Margaret Allan Iris Burnside was born in Islington, London, England, on the 14th June 1894, the daughter of Thomas David Meldrum Burnside, and his wife, Josephine Smith (née Eaton). Her father was a manager of a paper mill, while her mother was a daughter of the founder of the Eaton department store chain in Canada.
Iris had a younger brother, Allan Eaton Meldrum, who was born on the 27th January 1898.
Iris lived with her parents at “Irisdene”, Haslemere Road, Crouch End, London.
She made frequent visits with her mother to her relatives in Canada, and on the 31st October 1914, she accompanied her mother on one such visit. They decided to return to England in the spring of 1915.
As a consequence, her mother booked saloon passage for them both, and also for her mother’s maid, Miss Mattie Waites, on the
Lusitania, departing from New York on 1st May 1915. On arriving at Pier 54 in New York harbour on the morning of Saturday, 1st May, (with ticket number 13062), Josephine and Iris were allocated room B76, which was the personal responsibility of First Class Bedroom Steward Arthur Clegg, who came from Aintree, on the outskirts of Liverpool. Mattie Waites was next door but one, in room B80.
When the liner was torpedoed, six days out of New York, although Josephine Burnside was saved, Iris and Mattie Waites were both killed.
Iris Burnside was aged 20 years and no sign of her body was ever found afterwards.
Bedroom Steward Arthur Clegg was also killed in the sinking, and never went back to Aintree.
Although her remains were never recovered, Iris is commemorated on the Burnside family gravestone at Brompton Cemetery, Greater London, England.
Register of Births, Marriages and Deaths, 1901 Census of England & Wales, 1911 Census of England and Wales, 1911 Census of Canada, New York Passenger Lists 1820 – 1957, Canadian Passenger Lists 1865 – 1935, Cunard Records, Edmonton Journal, Irish News, PRO 22/71, PRO BT 100/345, Deaths at Sea 1871 – 1968, Graham Maddocks, Lawrence Evans, Geoff Whitfield, Michael Poirier, Jim Kalafus, Cliff Barry, Paul Latimer, Norman Gray.
Copyright © Peter Kelly.