Georgina Marks was born in Nempnett Thrubwell, Somerset, England, in 1891, the daughter of George and Elizabeth Marks (née Brock). Her father was a labourer, and Georgina was the youngest of four children, her brothers being Cornelius George, born in 1885, Gilbert Henry, born in 1887, and Joseph Ernest, born in 1888.
On leaving school, Georgina worked as a shop assistant.
In April 1914, she accompanied her parents on a voyage from Bristol to Montreal, Quebec, Canada, en route to Chicago, Illinois, in the United States of America, to stay with her two brothers Gilbert and Joseph, who lived at 1908 Montrose Avenue, Chicago. Her father had returned home after a few months, and after some 18 months at the home of her brothers, Georgina and her mother decided in the spring of 1915, that it was time to follow him home.
As a result, daughter and mother booked third class passage from Chicago on the May sailing of the Lusitania which was scheduled leave New York at 10.00 a.m. on the morning of 1st May 1915. They then joined the liner at her berth at Pier 54 in New York harbour at 10.00 a.m. on that day and had their last glimpse of America the same afternoon as the liner made her delayed departure out of the harbour and into the Atlantic Ocean.
The delay was caused because the liner had to embark passengers, crew and cargo from the Anchor Lines vessel the S.S. Cameronia, which the British Admiralty had requisitioned for war service as a troop ship. She never made it to Liverpool, however, for six days out of New York, she was torpedoed and sunk off the southern coast of Ireland by the German submarine U-20.
Both members of the Marks family were killed and as the body of neither was ever recovered from the sea and identified, neither has a known grave. Georgina Marks was aged 24 years.
Her Brother, Joseph, later tried to claim compensation for the loss of his mother and sister in the United States of America, but the Mixed Claims Commission decided to
make no award to him as he did not become a naturalized U.S. citizen until 1916, and therefore was not entitled to any compensation.
Register of Births, Marriages and Deaths, 1891 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, Mixed Claims Commission Docket No. 2193, San Francisco Chronicle, PRO BT 100/345, UniLiv D92/2/419, Deaths at Sea 1871 – 1968, Graham Maddocks, Nyle Monday, Geoff Whitfield, Michael Poirier, Jim Kalafus, Cliff Barry, Paul Latimer, Norman Gray.
Copyright © Peter Kelly.