Edith Mabel Fisher, known as 'May', was born in Tipton, Staffordshire, England, in 1878, the daughter of William and Mary Fisher (née Lakin). Her father was a boat builder, and the family home was at the appropriately named – 9. Boat Row, Park Lane West, Tipton. The fisher family resided with Mary Fisher’s family, the Lakins.
On 10th September 1905, when only 17 years of age, she married Ernest George Henn of Tipton, at nearby Dudley Port, Worcestershire. They had no children, and they established their home at 23. Clarendon Street, Wolverhampton, Staffordshire Her husband worked as a commercial traveller in his father’s business before the couple immigrated to Canada in 1913. Her husband obtained a position as a post office clerk in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. They resided at 1019. Avenue J South, Saskatoon.
In the spring of 1915, perhaps because of the Great War, they decided to return to England and as a result, on 24th April 1915, she set off for England from Saskatoon with her husband and her aunt, Mrs. Martha Lakin, and travelling by Canadian Northern Railways, arrived at New York, on the 30th. From there, the following morning she joined the
Lusitania as a Second Cabin Passenger and was allocated Room D73 with her husband in time for the liner’s scheduled 10.00 a.m. sailing. This was then delayed until 12.27 p.m. as she had to embark passengers, crew and cargo from the Anchor Liner
Cameronia, which had been requisitioned by the British Admiralty for war service as a troop ship, at the end of April.
Edith Henn, her husband and her aunt were all killed six days later, on the afternoon of 7th May, after the liner was torpedoed and sunk by the German submarine
U-20, only 250 miles hours away from her Liverpool home port and destination.
Her body was recovered from the sea, however, and taken to Queenstown where it was given the identification number 8, in one of the temporary mortuaries there. This low number means that it must have been amongst the first to be landed and was almost certainly taken to the mortuary outside the Cunard office at Lynch‘s Quay on the waterfront.
Once a positive identification had been made, however, the body was buried in The Old Church Cemetery, Queenstown, on 10th May 1915 in Mass Grave C. This was the day that most of the victims of the disaster were buried after a long funeral procession which began at Lynch’s Quay.
Her husband’s body was also recovered and was buried three days later in Mass Grave B, 6th Row, Upper Tier. The body of Miss Martha Lakin was also recovered and was buried on 15th May 1915, in Mass Grave B, 6th Row, Upper Tier.
On the 17th February 1922, administration of her will was granted to her father, William Fisher. Her effects amounted to £537-16s.-11d. (£537.84½p.).
Register of Births, Marriages and Deaths, 1881 Census of England & Wales, 1901 Census of England & Wales, 1911 Census of England & Wales, UK Outward Passenger Lists 1890 - 1960,Canadian Passenger Lists 1865 – 1935, Cunard Records, Saskatoon Daily Star, Probate Records, PRO BT 100/345, UniLiv.D92/1/8-10, UniLiv D92/2/36, UniLiv D92/2/195, Deaths at Sea 1871 – 1968, Graham Maddocks, Kenneth Henn, Geoff Whitfield, Michael Poirier, Jim Kalafus, Cliff Barry, Paul Latimer, Norman Gray.
Copyright © Peter Kelly.