Marion Smith

Miss Marion Smith, was born Mary Anne Smith in Basingstoke, Hampshire on 10 January 1863 the daughter of William Smith (1819-1872), a railway porter, and his wife Sarah (née Stevens, born ca. 1832 at Greywell, Hampshire) who had married on 6 November 1858 in Basingstoke. She was baptised on 12 April 1863.  Her siblings were Kate (b.1860), Harriett (b.1861), William (1865-1876), Henry John (1867-1950) and Annie (1870-1940?)

Mary was the granddaughter of James Smith (b.1792) who had been one of the soldiers that guarded Napoleon on St Helena.  In 1814 he married a native Indian woman, named Maria Gentah (born 1797 in Bengal). He died in 1893 at the age of 101.

Her father William died in 1872 when Mary was just 9, leaving her mother Sarah to bring up the children alone, to make ends meet she worked at a mangle, drying clothes.  Times were hard and Sarah was several times the recipient of charitable gifts from the parish council, having been nominated by the mayor (1901) or fellow villagers.

Tragedy struck the family again in 1876 when Mary's brother William died at the age of just 11.

In 1881 Mary and her older sister Harriett, aged 18 and 19 respectively, were both working as domestic servants at the home of a Lambeth Solicitor, Robert Wiltshire.  Harriett would remain with the family all her working life. But Mary Anne soon moved on.

At some point, she seems to have started calling herself Marion and obtained work as a servant and nursemaid in the household of Epaminondas Leite Chermont, the Secretary to the Brazilian Ambassador in London. Her charge, Jayme Sloan Chermont (1903-1983) would himself become a Brazilian Ambassador from the 1930-1960s.

On the Titanic, 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)¹. She boarded the Titanic at Southampton as a second-class passenger (ticket number 31418, £13, booked through Finlayson, The Cross, Basingstoke).  She is thought to have shared a cabin with Fanny Kelly and Hilda Slater.

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 Slayter 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 Marconigram 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. 

Miss Smith was still working for the Chermont family, and travelling extensively, including South America, Mexico, the United States and Europe.  In 1915 she was listed, correctly as aged 52, as a governess on the passenger list for a voyage to Japan where Epaminondas Chermont was taking up a position as a special envoy.  His wife had died the year previously while they were based in Washington D.C.^2.. Young Jayne was later schooled near his late mother's hometown of Baltimore, but it is unknown if Marion accompanied him.

Neither Mary Ann (Marion) nor any of her siblings ever married.  Her mother, Sarah, died on 9 June 1923 at the family home at 12 New Road, Basingstoke.

What became of her after this remains uncertain.

According to a 2010 article in the Basingstoke Gazette, Marion and her sister Harriett settled in Croydon. 

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