Encyclopedia Titanica

Charlotte Appleton

First Class Passenger

Charlotte Appleton
Charlotte Appleton

Mrs Edward Dale Appleton (Charlotte Lamson) was born on 12 December 1858 in New York City, the daughter of Charles Lamson and Elizabeth Robertson Marshall. Her father, who was a former dry goods importer later became the senior partner of the shipping house of Charles H. Marshall & Co., the proprietors of the noted Black Ball Line of Liverpool packet-ships.

In 1894, Charlotte married Edward Dale Appleton, the son of John Adams Appleton and Serena Parker Dale and a noted book publisher from Massachusetts. The couple lived in New York City, and later in nearby Bayside, New York (located in a section of what is now known as Queens, New York today). The Appletons had no children.

Image
New York Herald , 19 April 1912

In 1912, Mrs Appleton travelled to England with her sisters, Mrs John Murray Brown and Mrs Robert C. Cornell to attend the funeral of another sister, Lady Victor Drummond, who had died there. Mrs Brown was a widow, and neither Mr Appleton nor Mr Cornell accompanied their wives to attend the funeral. Returning home, the three sisters booked passage on the Titanic and boarded in Southampton they occupied cabin C-101 . Mrs Appleton's ticket was No. 11769.

Colonel Archibald Gracie IV , who was also a passenger on the Titanic , knew the sisters well. Gracie's wife and the sisters were friends and Colonel Gracie had even been friends with Mrs Appleton's husband. Both Colonel Gracie and Mr Appleton attended St. Paul's Academy in Concord, New Hampshire. Gracie later wrote in his detailed book, The Truth About the Titanic :

"these three sisters were returning home from a sad mission abroad, where they had laid to rest the remains of a fourth sister, Lady Victor Drummond, of whose death I had read accounts in the London papers, and all the sad details connected therewith were told me by the sisters themselves. That they would have to pass through a still greater ordeal seemed impossible, and how little did I know of the responsibility I took upon myself for their safety. Accompanying them, also unprotected, was their friend, Miss Edith Evans , to whom they introduced me."

On the night of the sinking, the three sisters and Miss Evans were on the boat deck following the collision. During the final hours, Mrs Appleton and Mrs Cornell became separated from Mrs Brown and Miss Evans. The two sisters reached lifeboat 2 , which was among the last to leave the sinking vessel, and were helped into it. Boat 2 left the Titanic at about 1:45 am. Mrs Appleton sat beside Mr Anton Kink , a steerage passenger who was in the lifeboat with his wife and four-year-old daughter, and in front of Mrs Walter D. Douglas . Mrs Douglas and Miss Elisabeth Allen , who was also in boat 2, both remarked that, "Mrs Appleton and Mrs Cornell had been rowing and rowed all the time."

Meanwhile, on board the Titanic , Colonel Gracie found Mrs John Murray Brown and Miss Edith Evans and escorted them to the last boat to leave the Titanic . Seeing as there was only room for one more lady, Edith turned to Mrs Brown and told her, "You go first. You have children waiting at home." Mrs Brown was helped in and collapsible D left the Titanic at 2:05 a.m. Edith Evans would never find a space in a lifeboat and she went down with the great vessel when it sank at 2:20 am.

Aboard the Carpathia , the three sisters were reunited, and by a remarkable coincidence, found that their uncle, Charles H. Marshall, was a passenger aboard the rescue ship.

Back in New York, the families of the three sisters were frantic with worry and anxiety as there was some doubt expressed over whether Mrs Cornell was one of the survivors. The three ladies walked off the Carpathia together and into the waiting arms of their husbands, children and other relatives.

Following the sinking, Charlotte Appleton continued to live in Bayside, New York. She died on 25 June 1924 at the age of 65. Her husband, Edward Dale Appleton, died on 29 January 1942.

