Marion (Mary Anne) Smith : Titanic Survivor

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Miss Marion (Mary Anne) Smith, 49, was born in Basingstoke, England the daughter of William, a porter born ca. 1820 in Basingstoke, and Sarah Smith, born ca. 1832 at Greywell, Hampshire.^1,2

In 1912 the family lived at 12 New Road, Basingstoke.

She claimed she was 40 years old (giving herself an age rebate of about 9 years) when she booked passage on the Titanic and was listed as a spinster.

She was on her way to Washington, D.C. (1243 New Hampshire Avenue)³. She boarded the Titanic at Southampton as a second class passenger (ticket number 31418, £13, booked through Finlayson, The Cross, Basingstoke). She was travelling with Fanny Kelly.

It is not known in which lifeboat she escaped the sinking Titanic, albeit she probably did so in company with Fanny Kelly. Hilda Slater said Miss Smith and Mrs. Kelly went to the "other side" of the ship. Miss Slatyer stayed where she was and since she left in boat 13, Mrs. Kelly and Miss Smith must have entered one of the port boats aft.

She sent a Marconigramm to her mother's address, which was transmitted on 18 April at 3.51 pm.

Smith 12 New Road Basingstoke Hants Safe Carpathia Marion

All that she could save of her property was her money: $245.

Among the passengers on board the ill-fated liner Titanic was Miss Marion Smith, whose mother resides in New Road. Miss Smith who was a lady's maid and had many times crossed the Atlantic, booked her passage through Mr. C. J. Finlinson, the local agent for the White Star Line, by whose persuasion she fortunately insured her luggage for £50. The first telegram which Mr. Finlinson received from the Company's office at Southampton said: ''No official news, Titanic reported proceeding slowly. Passengers all safe.'' A subsequent telegram conveyed the news that Miss Marion Smith had been transferred to the Carpathia. Miss Smith's grandfather will be remembered as having reached the age of one hundred years. He was one of the soldiers who kept guard over Napoleon at St. Helena. He afterwards served as a postman. All who know Miss Smith and her relatives in Basingstoke will rejoice with them that she is among the saved. - Unidentified Basingstoke Newspaper

She later made a property claim against the White Star Line for $478.

It has been suggested Miss Smith passed away in Croydon 13 December 1940 and was buried in an unmarked plot (B575) in the Worting Road Cemetery, Basingstoke, Hampshire.

Notes

Her parents were probably the William Smith and Sarah Stevens who had married 6 November 1858 at Basingstoke. There is a chance she was the Mary Ann Smith whose birth was registered in early 1863 in the Basingstoke district of Hampshire and who had been christened 12 April 1863, albeit this lady's parents were noted as William and Mary, rather than William and Sarah, but since there was no other Mary/Mary Ann/Marion Smith born in the area with a father named William, it is probable she was the future Titanic passenger.
Her known siblings were Kate, born ca. 1859, Harriett, b. ca. 1860, William, b. 1865, Henry John, b. 1867, and Annie, b. 1870. In 1881, she may have been the Mary A. Smith, aged 18 and a native of Basingstoke, who was a domestic servant in the household of Robert Wiltshire, Grove Road, Lambeth, London. In 1901, her mother lived at New Road with son Henry J., 33, and daughter Annie, 30. Her mother (and perhaps she herself as well) lived at 12 New Road, Basingstoke, in 1912.
The US Senate lists her as going to 68 West 71st Street, care of Mrs. Kelly (fellow survivor).

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