Miss
ALICE MIDDLETON, Second Cabin Passenger
[No 1915 Picture Provided]
Alice Middleton, 25, was born the daughter of John Middleton and
Georgana Hardingham. Alice was one of five children, the others
being Chas, John, William, and Grace. Grace died at the age of
five. By 1915, Alice was working as a baby's nurse.
Although she was British, she had spent much of the past several
years in the United States "for her health." When she left for
home on the last voyage of the
Lusitania, she departed from Seattle, Washington. Alice
had
originally booked third class on the Lusitania but was able to
obtain
an upgrade to second.
On the day of the disaster, she recalled being in the dining room with
three Irish girls when one of them saw land through the porthole.
Alice recalled that the girls started singing "There Is a Green
Hill [Not?]
Far Away " when the ship was struck by the torpedo.
When the ship was sinking, she was on the lower promenade deck,
apparently at the point of losing her reason, when she was calmed and
directed by Richard Preston Prichard
whom she had noticed and smiled at
at various points in
the voyage but never spoken to until that moment.
Alice also accepted a lifebelt from a man who may have been Alfred Vanderbilt, even
though at the time she had no idea who was assisting her. He
helped her
put the lifebelt on, but before he could finish securing it, they were
both washed off the deck.
Underwater, Alice had her head stuck in an open porthole. The
pressure hurt her ears so much she was not sure how she could endure
the pain, much less survive the sinking. She did not know how she
managed to come back to the surface, but reaching the open air was no
relief. All around her were dead bodies, several of them
children.
To her, they looked like "drowned dolls."
Next to her, Alice looked on with horror as a woman gave birth in the
water. The scene made her feel sick, and unable to do anything
for the woman, Alice soon lost consciousness.
When she was pulled out of the water, Alice was mistaken for dead.
She regained consciousness at a Queenstown nursing home.
Doctors thought her recovery from her coma so miraculous that
they dubbed her "Marvel." The stress and shock of the disaster
had caused her hair to fall out and she was not able to leave the
hospital for some days. Nevertheless, as of 9 May she was listed
as "out of danger; progressing favorably."
In a 1915 letter, Alice mentions that her brother was lost at sea
during the time she was aboard the Lusitania (although she
spares in details at to which ship he was lost off) and their mother
was notified of his loss on the morning of 7 May, then of her loss that
evening. Due to Alice's semi-coma it was not until Sunday that
her mother was informed that she
had, in fact, survived.
Alice spent a few years of post-Lusitania recovery in Birkenhead,
England. She also design bobby capes and was awarded the Freedom
of London. In 1917, she married George McDougall of Detroit and
moved to the United States with him. Alice worked as a seamstress
and had two children, Hector and Jacqueline. Jacqueline died at
the age of 13.
Alice would not know that her savior was possibly Alfred Vanderbilt
until the 1930s. Former Lusitania steward Robert Chisholm
met her years later during the early days of salvage operation of which
he was part and mentioned the story of Vanderbilt giving away his
lifebelt.
He showed her a picture of Vanderbilt and she was convinced it was him.
Alice Middleton in her later
years, here pictured with Dr. John D. Craig. Click on image for
full size.
image credit: Nanette McDougall LaChance.
Living out the rest of her life in the United States, Alice died on 8
September 1964 in Livonia, Michigan.
Contributors:
Jim Kalafus
Nanette McDougall LaChance (granddaughter of Alice Middleton)
Michael Poirier
Judith Tavares
References:
Hickey, Des and Gus Smith. Seven Days to
Disaster. G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1981.
Hoehling, A. A. and Mary Hoehling. The Last Voyage of
the Lusitania. Madison Books, 1956.
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