References and Sources

Contract Ticket List , White Star Line 1912 (National Archives, New York; NRAN-21-SDNYCIVCAS-55[279])

Newspaper Articles

New York Times (13 December 1894) Weddings: Appleton-lamson
Brooklyn Daily Times (16 April 1912) Brooklynites Are Lost As Titanic Sinks
Several Are Believed to Have Sunk With Ship
Brooklyn Daily Times (16 April 1912) Mrs. Cornell Is Sister Of Prominent Magistrate
Brooklyn Daily Times (17 April 1912) Mrs. Cornell Saved?
Brooklyn Daily Times (17 April 1912) Rejoice To Hear Of Mrs. Cornell's Rescue
Brooklyn Daily Eagle (19 April 1912) Ismay In Command Says Mrs. Appleton
Worcester Evening Gazette (20 April 1912) Still Playing As Water Creeps Up
New York Times (20 April 1912) Women Revealed As Heroines By Wreck (2)
Boston Daily Globe (21 April 1912) Girl Went Down To Save Another
Torquay Directory (24 April 1912) Mr. Julian's Companion
Bristol Times and Mirror (27 April 1912) Graphic Stories Of Heroism
The Washington Times (7 December 1912) Col. Gracie Is Buried In Garb Worn On Titanic
New York Times (26 June 1924) Death Notice Of Charlotte Appleton

Comment and discuss

  1. Mark Baber

    Mark Baber

    the New York Historical Society. An aside of little consequence (except, I imagine, to the Society): Alone (as far as I know) among the city's various organizations and institutions, the Historical Society has retained the once-common hyphen in New-York. It's .
  2. Daniel S. Lamson

    Daniel S. Lamson

    Hello, Here is a photo of the Lamson sisters that I recently found in my grandfathers chest that was past down to me. This photo had not seen the light of day since at least 1961... Unfortunately there is no identification of any of the sisters in the photograph and which of these lovely ladies were on the titanic is a mystery. With Martin Williams’s link to the photo on emuseum.nyhistory.org one of the sisters can be ruled out. The woman sitting at the 7:00 position is Elizabeth (Lady Drummond). As for which ones were the Lamson sisters that were on the Titanic is anyone's guess.
  3. Martin Williams

    Martin Williams

    Thanks so much for that, Daniel. It is fascinating to see this photograph of all the Lamson sisters together, looking for all the world like they've just wandered out of the pages of The Age of Innocence. As you've spotted yourself, the miniature of Elizabeth Drummond held by the New York Historical Society is clearly based on her appearance in your picture. Date-wise, I'd place it around 1885 - possibly a little earlier, not much later. Funnily enough, the fact that the girls are seated makes it difficult to be any more precise than that. The fashions of the late 1870s and early 1880s were very distinctive, with numerous variants on the bustle skirt, but these are not really discernable here. Myself, I think it likely that the photograph was taken to mark Elizabeth's marriage to the English diplomat Victor Drummond in 1882. This was an important Society event of that year (see one of my posts above) and her younger sister Charlotte, who would become Mrs Edward D. Appleton of... Read full post
  4. Brian Ahern

    Brian Ahern

    I also have to thank you, Daniel, for sharing such a remarkable photo. Just for the fun of playing mix and match, I think the sister in the striped dress most resembles the photo I've seen of the middle-aged Caroline Brown. I'm not sure if I've ever seen a photo of Mrs Cornell; and I can't tell from the ET photo of Mrs Appleton which of these young ladies she is.
  5. Martin Williams

    Martin Williams

    No, I've never seen a photograph of Mrs Cornell either - well, not until Daniel kindly provided the one above, that is. It is a pity we can't be more certain which sister is which. Given that all the girls are wearing their hair up, it seems likely that even the youngest has passed the age of seventeen or eighteen and is now officially 'out'. I know how you detest her, Brian, but this picture irresistibly reminds me of Edith Wharton and her tales of Old New York. I wonder if she was known personally to the Lamson family? One way or another, I like these sisters very much. One has the impression that, in spite of the distances separating them, and the demands made by their husbands and children, they retained close and affectionate ties throughout their lives. It would be fascinating to know what was going on 'behind the scenes' in the wake of the Titanic disaster. Presumably, a flurry of frantic letter-writing and telegram-sending took place between their numerous relatives and... Read full post
  6. Martin Williams

    Martin Williams

    Scroll down a little on this link and you'll find a recent photograph of Charlotte Appleton's home in Bayside, New York. I gather that her husband, publisher Edward Dale Appleton, purchased it in 1905. I'd be quite tempted to chop down those ugly trees flanking the front door!
  7. Brian Ahern

