Eveline Norbury Wild was born in Macclesfield, Cheshire, England, in late 1889, one of five children of James Higson and Mary Elizabeth Wild (née Barnett). The family home was originally at 'Brook Bank', Chestergate, in Macclesfield. Her father was a designer and card cutter in the silk industry in Macclesfield.
In 1894, the family immigrated to Paterson, New Jersey, in the United States of America, which was the centre of the silk making trade in that country. The family home there was at 446, Fifteenth Avenue. It was not long before James Wild had used his skills to become a very successful and prosperous businessman, which enabled members of the family to make frequent trips back home to Macclesfield.
In the spring of 1915, Eveline and her younger sister Agnes decided to travel back again to Cheshire. They had made the return trip from Paterson, only seven months previously, but this time, they intended to stay in England and offer their services to the
war effort. Consequently they booked themselves second cabin accommodation for the journey across the Atlantic to Liverpool. They left Paterson by rail, at the end of April, in time to join the Lusitania at the Cunard berth in New York harbour before she sailed from there, for the last time, as it turned out, at 12.27 p.m. on 1st May 1915.
Evelyn Wild later told a friend about the journey: -
After the Lusitania left its pier at New York, there was some fear expressed by some of the passengers about the possibility of a German submarine attack off Ireland.
However, I was as cool as a cucumber. I declared that if I was once in sight of land, I would swim ashore and take my sister along with me. I am very fond of athletics and an expert swimmer.
Six days out of New York, on the afternoon of 7th May, the liner was torpedoed and sunk, but both sisters managed to survive and having been rescued from the sea, they were landed at Queenstown.
Cunard in Queenstown then gave each sister a boat and rail ticket to Manchester, Lancashire - the nearest city to Macclesfield and travel expenses of £0-10s-0d., (£0.50p.) and they eventually got back to Macclesfield, on the evening of Sunday 9th May. There, they were interviewed by a reporter from the local newspaper, The Macclesfield Courier and Herald at the Queen's Hotel, about their ordeal. Their account of the sinking appeared in the newspaper on Saturday 15th May 1915 and stated: -
Throughout the voyage the threat of the Germans to blow up the Lusitania had been the common topic of conversation among the passengers, but no one seemed to take the matter seriously. Only half an hour before the thing actually occurred she was chatting with one of the officers and three of the engineers of the boat, about the same matter, and they simply laughed at the idea of the vessel coming to any harm, as they were then in sight of the Irish coast and steaming at the rate of 17 knots an hour.
The sea was beautiful, bright and clear, and no one dreamed of anything untoward happening at that time. Shortly after conversing with the officers, the ladies referred to went down to the saloon to lunch and whilst they were thus engaged, they heard a tremendous explosion, which caused the ship to stop dead and give a kind of a stagger.
When this occurred, every one of the passengers seated at the tables looked at each other as if asking what it all meant and then a cry went round that they had been torpedoed and this was a signal for a regular stampede towards the main stairway. The two sisters Wild were not far from the main stairway, but before they could reach it, there was a wild rush which prevented anyone from getting clear away.
Miss Wild said that she heard someone say that the ship had been struck and then the commotion became something awful, and those wedged in the rush about the main staircase could scarcely move. Fortunately, she was acquainted with the stairway leading by a back way from the saloon along by the cabins to the main deck, and along this she dragged her sister, urging her
on all the time to keep cool.
Along the passage, they did not meet a soul and they were able to gain the main staircase a long way ahead of those who were in the saloon with them at the time the boat was struck. When they reached the stairway it was a scene of terrible confusion, where everyone was trying to get first. By dint of struggling, they managed to get up on the main deck, and although only a few minutes had elapsed since the first alarm, the boat was beginning to list fearfully.
On reaching the deck, they found that all the people were rushing towards the part that was the furthest from the water, but she saw that they were unable to get the boats into the water from that side, so she and her sister made for the lower side of the vessel which at that time was very near to the water, and there they found that there were very few people.
Among the few that were there were Mr. Ernest Cowper a well known American journalist with whom they were acquainted. As there appeared to be no prospect of getting away from the boat at that side, Miss Wild dragged her sister toward the first class deck, and as she did so, the vessel gave a still greater list and she fell almost into the sea. She had just about given herself up as lost when she was rescued by a stoker who was standing near, and she was put into a lifeboat, although she had no distinct recollection of it at the time. The next that she remembered was that her sister was handed into the same boat and that her sister was wearing a lifebelt. She had time to notice that she had no lifebelt herself, that it did not matter as she was safely in the boat then.
There were about 28 in the lifeboat but there was no one in command and the utmost confusion seemed to reign on the decks above. The vessel was then rapidly sinking and when most of the other lifeboats had cleared away, it seemed to strike someone in the boat that they were still attached to the vessel by means of the painter, which nobody had thought of cutting away. It was only at the last moment that someone in the boat seemed to have the presence of mind to cut away the rope which held them still bound to the Lusitania, and they just managed to get clear before she sank.
Miss Wild said that there seemed to be considerable misapprehension as to the time which elapsed between the vessel being struck and sinking. As a matter of fact, she said, it was not more than a quarter of an hour. She said that she was wearing her wristlet watch at the time, and when the first shock was felt she looked at her watch and she did the same when the Lusitania settled down and sank, and she found that there was exactly a quarter of a hour between the two times.
Theirs was the last boat to leave the side of the ill-fated vessel and as they cut away, she could plainly see people clinging to the ropes at the stern of the vessel as she settled, and their boat was only a short distance away when the Lusitania heeled over and took a dive, bow first into the depths.
The sea was perfectly calm at the time and their boat hovered round the spot to try to rescue anyone they could see. They picked up one old lady about 75 years of age who was being kept afloat by means of a lifebelt which she was
wearing. They afterwards picked up several others, and then they began to row away. There were very few of those in the boat who were able to give any assistance with the rowing, and the sisters Wild both rendered assistance in this direction.
