Isabella Woodgett was born in Jarrow, County Durham, England, on the 26th July 1882, the daughter of Henry and Elizabeth Woodgett (née Robinson). Her father was a farmer, and Isabella was one of twelve children. While she was still a child, her family moved the relatively short distance to Wallsend, Northumberland.
On the 24th February 1910, she married Edward Liddell Middlemast in the Holy Trinity Church, Wavertree, Liverpool, Lancashire. Her husband was a farmer from Wallsend, who had immigrated to Canada in 1902, settling in Saskatchewan.
Shortly after their wedding, they couple boarded the Empress of Britain in Liverpool, disembarking in St. John, New Brunswick, Canada, on the 5th March. From there, they proceeded to Regina, Saskatchewan, where they resided at 2323. Toronto Street.
Edward Middlemast worked in a printing works, and in February 1915, following the outbreak of war in Europe, he volunteered for the Canadian Expeditionary Force. Having had three years military experience in the British Army, during which time he had served in South Africa during the Boer War as a trooper with the 36th Bn. Imperial Yeomanry, he was commissioned as a Lieutenant in the Fort Garry Horse.
Edward Middlemast was sent to England for training with his regiment, and as a result, Isabella, not wanting to remain in Canada on her own, decided to return to England to be with her family. She had decided to live with her brother and his family at Halkham House, Allerton Road, Liverpool. Consequently, she booked a second cabin ticket on the May sailing of the Lusitania, which was scheduled to leave New York at 10.00 a.m. on 1st May 1915.
Having left Regina sometime in April, she arrived at the Cunard berth at Pier 54 on the west side of that city in time for this sailing and then, in keeping with all the other ship’s passengers, she had to wait until 12.27 p.m., before the liner actually slipped away from the pier and headed into the North River to begin her date with destiny.
This delay was caused because she had to take on board passengers, crew and cargo from the Anchor Liner S.S. Cameronia which the British Admiralty had requisitioned for use as a troop ship at the end of the previous month. Then, six days later, on the afternoon of 7th May, the Lusitania was torpedoed and sunk by the German submarine U-20 off the southern coast of Ireland and only hours away from her Liverpool destination.
She survived the sinking and having been rescued from the sea, she was landed at Queenstown from where she continued to her brother in Liverpool. She remained in England until at least 1926.
Her husband served on the Western Front with distinction, being wounded several times, including a fracture of the base of his skull as a result of a horse falling on him in 1916. By the end of the War, he had been promoted to the rank of Major, mentioned in dispatches, and was awarded the Distinguished Service Order in 1919. He returned to Canada with his regiment in the middle of 1919, to be honourably discharged from his regiment, and then returned to England.
On being re-united with his wife, they took up residence in Kirby, Essex, until they returned to Regina, Saskatchewan, where Edward Middlemast resumed his employment in the printing industry. Sometime later, they moved to Eagle Harbor, and then Vancouver, British Columbia. They had no children.
Edward Middlemast died in Vancouver on the 9th December 1953, and his remains buried in Mountain View Cemetery, Vancouver, British Columbia.
On the 18th May 1961, Isabella Middlemast died in Ladner, British Columbia, and was buried beside her husband. She was aged 78 years.
The official passenger manifest published by The Cunard Steam Ship Company, listed Mrs. Middlemast’s forenames as Elizabeth L., however, this was erroneous and her forename was always Isabella.
Register of Births, Marriages and Deaths, Liverpool England Church of England Marriages and Banns 1754 – 1935, British Columbia Canada Death Index 1872 – 1990, 1891 Census of England & Wales, 1901 Census of England & Wales, 1911 Census of Canada, Canadian Passenger Lists 1865 – 1935, U.S. Border Crossings from Canada to U.S. 1895 – 1960, Cunard Records, Illustrated Chronicle, The Leader-Post, Graham Maddocks, Geoff Whitfield, Michael Poirier, Jim Kalafus, Cliff Barry, Paul Latimer, Norman Gray.
Copyright © Peter Kelly.