Henrietta Maxwell Pirrie was born in Perth, Perthshire, Scotland, on the 4th February 1891, the daughter of James Reid and Henrietta Nimmo Pirrie (née Maxwell). Her father was a coach builder, and Henrietta was one of eight children in the family. The family home was at 39.Princes Street, Perth.
She entered domestic service as a housemaid, working for Lieutenant Colonel Harold Goodeve Ruggles-Brise and his wife at their home at 19. Hanover Terrace, Regents Park, London. Lt. Col. Ruggles-Brice served with the Grenadier Guards, distinguishing himself during the Boer War, and as a Major General, he served as Military Secretary at General Headquarters of the British Expeditionary Forces during the latter part of World War I. As such, he was one of the closest assistants to the Commander-in-Chief – Field Marshall Sir Douglas Haig, until the end of the War.
In 1911, Henrietta joined the household staff of His Royal Highness, Prince Arthur, and was one of the twenty members of his household staff that accompanied Prince Arthur and his wife and daughter to Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, in October 1911, when he took up his position as Governor-General of Canada, a position he held until 1916.
In the spring of 1915, Henrietta was permitted to take a holiday, and decided to return to Scotland to spend time with her family. Consequently, she booked as a second cabin passenger on what was to become the Lusitania's final voyage from New York to Liverpool.
Having left Ottawa, some time in April, she boarded the liner at the Cunard berth, at Pier 54 in New York on the morning of 1st May 1915, in time for her scheduled 10.00 a.m. departure, and shown to her cabin which was E135. She was allocated berth 3 in the 4-berth cabin. Her cabin mates were Miss Elizabeth B. Hampshire, Miss Florence Whitehead, and Mrs. Jane Williams.
This was then postponed until the early afternoon whilst the vessel loaded cargo and took on board passengers and crew from the Anchor Liner the S.S. Cameronia which the British Admiralty had requisitioned as a troop ship at the end of April.
Six days later, on 7th May 1915, Henrietta Pirrie was killed when the Lusitania was sunk off The Old Head of Kinsale, in southern Ireland by the German submarine U-20. At that stage of her voyage, she was only about fourteen hours sailing time away from the safety of her home port. Mrs. Jane Williams was also lost, but Elizabeth Hampshire and Florence Whitehead survived.
As her body was never recovered from the sea and identified afterwards, she has no known grave. Henrietta Pirrie was aged 24 years at the time of her death.
At the time of her death, her family were residing at 74. Taylor Street, Townhead, Glasgow, Lanarkshire, and her estate of £81-14s.-0d. (£81.70p.) was granted to her father on the 24th June 1915.
A report in the Ottawa Citizen newspaper stated that Henrietta Pirrie was on her way to London to get married, but this cannot be substantiated.
Scotland Select Births and Baptisms 1564 – 1950, 1891 Census of Scotland, 1901 Census of Scotland, 1911 Census of England & Wales, Canadian Passenger Lists 1865 – 1935, Cunard Records, Ottawa Citizen, Probate Records, PRO BT 100/345, UniLiv D92/2/62, Deaths at Sea 1871 – 1968, Graham Maddocks, Geoff Whitfield, Michael Poirier, Jim Kalafus, Cliff Barry, Paul Latimer, Norman Gray.
Copyright © Peter Kelly.