Margaret Jane Travis was born in Manchester, Lancashire, England in 1878, the eldest of seven children of William and Margaret Travis. Her father was a joiner and her mother a domestic cook.
She married William Fletcher. Butler, who was a shirt cutter, at the Wesleyan Chapel, Eggington Street, Manchester on the 9th September 1905. At the time of her marriage, Margaret resided at 21. St. Oswald Street, Collyhurst, Manchester, but the couple later moved to 11. Rudyard Street, Manchester, and then 509, Collyhurst Road, Queen's Park, Manchester. The couple had no children.
On the 24th July 1913, Margaret arrived in Quebec, Canada, on board the Victorian, having sailed from Liverpool, to visit her sister, Hetty Cummings, who had immigrated to Canada in 1912, and settled in Canford, British Columbia.
For her return to England in the spring of 1915, she booked second cabin passage on the May sailing of the
Lusitania which was scheduled to leave New York for Liverpool at 10.00 a.m. on 1st May 1915. Leaving Canada in April, she travelled to New York and boarded the liner at the Cunard berth at Pier 54 on the west side of the city, in time for that sailing which was then delayed until the early afternoon. This was because she had to embark passengers, crew and cargo from the Anchor Liner
Cameronia which the British Admiralty had requisitioned for war service at the end of April.
Unfortunately, six days out of New York on the afternoon of 7th May, and within sight of the coast of southern Ireland, the
Lusitania was torpedoed and sunk by the German submarine U-20,
only hours from her home port. Margaret Butler was killed as a result of this action. She was aged 36 years.
Her body was later taken from the sea however - one of the first to be recovered - and having been landed at Queenstown, it was taken to the temporary mortuary set up in the yard of Cunard’s office at Lynch’s Quay on the waterfront. There, it was laid out for examination and given the reference number 31, until it was positively identified. It was described there as: -
Female, 40 years, black hair, dark dress.
Then, on 10th May 1915, it was buried in The Old Church Cemetery, two miles north of the town, in Mass Grave C, 3rd Row, Lower Tier, where it lies to this day. It was on this date that most of the recovered remains of the
Lusitania victims were buried, following a long funeral procession which began outside Cunard’s offices.
On 26th August 1915, property recovered from Margaret Butler’s body, which may have aided its identification, was forwarded to her husband at their Manchester address. It mainly consisted of jewellery: - a 22 carat wedding ring, a gold safety pin, a silver ring with an oval stone, a gold ring set with pearls, a single stone turquoise ring, a diamond and ruby ring, (with one diamond missing), a 12 carat gold ring set with pearls and sapphires a 15 carat gold ring set with a ruby and a rose diamond and a gold plated brooch with pieces of coral set into it.
Margaret’s husband, William Fletcher Butler, never re-married and died in Manchester on the 30th April 1937, aged 55 years.
Register of Births, Marriages and Deaths, 1881 Census of England & Wales, 1891 Census of England & Wales, 1901 Census of England & Wales, 1911 Census of England & Wales, Manchester, England, Non-Conformist Marriages, 1758 – 1937, Canadian Passenger Lists 1865 – 1935, Cunard Records, PRO BT 100/345, UniLiv.D92/1/8-10, UniLiv. PR13/6, UniLiv D92/2/258, Deaths at Sea 1871 – 1968, Graham Maddocks, Geoff Whitfield, Michael Poirier, Jim Kalafus, Cliff Barry, Paul Latimer, Norman Gray.
Copyright © Peter Kelly.