Kimby-
Edith was a single woman traveling on the Titanic who was surprised and delighted to find that her aunt, Malvina Cornell, was on board, as well as Malvina’s sisters, Caroline Brown and Charlotte Appleton. Colonel Archibald Gracie became the ladies’ protector, as was customary for men to do for women traveling alone. On the night of the collision, Edith, standing on the port side of A Deck as the tilt under her feet increased, told Colonel Gracie that a fortune teller had once told her to ‘beware of water’ and that she was sure she would drown. Unsuccessfully trying to reassure her, Gracie left the women in the care of Officer Moody who was loading Lifeboat 4. Edith and Caroline Brown ended up separated from the rest of their party, and were left desperately searching for a lifeboat, but the remaining boats were all full. Both women received a place on one boat, but were asked to leave because of overcrowding. They rushed to the last lifeboat, only to find that one spot remained. Edith pushed Caroline towards the boat saying, "Please take this lady. She has children." This boat, Collapsible D, was the last boat lowered at 2:05 am, only 15 minutes before the ship went down. According to Gracie, when he saw her at the end she seemed "perfectly calm". She bravely gave up her life to let Caroline Brown live. I’ve always been fascinated with this story, and wondered why she seemed resigned to the fact that she would die. I don’t really know very much about Edith. Everything I stated here came from the book Women and Children First by Judith B. Geller, an excellent source of information on individual passengers, though a bit presumptuous at times in my opinion. If anyone knows where I can learn more about Miss Evans I would greatly appreciate your sharing the source.
-Julie