Florence Whitehead was born in Glossop, Derbyshire, England, on the 23rd January 1873, the daughter of Micah and Hannah Whitehead (née Hadfield). She was the youngest of five children and the family resided at 42. Arundel Street, Glossop. Her father was a cotton weaver who later became a church caretaker.
Her parents adopted Elizabeth Eleanor Hampshire, who was six years younger than Florence, and the two girls formed a very close friendship.
The two girls found work in one of the local cotton mills, Florence as a twister, and Elizabeth as a winder, and they resided together, first at 15. John Street, and later 34, Mount Street, Glossop, Derbyshire.
In the Spring of 1915, the pair had been to visit Miss Hampshire’s brother, in Milton, Massachusetts, U.S.A., and booked second cabin passage from Boston, Massachusetts, on the Lusitania, for their return to Derbyshire and joined her in New York before she sailed, on 1st May 1915. On board, they shared cabin E135 with Miss Henrietta Pirrie and Mrs. Jane Williams.
On the 7th May, when the vessel was sunk, they were both able to survive because they were helped into one of the boats which was successfully launched before the liner went down.
After their safe return to Glossop, on Sunday 9th May 1915, Miss Whitehead gave an interview to The Hyde Reporter, which stated that :-
..... they were dining about 2 p.m., when they felt a shock which seemed to shatter the vessel, and this was immediately followed by the smashing of glass etc.. Rushing out on deck, they ascertained that the vessel had been torpedoed and saw that the boats were even then being lowered. There was no time to obtain lifebelts, but they were assisted into a boat.
Miss Whitehead described how the vessel disappeared while they were rowing about in the vicinity picking up survivors, and added that four
children were thrown into their boat, two of them being twins, whose parents were later picked by another boat and brought to shore.
Miss Whitehead also stated that as one end of the vessel dipped down into the water, that the other rose to a great height; just before the final plunge she saw one of the passengers calmly and deliberately dive from the elevated end and into the waves. Fortunately, said Miss Whitehead, the sea was calm, but it was cold.
The twins referred to were probably third class passengers Sutcliffe and Ethel Riley aged four years, the son and daughter of Eddie and Annie Riley. The Riley family was travelling from Lawrence, Massachusetts, via Boston, and it is possible that Florence Whitehead knew the twins.
Henrietta Pirrie and Jane Williams were lost as a result of the sinking and their remains were never recovered or identified.
Both women returned to work, and then Elizabeth Hampshire travelled to the United States of America in April 1920. On this occasion, she decided to stay and in 1925, she married and remained in in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, for the remainder of her life.
Florence Whitehead never married and by 1939, she was retired and residing at 110. Pike’s Lane, Glossop.
Florence Whitehead died in Glossop on the 18th January 1949, aged 75 years.
Register of Births, Marriages and Deaths, 1881 Census of England & Wales, 1891 Census of England & Wales, 1901 Census of England & Wales, 1911 Census of England & Wales, 1939 Register, Massachusetts Passenger Lists 1820 – 1963, Cunard Records, Boston Globe, Cheshire Daily Echo, Glossop-dale Chronicle and North Derbyshire Reporter, Hyde Reporter, Sheffield Daily Telegraph, UniLiv D92/2/62, Graham Maddocks, Geoff Whitfield, Michael Poirier, Jim Kalafus, Cliff Barry, Paul Latimer, Norman Gray.
Copyright © Peter Kelly.