in Marylebone, London, England on 10 November 1875. The age isn't too far off and she was a Sarah Daniels born in London who was later a maid, but it is unclear if there is any actual evidence that this is the Titanic survivor, or just someone that might be.
Finally, Phil Gowan informed me in 2001 that Sarah's married name was Selleck (or Sellick) but he never provided any further details so I don't know if he or anyone else ever followed that up.
There is much speculation about what became of Sarah and some of this crept into our biography so I have belatedly amended it to reflect what I think we actually know. Hopefully others can help with further research.
Arun Vajpey
Member
Very interesting post, Phil. I have met several Titanic enthusiasts (mostly BTS members) who felt that there was something dodgy about Sarah Daniels' background and that might be the reason that so little is known about it.
But as far as is known, there was a 30-something woman named (or calling herself) Sarah Daniels on the Titanic as part of the Allison entourage. As far as I am aware, neither Alice Cleaver nor Mildred Brown said anything to the contrary. Sarah Daniels was employed as a persona maid to Bess Allison and had no designated responsibility to either child, even though some accounts erroneously list her as the nurse to Loraine Allison.
But what do you think of that report in the Chicago Tribune of 20th April 1912 that you have provided? If Sarah Daniels was really the author of the letter, how do we explain the strange references to "my sister" or her husband "Herbert" or "Little Wilbur"? And how could Daniels, who was saved on Lifeboat #8, be able to see and identify Bess and Loraine from about half-a-mile away when the Titanic sank? Those mistakes and embellishments must have come from someone but would a paper of the stature of the Tribune stoop to that level? I personally think it was Sarah Daniels herself.
Until recently I thought the woman quoted above was the Sarah Daniels, Titanic survivor. Most accounts list her age as 36 when she boarded the Titanic, which fits in with the date of birth there, as does the middle name Rebecca. But as you say, there does not seem to be any concrete evidence and "Sarah" and "Daniels" were (and are) very common names and there could have been several women with those names in London in 1911-12.
But as far as is known, there was a 30-something woman named (or calling herself) Sarah Daniels on the Titanic as part of the Allison entourage. As far as I am aware, neither Alice Cleaver nor Mildred Brown said anything to the contrary. Sarah Daniels was employed as a persona maid to Bess Allison and had no designated responsibility to either child, even though some accounts erroneously list her as the nurse to Loraine Allison.
But what do you think of that report in the Chicago Tribune of 20th April 1912 that you have provided? If Sarah Daniels was really the author of the letter, how do we explain the strange references to "my sister" or her husband "Herbert" or "Little Wilbur"? And how could Daniels, who was saved on Lifeboat #8, be able to see and identify Bess and Loraine from about half-a-mile away when the Titanic sank? Those mistakes and embellishments must have come from someone but would a paper of the stature of the Tribune stoop to that level? I personally think it was Sarah Daniels herself.
Encyclopedia Titanica
Philip Hind
Staff member
Member
OK, I'd be interested to know what accounts these are as the only place I have seen her age mentioned is on the immigration list.
Seumas
Member
Might the recently unsealed 1921 Census of England & Wales be of any use ?
Arun Vajpey
Member
To be honest, I cannot think off the top of my head where I saw that date of birth 10th November 1875; could it have been on her ET bio before it was revised? It still says that DoB on the "Titanic Wiki" site but I accept that it is a rather lightweight source. But I am sure that I have seen that supposed date of birth elsewhere and have a VERY good reason to remember it; I was born on that exact date - 10th November - albeit 80 years later in 1955.
Encyclopedia Titanica
Philip Hind
Staff member
Member
Never heard of that site but they must have just copied the date off the old ET bio. It is still in the bio footnotes as it might be her, but there doesn't seem to be any additional corroborating evidence to link this person with the Titanic survivor other than similarities of name, age and occupation etc.
