Karen ‘Carrie’ Simonsen was born in Denmark in 1880, but nothing further is known of her family, childhood, or origins.
She married Jakob Jorgensen, a Danish marine engineer, in Grimsby, Lincolnshire, in 1906 and had two children – William born in 1907, and Henry born in 1908. The family resided for a time in Cleethorpes, Lincolnshire.
It is thought that sometime between 1911 and 1915, her husband died, and as no official record of this can be found, it is likely he was lost at sea. Consequently, to provide for herself and her children she joined the mercantile Marine as a nurse on passenger liners.
In 1915, she lodged with her children at 97, Northbrook Street, Toxteth, Liverpool, Lancashire, which was the home of George and Annie Tintler.
She signed on as Assistant Matron to Mrs. Anna Endresen in the Stewards' Department on board the Lusitania at Liverpool on the 14th April 1915, having previously served on the Cunarder Franconia. Her monthly pay was £4-5s.-0. (£4.25p.) and she reported for duty at 7 a.m. on the 17th April, the day the Lusitania left the River Mersey for the last time.
Like Mrs. Endresen, she too was killed when the ship sank. She was aged 35 years.
Her body was not recovered from the sea and identified later and as a result, she is commemorated on the Mercantile Marine Memorial at Tower Hill, London.
Cunard records show her as Mrs. Carrie Jargensen, and the records of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission list Jacob Jorgensen as her late father and next as kin, which must be a mistake.
Carrie Jorgensen’s two sons were adopted by George and Annie Tintler following her death, which would indicate that they had no family in Great Britain, and they either had no living relatives in Denmark, or none could be found.
Register of Births, Marriages, and Deaths, 1911 Census of England, Cunard Records, Commonwealth War Graves Commission, PRO BT 100/345, PRO BT 334, Deaths at Sea 1871 – 1968, Graham Maddocks, Geoff Whitfield, Michael Poirier, Jim Kalafus, Cliff Barry, Paul Latimer, Norman Gray.
Copyright © Peter Kelly.
Revised & Updated – 1st February 2024.