After about three hours rowing, they came across an Irish fishing boat with four men aboard and they took them in tow until they were picked up by the Government boat "Stormcock", by which they were taken to Queenstown harbour. In Queenstown they saw many of the rescued who had been landed and also many of the dead whose bodies had been recovered, and she said that it was a dreadful sight to see people visiting the morgue to identify the dead.
After visiting the Cunard Offices and reporting themselves, they resumed their journey and landed in Macclesfield on Sunday night. They lost all their belongings except the clothes they were attired in at the time the vessel was struck.
After ..... reporting themselves involved their sending a cable to their brother John in New Jersey, which simply stated: -
BOTH SAVED, WE ARE HERE.
The family's time of anxiety was fortunately short lived; however, as they had only just heard that the liner had gone down, when they received the cable from Eveline and Agnes. After spending time with relatives in Macclesfield, the sisters then went to visit friends in the Isle of Man.
While in the Isle of Man, Eveline Wild received a letter from Mrs. Prichard, whose son, Richard Preston Prichard, had been a second cabin passenger on the Lusitania, and was missing following the sinking. Mrs. Prichard wrote to all the survivors she could trace, in an effort to learn something of her son. Eveline Wild replied: -
Sully Post Office
Isle of Man
July 13, 1915
Dear Madam,
I am so sorry not to be able to give you any real information in your sad trouble. I remember your son quite well, as our State Room was D89 & his door was right opposite. I remember seeing him & saying “Good-Morning” to him in the corridor, & he used to sit, on the top deck a good deal, but seemed very much alone. If he was in his State Room at the time of the Explosion, I am afraid he would have little chance of reaching the Deck. My sister & I were in the Saloon, which was on D. Deck, & after the explosion we escaped up some narrow back stairs, but all the other passengers rushed up the Main Stair-case & I’m afraid very few reached the Deck, as there were three hundred in the Saloon & the time was so very short before “The Lusitania” sank. Another thing, after reaching the Deck, my sister & I made for the low side of the vessel, where the boats could be lowered, but the majority headed for the high-side, which I suppose the thought was farthest from the sea. With regard to life-belts, they were all kept in the State Rooms, but personally our one desire was to reach the air, so we didn’t trouble about
going to our room for belts. His State Room being on D. Deck, he would have to ascend four flights of stairs to the Boat Deck A. His State Room would only be a few seconds away from the beginning of the Main Stairs, but they were in a terrible position and crowded with people. When we joined the Main Stairs again on C. Deck, only a few passengers had pushed up the stair-way & of course we never hesitated, but hurried right on up to the Boat Deck, helping each other up, when we fell down. We escaped in the last Life-Boat to leave the “Lusitania” & we had to wait until she listed right over, as there was no one to lower us, finally a passenger cut the ropes & after picking several people up, we made for the open sea. I believe a good many of the Passengers didn’t realise the danger, so didn’t trouble to try & save themselves, but we understood, as the List was so terrible & we felt she could never right herself again. I think there was very little panic & most of the Passengers & Crew were very calm. In fact everyone was splendid, in the face of such danger. Of course it was a time when one had to help oneself as the time was so short, consequently there was no organisation. I am sorry to tell you all this & please accept my Sincere Sympathy in your sad loss. I hope you will try & realise that the end was Peaceful for the majority, as it all happened so very suddenly. Hoping you will find comfort eventually in your sadness.
Yours truly –
Evelyn N. Wild
No trace was every found of Richard Preston Prichard.
In the summer of 1915, while in Macclesfield, Eveline Wild applied to The Lusitania Relief Fund, for financial help. This fund had been set up immediately after the liner had gone down, by The Lord Mayor of Liverpool and other local business dignitaries to help second and third class passenger survivors and the relatives of those who had perished, who had come upon financial difficulties as a result of the sinking. It was thought at the time that the saloon passengers would not need financial help!
There is no record of any award being made to her, but surviving records do state that she was a singing teacher by occupation.
Despite their ordeal in the waters off Ireland, they continued to travel back and forth across the Atlantic after the war, until, in 1928, they both decided to settle in Paterson for good. Their father had died there in 1922. In the years that followed, neither sister spoke very often about their Lusitania experiences and did not like to be reminded of them.
Eveline Wild never married and worked as a private governess for a wealthy family and later as a housekeeper for a medical doctor.
She died in Cedar Grove, Essex County, New Jersey, on 12th February 1950, aged 60 years, just three months short of the 35th anniversary of the sinking. She was buried in the local cemetery in Paterson, New Jersey, and the inscription on her headstone does not betray any detail of her experiences on the Lusitania. Her sister followed her there just months later and her headstone is similarly lacking in any detail of the Lusitania story.
Cunard records spell the family name Wilde, but all other contemporary records show it without the final 'e'. Also, Eveline is referred to as Evelyn, which is also incorrect.
Register of Births, Marriages and Deaths, New Jersey U.S. Death Index 1901 – 2007, 1891 Census of England & Wales, 1895 New Jersey State Census, 1900 U.S. Federal Census, 1901 Census of England & Wales, 1911 Census of England & Wales, 1930 U.S. Federal Census, 1940 U.S. Federal Census, New York Passenger Lists 1820 – 1957, Cunard Records, Liverpool Record Office, IWM GB62, Macclesfield Courier, PRO BT 100/345, UniLiv.D92/1/1, UniLiv D92/2/415, Graham Maddocks, Michael A. Findley, Geoff Whitfield, Michael Poirier, Jim Kalafus, Cliff Barry, Paul Latimer, Norman Gray.
Copyright © Peter Kelly.