Amelia Lemore

Mrs Amelia Lemore (née Hunt) was born in Southwark, London, England on 18 March 1866 and was baptised in St Mark's, Kennington on 10 June the same year.

She was the eldest child of James Hunt (b. 1843), an engineer originally from Beaminster, Dorset, and Agnes Williamina Wilson (1840-1919) of Strand, Middlesex who had married in London on Christmas Day 1865. The couple had a total of eight children but lost two in infancy; their surviving children besides Amelia were: Margaret Frances (1868-1938), Lilian Louisa (b. 1870), Lydia (b. 1874), James Ernest (b. 1878) and George Edward (b. 1880).

Amelia appears on the 1871 census living at Liverpool Street, Newington. The family later moved to 58 Mann Street in the same locale by the time of the 1881 and 1891 census records; Amelia was described as a buttonhole machinist on the latter census. Another shift of address for the 1901 census shows Amelia still working in a seamstress capacity and still with her family at 82 Grosvenor Terrace, Newington.

Amelia was married at the Camberwell Register Office on 21 February 1907 to James Henry Lemore, an American citizen  of African-American descent.¹  He was the son of farmer Britton Lemore (or Le Moore) who was possibly born in Algeria; his mother was possibly British.  On the marriage certificate, Amelia gave her age as 34, but she was actually 40.  Her husband James had been in England studying at a London Polytechnic College, the exact details are unclear, but on his marriage certificate, his occupation was given as Chemist.

The couple resettled later that same year and made their home in the Waukesha, Wisconsin, where they appear on the 1910 census, living at an unspecified address with James Lemore described as a farmer. His ethnicity was described as "black". Amelia and James later made their home in Chicago, Illinois.

Amelia, an optometrist's assistant by profession, made a return trip back alone to her native England in late 1911, arriving in Southampton aboard St Louis on 11 November. Her elderly parents were by then living at 45 Vicarage Road, Camberwell, London, and she would stay with them at that address.

For her return to the USA, destination address 2236 Austin Avenue, Chicago, Amelia purchased ticket number CA346260 which cost £10, 10s, and she boarded the Titanic at Southampton as a second class passenger on 10 April 1912. She shared cabin F-33 with three younger English women, Amelia Brown, Selina Cook and Elizabeth Nye.

Amelia survived the sinking, possibly in lifeboat 14. She later made insurance claims (B150 and 217) for $3,174.50 and $3,214, respectively.  After arriving in New York, she wrote a long letter to her brother, reproduced in the British Press.

Amelia returned to James in Chicago. Later living at 5534 Grove Avenue in that city. 

In 1916 James studied at Chicago Medical School, but then, it seems, left Amelia and moved to Memphis to study at the University of West Tennessee College of Medicine and Surgery, graduating with a medical degree in 1918.  James then settled in Nashville, Tennessee and practised medicine.

In the 1920 census, he was listed as single, living in Murfreesboro, Rutherford Country, Tennessee and working in some kind of medical practice. Amelia was listed as married and still living in Chicago.

In 1923 James was convicted of involuntary manslaughter after a patient on whom he allegedly performed an illegal operation (possibly an abortion) died. 

Negro doctor gets five years.

J.H.Lemore found guilty of involuntary manslaughter.

The jury in the case of the State versus Dr J H Lemore, charged with the murder of Mrs Neville Sanford returned a verdict Monday afternoon finding the defendant guilty of involuntary manslaughter and fixing his punishment at five years in the penitentiary.— Nashville Banner, 30 October 1923

It seems that the verdict was overturned on appeal in 1924.

At some point, James Lemore was married (possibly bigamously) to a black woman named Violet, who was about 26 years his junior.

He died of lobar pneumonia on 6 December 1928, and he is buried in Greenwood Cemetery on Elm Hill Pike. 

Possibly Amelia never knew what became of her husband.  In the 1930 census, while she was still living in Chicago, she is listed as widowed, but In the 1939 register, by which time she moved back to England, Amelia is listed as divorced and living at 30 Cavendish Road, Wandsworth.  In her probate record, she is again listed as a widow. 

In December 1921, Amelia applied for a US passport to return to England and visit her widowed father; at the time she was described as a lens inspector and physically as standing at 5' 5" with dark brown hair, brown eyes, medium complexion and with a long nose, oval face, high forehead and a small chin. At this time, she stated that her husband, James had abandoned her and his whereabouts at that time were unknown. She arrived in Southampton aboard the Carmania on 9 January 1922.

Amelia continued to work as a lens inspector for years to come and made several return trips to her family in England; one was in May 1926 aboard Tuscania and another in April 1931 aboard Ascania when she was destined for 35 Cavendish Road, Clapham.

Amelia resettled permanently in London, living at various addresses during the 1940s. Her last address was 97 Magdelen Road in Wandsworth, and she died there on 15 May 1950, aged 84.  She is buried in Streatham Park Cemetery, London, England. Her estate, valued at £327 2s 9d, passed to her niece Florence Lilian Moore.