Alice Phoebe Harknett

Miss Alice Phoebe Harkett was born in Sewardstone Green, Essex, England on 15 October 1890.

She was the daughter of Edmund Harknett (b. 1859), a gun maker, and Jane Harknett (b. 1863). Her mother was originally from Kent whilst her father also hailed from Sewardstone and they had married in 1884. She was the youngest of four children, her siblings being: Ellen Florence (b. 1884), Joseph Edmund (1886-1965) and Rosa May (1888-1967).

She first appears on the 1891 census living at 4 Forestside, Sewardstone. Sadly her mother died the following year in 1892 aged 29 and her father also died young, he in 1896.

When Alice appeared on the 1911 census she was described as an unmarried domestic kitchen servant at 16 Hyde Park Gardens, West London, the home of a wealthy family.

Alice was friendly with the Ford family of Rotherfield, Sussex, in particular Frances Mary Ford. Frances had emigrated in 1911 and worked in the United States as a domestic servant. Her stories of the better life she was experiencing inspired her mother and her siblings to join her in America, along with other family, the Johnstons of Surrey. Alice would join the party and boarded the Titanic at Southampton as a third class passenger (ticket number 6609 which cost £7, 11s).

Alice Harknett, along with the rest of those she was travelling with, died in the sinking. Her body, if recovered, was never identified.