Encyclopedia Titanica

Lucy Noël Martha, Countess of Rothes

Lucy Noël Martha, Countess of Rothes
Lucy Noël Martha, Countess of Rothes

The Countess of Rothes (Lucy Noël Martha Dyer-Edwards), was born in Kensington, London on 25 December 1878 the daughter of Thomas Dyer Edwardes and Clementina Villiers. She married Norman Evelyn Leslie (19th Earl of Rothes) in Kensington on 19 April 1900. In 1902 their son Malcolm was born, followed in 1909 by a second son, John.

ImageThe Countess boarded the Titanic at Southampton with her parents (travelling cross-channel only), her cousin Gladys Cherry and her maid Roberta Maioni. She was travelling to Vancouver, BC, Canada. She and Miss Cherry occupied cabin B-77.

The countess, her cousin and maid were rescued in lifeboat 8, she was later put to the tiller. As able seaman Thomas Jones put it "She had a lot to say, so I put her to steering the boat". This was not meant as a sarcastic remark, Jones seemed to admire the Countess very much and later presented her with the brass number plate from the boat, in later years they maintained a correspondence.

The Earl of Rothes died in March 1927, the total value of his Will being £2,000.

On 22 December 1927 Noel married Colonel Claude Macfie DSO in Chelsea, London.

Lucy died in Hove, Sussex on 12 September 1956, aged 77.  Lucy Macfie was cremated at the Downs Crematorium, Brighton, Sussex (the funeral home was Hannington Funeral Home, Brighton). Noel's remains are buried next to her first husband in the Leslie Vault in Christ's Kirk on the Green Churchyard, Leslie, Fife, Scotland.

Notes

  1. He died 23nd December 1963, aged 85, and was cremated 30th December 1963 at Cheltenham cemetery and crematorium, Surrey, London. His remains were collected by Malcolm George Dyer-Edwardes Leslie (later 20th Earl of Rothes) and later scattered at sea.

References and Sources

General Register Office Certificate of Death
Denver Times, 15 April 1912
Daily Graphic (London), 20 April 1912
New York Herald, 22 April 1912
Unknown Newpapers, 1912
Judith Geller (1998) Titanic: Women and Children First. Haynes. ISBN 1 85260 594 4
Who's Who
Debretts

Research Articles

Randy Bryan Bigham Titanica! (2006) A Matter of Course
Titanic's Plucky Countess

Newspaper Articles

New York Times (16 April 1912) Lord Rothes Awaits Wife
New York Times (16 April 1912) The Countess Of Rothes (1)
Excelsior (17 April 1912) Portraits Of Famous Titanic Passengers
Worcester Evening Gazette (19 April 1912) Brave Countess Takes Charge Of Lifeboat
New York physician escaped on the same boat as Countess Rothes
Daily Graphic (20 April 1912) Some Of The Saved
Totnes Times & Devon News (20 April 1912) The Local Passengers
New York Times (20 April 1912) Women Revealed As Heroines By Wreck (1)
LADY ROTHES DESCRIBES THE HORROR OF SURVIVORS' CHASE OF PHANTOM LIGHT
New York Times (22 April 1912) Countess Of Rothes
New York Times (23 April 1912) Ancestor Of Rothes Saved A Princess
Torquay Directory (24 April 1912) The Countess Of Rothes
New York Times (12 May 1912) Society Notes From Abroad
St. Andrews Citizen (24 December 1927) Lady Rothes To Marry
Leeds Mercury (10 June 1932) Marriage Of John Leslie, Son Of Lady Rothes
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Comment and discuss

  1. Thomas Krom

    That so called photo of Rothes standing next to Boat 8 is unsubstantiated. When you look at Walter Lord's illustrated version of "A Night to Remember", it shows that photo, and simply states that "...The Countess of Rothes would be at its tiller 4 nights later". Then successive books show the same photo stating that it was Rothes standing next to the boat! I mean, have a close look for yourself at Lord's book. And that brings me to another thing about the Countess. Exactly what did this society woman DO to deserve hero status? Just sitting at the tiller of boat 8 doesn't seem to be much. She was probably too privelaged to feel that she had to take an oath and row the bloody thing. But of course, the Countess had probably never done an honest day's work in her entire life. She is not on record as insisting that boat 8 go back to pick up survivors as "Molly" Brown and others did, so I think the entirety of her claim to hero status... Read full post

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Titanic Passenger Summary

Name: Lucy Noël Martha, Countess of Rothes (née Dyer-Edwards)
Age: 33 years 3 months and 21 days (Female)
Nationality: English
Marital Status: Married to Norman Evelyn Leslie
Last Residence: in London, England
Embarked: Southampton on Wednesday 10th April 1912
Ticket No. 110152, £86 10s
Cabin No. B77
Rescued (boat 8)  
Disembarked Carpathia: New York City on Thursday 18th April 1912
Cause of Death:
Cremated: Downs Crematorium, Brighton, Sussex, England

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