Henrietta McCullogh Carson, always known as “Etta”, was born in Dumfries, Dumfriesshire, Scotland, on the 18th September 1894, the youngest of nine children born to James and Agnes Carson (née Lorimer), originally of 2, Norfolk Terrace, Glencaple Road, Dumfries.
She was educated at Dumfries Academy and in 1911, having completed her education, she begged her parents to permit her to travel to Canada where an older sister, Mary lived, in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Eventually her parents relented and gave her their permission, and she made the short journey across the sea from Scotland to Northern Ireland, and made her way to Londonderry. Once there, she boarded the
Scotian and travelled across the Atlantic Ocean to Montreal, Quebec, arriving on the 29th October 1911. She then made her way to her sister in Winnipeg.
Mary Carson was a teacher, who had formerly taught at Loreburn School in Dumfries before emigrating. After Etta Carson arrived in Winnipeg, her sister helped her get a job as a teacher, but being unhappy with that profession; she enrolled in a business college in Winnipeg and trained as a stenographer. On completion of her course she became a stenographer, working for The Canadian Pacific Railway Company.
In late 1914, her father suffered a major stroke, not the first one he had suffered, and Ella immediately wanted to return home. Her sister, and two of her brother’s – William living in Hamilton Ontario, and George living in Sherbrooke, Quebec, persuaded her to wait for a while to see if the war raging in Europe would end and make her journey safer. They, like many people, expected the war to be over by Christmas 1914.
On the 7th February 1915, her father died, and once the news had been received in Winnipeg, Henrietta decided that she must return to Scotland, in order to be with her mother. Thus, she immediately booked passage on the Grampian, but her sister and brothers persuaded her to change vessels and travel by the much faster Lusitania, which they believed was too fast to be caught or torpedoed by any German submarine.
She left Winnipeg, and stayed for a while with her brother William, in Hamilton, before moving on to her brother George, in Sherbrooke, and eventually, in late April she arrived in New York City.
She joined the liner as a second cabin passenger at the Cunard berth at Pier 54 in time for her scheduled 10.00 a.m. on Saturday, 1st May sailing, but had to wait until 12.25 p.m., before she slipped her moorings and sailed out into the North River and her date with destiny. The delay was because she had to load cargo, passengers and crew from the recently requisitioned Anchor Liner.
Six days later, Ella Carson was dead, killed after the liner was torpedoed on the early afternoon of 7th May, off the coast of southern Ireland by the German craft U-20. Her body was never recovered from the sea and identified afterwards, and consequently, she has no known grave. She was aged 21 years.
After the death of her husband, Agnes Carson moved to Glenterry, Twynholm, Kirkcudbrightshire, where her son, Andrew, and his family had their home.
1901 Scotland Census, Canadian Passenger Lists 1865 – 1935, Cunard Records, Dumfries and Galloway Standard, PRO BT 100/345, Deaths at Sea 1871 – 1968, Graham Maddocks, Geoff Whitfield, Michael Poirier, Jim Kalafus, Cliff Barry, Paul Latimer, Norman Gray.
Copyright © Peter Kelly.