    Brian Ahern

    Though I'm not a fan of Wharton, I too am captivated by the Old New York chronicled in The Age of Innocence. And I agree that the Lamsons seem to represent it beautifully; as, in my opinion, do Edith Evans, the Speddens, and Clinch Smith. One thing that makes the Lamson sisters so interesting is the varied nature of their marriages - a pianist, a judge, a third-generation New York publisher, a Boston publisher (and schoolmistress's son), an aristocratic English statesman, and a Pittsburgh steel magnate. Speaking of the last-mentioned, the roots of Charles Strong Guthrie seem to run deep in New England, but I have been less successful in tracing Fanny's first husband, Frederick Lehmann. I have been even less successful in finding out anything on Pedro de Florez, the husband of Katharine Lamson. This is especially odd because the de Florezes seem to have made the society pages at least as often as any of the Lamsons. A 1920 passenger manifest from one of the family's many New York... Read full post
  8. Martin Williams

    Martin Williams

    I absolutely agree with you, Brian, about the Lamson sisters and Edith Evans seeming to represent Wharton's 'Old New York'. I said as much in my last contribution to the 'Rich People in Society' thread. And your observation about the varied nature of the Lamson marriages is spot-on, too. An eclectic family, to be sure. I've just found an obituary for Robert Clifford Cornell, Malvina's husband, who died in November, 1918 (during the same week in which the war in Europe ground to a halt). One wonders if he was a victim of the Spanish flu pandemic of that year? A graduate of Columbia University, Cornell was a city magistrate and he presided at the Court of Domestic Relations, which was established in 1910. This was, the press noted, the first court of its kind anywhere in the world and his own analysis of the primary causes of marital breakdown is worth recording; 'first, drunkenness and shirking of responsibility on the part of the husband; second, extravagance and unreasonableness of... Read full post
  9. Brian Ahern

    Brian Ahern

    Of, course! We should set a mutual deadline to get these bios up on ET. I'm pretty busy at the moment, but I am hereby resolving to share what I've uncovered about Virginia up by, say, this year's anniversary of the sinking. Regards, Brian
  10. Daniel S. Lamson

    Daniel S. Lamson

    One person that must have been quite interesting was Charles Marshall Lamson. He was the eldest brother of the sisters. He left New York and headed west to South Dakota where he owned a ranch in the town of Fall River, South Dakota. He was later joined by a couple of his nephews, one of them being Robert Brown, who was the son of Mrs. Brown. Here is a photo of Robert on his mount taken around 1900.
  11. Brian Ahern

    Brian Ahern

    Thanks for sharing that, Daniel. It's a great photo. I just searched the New York Times archive for an obit I had seen recently of a Lamson brother, but it turns out that it's for John Lamson, who died in 1897. Here it is, in case you haven't seen it.
  12. Martin Williams

    Martin Williams

    Thanks for that photograph of Mrs Brown's son, Daniel. The rugged terrain of South Dakota must have seemed a long way away from genteel Old New York! The close bonds existing between the Lamson siblings persisted into the next generation. I've come across two reports, at least, which have one or other of the sisters throwing parties for their nephews and nieces. Thinking back to their experiences that night, one can't help but reflect on how frightening it must have been when the Lamson sisters became separated from one another. It seems to be generally agreed that Mrs Appleton and Mrs Cornell embarked on Emergency Boat No. 2 whilst, famously, Mrs Brown was in Collapsible D - so becoming, quite conceivably, the very last passenger to board the very last boat to leave the sinking Titanic. What they had been doing in the intervening period is open to question. Research suggests that many other first-class ladies, who had had every opportunity to escape at an early stage,... Read full post
  13. Arne Mjåland

    Arne Mjåland

    The obituary about Caroline Lamson Brown was published in Concord Journal June 28 1928. She was survived by two daughters, Mrs. George S. Keyes of Concord and Miss Margery Brown of Acton and three sons Murray Brown of Acton, Robert C. Brown of Richmond, Viginia and Arthur P. Brown, Luneburg, also three sisters, Mrs Robert C. Cornell and Mrs Charles Guthrie of New York, and Mrs Pedro de Florez of Paris.
  14. Dallas liter

    Dallas liter

    That is the address of the photo if anyone would like to see a photo of mrs cornell

Showing 14 posts of 29 total. View all.

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Titanic Passenger Summary

Name: Mrs Charlotte Appleton (née Lamson)
Age: 53 years 4 months and 3 days (Female)
Nationality: American
Marital Status: Married to Edward Dale Appleton
Embarked: Southampton on Wednesday 10th April 1912
Ticket No. 11769, £51 9s 7d
Cabin No. C101
Rescued (boat 2)  
Disembarked Carpathia: New York City on Thursday 18th April 1912
Died: Wednesday 25th June 1924 aged 65 years

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