Frances May Turner was born in Ross-on-Wye, Herefordshire, England, on the 15th June 1876, the daughter of Richard and Emily Ann Turner (née Dew). Her father was a bank manager in Ross-on-Wye, and her mother had been previously married to a William Henry Minett, and had four children from her first marriage. She had divorced her first husband in 1872, and then married Richard Turner in 1875. In 1883, her mother gave birth to her sixth child – Frances’ sister – Dorothy Elizabeth.
She married Charles Frederick Fowles In Manhattan, New York City, in the United States of America, on the 30th January 1902. Her husband was a merchant and international art dealer, and it was his second marriage. Charles Fowles also came from Herefordshire, and it is likely that they had met in England. Charles’ divorce was only finalised two weeks before he married Frances. The couple lived at Herpley Hall, Central Park, West 64th Street, Manhattan, New York, in the United States of America. They also had a home at Fairmile Court, Cobham, Surrey, England, which they bought in 1914.
The couple had gone to New York for the winter, in 1914, arriving from Liverpool on the White Star Liner
Baltic, on the 13th November, and they booked return saloon passage on the
Lusitania which was scheduled to sail to Liverpool at 10.00 a.m. on the 1st May 1915. Consequently, they arrived at the Cunard berth at Pier 54 in New York harbour on the morning of 1st May and having boarded, (with ticket number 46078), they were escorted to their room, B52, which was in the charge of First Class Waiter John Roach, who came from Liverpool and was acting in the capacity of a bedroom steward on what was to become the liner’s last voyage.
Her scheduled 10.00 a.m. sailing was delayed until 12.27 p.m. so that she could embark passengers, cargo and some of the crew from the Anchor Liner
Cameronia which had been requisitioned at the end of April by the British Admiralty for war work as a troop ship. Then, six days later, in the early afternoon of 7th May, when she was twelve miles off the southern coast of Ireland and only hours away from her home port, she was torpedoed and sunk by the German submarine U-20.
Both Mr. and Mrs. Fowles were killed as a result. Frances Fowles was aged 38 years.
Although it would be well over a month before Charles Fowles' body would be found, hers was recovered not long after the sinking and landed at Queenstown, where it was initially given the reference number 129. Once a positive identification had been made, however, it was embalmed and sent to Fairmile Court prior to burial, which eventually took place at Putney Vale Cemetery, London. No property was recovered from her body.
On 11th June 1915, her husband's body was also recovered from the sea off the west coast of Ireland and it too was eventually buried at Putney Vale cemetery.
Waiter Roach, who had looked after the Fowles in room B52, did survive the sinking, however and eventually returned to his Liverpool home.
Register of Births, Marriages and Deaths, New York Extracted Marriage Index 1866 – 1937, 1881 Census of England & Wales, 1891 Census of England & Wales, 1901 Census of England & Wales, 1910 U.S. Federal Census, New York Passenger Lists 1820 - 1957, Cunard Records, Mixed Claims Commission Docket No. 93, Surrey Advertiser, PRO BT 100/345, UniLiv D92/2/449, Deaths at Sea 1871 – 1968, Graham Maddocks, Lawrence Evans, Geoff Whitfield, Michael Poirier, Jim Kalafus, Cliff Barry, Paul Latimer, Norman Gray.
Copyright © Peter Kelly.