Christina Harrow Sorley Bennett was born in Edinburgh, Midlothian, Scotland, on the 16th November 1881, the daughter of David and Helen Bennett (née Kenny). Her father was a lamplighter, and Christina was one of seven known children in the family.
She worked as a domestic servant before deciding to immigrate to Canada. She sailed in the s.s. Pomeranian from Glasgow, and arrived in Montreal, Quebec, on the 1st June 1904. She travelled onward to Compton, Quebec, where she either had friends or relatives, or else a promise of a job.
On the 30th June 1908, she married James Alexander McColm in Carleton County, Ontario. Her husband was a professional soldier, and qualified law clerk. He was a Lieutenant with the Canadian School of Musketry, based in Ottawa, Ontario, and at the time of their marriage he was a staff clerk. The couple had no children.
In the spring of 1915, Christina McColm decided to travel back to Edinburgh to visit her family. Consequently, she booked second cabin passage on the May sailing of the Lusitania from New York to Liverpool and probably left Ottawa at the end of April to make the journey to New York.
She arrived at the Cunard berth at Pier 54 in that city in time for the liner’s scheduled 10.00 a.m. sailing and then had to wait until just after mid-day until the vessel actually left harbour. This was because she had to load cargo and take on board passengers
and some of the crew from the Anchor Lines ship the S.S. Cameronia which the British Admiralty had requisitioned for use as a troop ship.
Then, six days out of New York, on the afternoon of 7th May, the Lusitania was torpedoed by the German submarine U-20, twelve miles off The Old Head of Kinsale in southern Ireland and she sank within twenty minutes. At that stage of her voyage, she was only about 250 miles away from the safety of her Liverpool destination and home port.
Christina McColm managed to survive this action, however, and having been rescued from the sea, she was landed at Queenstown, from where she travelled onward to Edinburgh.
In the summer of 1915, she applied for financial assistance to The Lusitania Relief Fund, which had been set up after the disaster by The Lord Mayor of Liverpool and other worthy dignitaries, to help those survivors and relatives of the dead, who found themselves in difficulties as a result of the sinking. The committee administering the fund declined to make any payment to her, stating “No apparent need – Husband in work in Ottawa”.
On the 5th October 1915, she boarded the St. Louis at Liverpool to begin her return to her husband in Ottawa. After arriving home, she filed a claim with the Canadian Commission seeking compensation for the loss of her personal effects to the amount of $1,181.50, medical and hospital expenses to the amount of $335, and $10,000 compensation for the loss of her health, making a total of $11,516.50.
According to evidence given before the Commission, Mrs. McColm was bedridden for thirteen weeks after her arrival in Edinburgh, and returned to Canada suffering from rheumatism, insomnia, and badly affected nerves. For the benefit of her health, she had immigrated, with her husband, to California, in the United States of America, in December 1922.
In 1926, the Commission allowed her the full amounts she claimed for the loss of her personal effects and her medical and hospital expenses, and $7,500 for the loss of her health.
Christina McColm lived for a number of years in San Francisco, California, where her husband worked as a clerk for the city. They later moved for a few years to Phoenix, Arizona, where James McColm worked as superintendent for the city’s street department. On his retirement, they relocated to Santa Cruz, California, to live out their days.
Christina McColm died in a rest home in Santa Cruz, after a long illness, on the 26th January 1968, aged 86 years. Her home address at this time was at 413. 5th Avenue, Santa Cruz. Her husband died in February 1977.
Scotland Select Births and Baptisms 1564 – 1950, Ontario Canada Marriages 1826 1938, California U.S. Death Index 1940 – 1997, 1891 Census of Scotland, 1901 Census of Scotland, 1921 Census of Canada, 1930 U.S. Federal Census, 1940 U.S. Federal Census, Canadian Passenger Lists 1865 – 1935, New York Passenger Lists 1820 – 1957, Cunard Records, California U.S. Federal Naturalization Records 1843 – 1999, Canadian Claims Case No. 790, Liverpool Record Office, Santa Cruz Sentinel, Graham Maddocks, Geoff Whitfield, Michael Poirier, Jim Kalafus, Cliff Barry, Paul Latimer, Norman Gray.
Copyright © Peter Kelly.