Ella Woods Lawrence was born in Stapleton, a suburb of Bristol, Gloucestershire, England, in 1865, the daughter of William Scott and Frances Lawrence (née Hutchinson). The family home was at Stapleton Villa, Stapleton, Gloucestershire, and Ella’s father was a stone merchant and plumber who ran his own business, employing around a dozen men and boys.
On completion of her education she qualified as a medical nurse and at one time was employed at Kings College Hospital, Westminster, London. She later became an assistant organiser for London County Council, but is not known in what capacity.
She was unmarried and one of her closest friends was Mrs. Mabel Juliette Bourke, whom she probably first encountered while both women were employed as medical nurses. Ella was of independent means and around 1914, both she and Mabel Bourke found themselves in Canada, and residing at 196, Kennedy Street, Winnipeg, Manitoba.
Because of the war in Europe, both women decided to return home and volunteer to serve as Red Cross nurses - one account states that it was the Serbian Red Cross! As a result, they booked as second cabin passengers on the Lusitania and left Winnipeg by rail to join the liner at her berth in New York in time for her last ever sailing out of the port, which commenced just after mid-day, on 1st May 1915.
Six days later, with the liner off the coast of southern Ireland and only 250 miles away from her Liverpool destination, both friends were killed after the vessel was torpedoed and sunk. Ella Lawrence was aged 50 years.
Although the body of Mabel Bourke was never found and identified, that of Miss Lawrence was, discovered in the sea off Cape Clear by the Dutch salvage tug Poolzee of Rotterdam. It was landed at the Cunard wharf in Queenstown, with fifteen others at about 2 o’clock on the afternoon of 10th May 1915.
Pathetically, one of Ella’s sisters, Frances Isobel Lawrence, who was in holy orders and known as Sister Frances O.S.R of Alton Abbey, Hampshire, was on hand when the corpse was landed. When she had heard of the disaster, knowing that her sister and her friend were on board the Lusitania, she had hurried to Queenstown to search for them both. The Cork Examiner for 11th May 1915 tells of her vigil and the arrival of her sister Ella’s body.
Her appearance had all the signs of a ceaseless grieving when the worst news had reached her of her two sisters, Miss Laurence (sic) and Mrs. Bourke, both of whom were coming to England to become Red Cross nurses.
She gazed with longing on the features of the female victims as they were borne on the stretcher, till finally, she recognised one of her sisters, Miss Laurence.
She bore up bravely until the last woman was brought in and finding that there was still no trace of her other sister, Mrs. Bourke, she broke down.
Ella Lawrence’s body was then taken to one of the temporary mortuaries in Queenstown where it was given the reference number 145, and on 12th May 1915 it was buried, in The Old Church Cemetery, Queenstown in private Grave 23, Row 15, where it lies today. Since then, however, its location has been re-designated as Grave 493, in Section B.
The grave stone itself, which also commemorates her friend, Mable Bourke, consists of a grey concrete cross set onto a three tiered base and bears the inscription: -
R.I.P.
ELLA WOODS LAWRENCE
IN
LOVING MEMORY
OF ABOVE
AND OF MABEL BOURKE
BODY NOT RECOVERED.
DROWNED IN THE "LUSITANIA" MAY 7TH 1915
Property taken from Ella Lawrence's body was later given to her sister Frances, who presumably also attended the funeral at The Old Church Cemetery. It consisted of a silver strap watch three gold rings, a brooch and a handkerchief.
Another sister, Miss Adeline Lawrence, was granted administration of Ella Lawrence’s will, at London on 12th December 1915, her effects amounting to £1,176-3s-2d, (£1,176.16p).
Although many reports at the time stated that Ella Lawrence and Mabel Bourke were sisters, this was not the case, and they were not related to one another by blood or marriage.
Register of Births, Marriages and Deaths, Bristol England Church of England Baptisms 1813 – 1918, 1871 Census 0f England & Wales, 1891 Census of England & Wales, 1901 Census of England & Wales, 1911 Census of England & Wales, Cunard Records, Cork Examiner, New York Times, Surrey Advertiser and County Times, Probate Records, PRO BT 100/345, UniLiv.D92/1/8-10, Deaths at Sea 1871 – 1968, Graham Maddocks, Geoff Whitfield, Michael Poirier, Jim Kalafus, Cliff Barry, Paul Latimer, Norman Gray.
Copyright © Peter Kelly.