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.
The 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.1
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.
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...