Agnes Bloor Hill was born in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, on the 10th August 1883, the daughter of William James and Hannah Hill (née Bloor). Her father was a builder and Agnes was one of six children. The family home was at 18, Farnham Avenue, Toronto.
On the 29th April 1915, she married Frank Albert Rogers, who was a manager for Robert Simpson and Company of Toronto. The newly-weds had decided to travel to Europe on their honeymoon.
Consequently, they booked saloon passage for themselves through the office of her husband’s employer, Robert Simpson and Company, to travel on the May sailing of the Lusitania from New York to Liverpool.
Having left Toronto shortly after their wedding, the couple travelled to New York, and on the morning of 1st May 1915, arrived at the Cunard berth at Pier 54 on the west side of the city, in time for the liner’s scheduled 10 o’clock departure. This was then delayed until just after mid-day, because she had to wait to embark passengers, crew and cargo from the Anchor Liner Cameronia which the British Admiralty had requisitioned for war service as a troop ship at the end of April. Once on board, with ticket number 10859, Agnes and Frank Rogers were escorted to their accommodation in room A25, which was under the supervision of First Class Bedroom Steward Charles Randall, who came from Gateacre, which was a district on the outskirts of Liverpool.
Then, six days out of New York on the afternoon of 7th May, and within sight of the coast of southern Ireland, the Lusitania was torpedoed and sunk by the German
submarine, U-20. At that time, she was only about 250 miles away from her Liverpool destination. Agnes Rogers and her husband were both killed as a result of this action. She was aged 31 years.
Although her husband’s body was never recovered from the sea and identified, hers was, and on 16th May, it was landed at Queenstown, and taken to one of the temporary mortuaries set up there, where it was initially given the reference number 188. Once there, it was positively identified, by fellow saloon passenger Herbert Colebrook, who also came from Toronto and may have known the couple before the voyage or might simply have met them on board.
The body was described as: -
Mrs. F.A. Rogers 18 Farnham Ave. Toronto. Aged 30 years. 5’ 5” high, dark brown hair, full round face.
Property. 9 sovereigns, 2 half sovereigns, 2 10$ Bills, 3 5$ Bills, 2 1$ Bills, 1 gold bracelet, 1 gold necklet, 1 gold buckle with white lines, 1 small lady’s gold watch wrist, 1 plain gold marriage ring with initials “F.A.R. to A.B.H.” April 29th 1914.” 1 gold diamond ring, 1 gold heart with light chain.
Previous to this, on 14th May, a memo from New York had been received at Cunard’s Liverpool office which stated: -
Mrs. F.A. Rogers, saloon passenger, wore a gold wedding ring inscribed on the inside F.A.R. TO A.B.H. APRIL 29 1914 (sic.), also a 14 carat god wrist watch, 17 jewel Elgin movement No. 16098465, also one single diamond ring. The above particulars received through agent Webster’s office in a letter from Mr. William J. Hill
The previous day, the Queenstown office of The Cunard Steam Ship Company had received a cable from its fellow office in New York, which had stated: -
WHEN RECOVERED EMBALM FORWARD REMAINS F.A. ROGERS (and) WIFE ADVISE.
On 16th May, Queenstown had been able to reply: -
THE BODY OF MRS F.A. ROGERS IS IN QUEENSTOWN WILL BE EMBALMED AND SENT TO NEW YORK. MR. ROGERS BODY NOT RECOVERED.
The reply to this came on 19th May and stated simply: -
FORWARD REMAINS MRS. F.A. ROGERS.
Consequently, on 26th May 1915, Agnes Rogers embalmed body was put on board the steamer S.S. Philadelphia, for shipment to New York, and then, on to Toronto, where she was interred in her family’s mausoleum at Forest lawn Mausoleum.
On 3rd June, the property recovered from it, which obviously confirmed its identification, was handed to a Mr. W. Colebrook - possibly a relative of Herbert Colebrook, or a mistake made of his initials - of Messrs. R. Simpson and Company
Ltd., of 13/14 St. Paul’s Churchyard, London, which was the English branch of her husband’s company, who was acting on behalf of the family.
Bedroom Steward Randall, who had looked after Mr. and Mrs. Rogers in room A25, also survived the sinking and eventually made it back to his Gateacre home.
Ontario Canada Births 1832 – 1914, Ontario Canada Marriages 1826 – 1938, 1891 Census of Canada, 1901 Census of Canada, Cunard Records, PRO 22/71, PRO BT 100/345, UniLiv.D92/1/1-12, UniLiv.PR13/6, Deaths at sea 1871 – 1968, Graham Maddocks, Geoff Whitfield, Michael Poirier, Jim Kalafus, Cliff Barry, Paul Latimer, Norman Gray.
Copyright © Peter Kelly.