Margaret Bell was born in Port Ellen, Isle of Islay, Argyllshire, Scotland, on the 26th December 1865, the daughter of Robert and Catherine Bell (née McCuaig). She was one of ten children, and her father was a career soldier in the British Army, being a sergeant in the Royal Artillery. The family moved a number of times during her childhood, no doubt because of her father’s profession,
On leaving school, Margaret became a domestic servant at Dunlop House, Dunlop, Ayrshire, the home of Thomas Dunlop Cunninghame Douglas. Later, she became an upholsterer, residing with her retired parents at Erskine Hall Buildings, Bishopton, Renfrewshire. Her parents were residing in one of the many homes provided for retired soldiers on the Erskine Mansion estate.
On the 31st December 1896, she married Patrick Flett Craigie at Blackfriars, Glasgow, Lanarkshire. Her husband was a commercial clerk and a widower. Their only child, a son named Patrick Flett Craigie, was born in August 1897. On the 10th August 1898, Margaret’s husband died, leaving her a widow, and she sent her son to live with her parents in Bishopton.
Sometime after the death of her husband, Margaret joined the British Mercantile Marine, serving on trans-Atlantic liners operating out of the port of Glasgow. She resided at 15. Heggie Street, Scotstoun, Glasgow.
Her usual ship was the Anchor Liner S.S. Cameronia, and she engaged on her as a stewardess at Glasgow on the 15th April 1915. However, the British Admiralty requisitioned the Cameronia for war use as a troop ship at the end of April 1915 and on the 1st May 1915; nine crew members not needed for her new rôle, (stewards, stewardesses and a matron) were transferred to the Lusitania.
These included Stewardess Craigie who transferred to the Stewards' Department on board the Lusitania for her fateful, final voyage.
Out of 21 stewardesses who sailed from New York on the 1st May 1915, only eight survived, and Mrs. Craigie was very fortunate to be one of these. Her age is recorded as being 39 years on the crew manifest; however, she was actually aged 49 years!
In September 1917, Margaret Craigie was among a group of over 200 members of the Mercantile Marine who met King George V at Central Station, Glasgow. A photograph of Mrs. Craigie in conversation with the King appeared in the Saturday, 22nd September 1917 edition of the Daily Mirror!
Stewardess Craigie continued to work on trans-Atlantic liners until at least 1928, when she may have retired and went to live with her son at 29. Golders Way, Golders Green, London.
Sometime after 1930, she married a Mr. Barnes, but no record of the marriage can be found in marriage records for Great Britain and Ireland, so she was either his common law wife, or they married abroad. Nothing is known about Mr. Barnes except that he had died by 1939, when Margaret was residing at 19. Golders Manor Drive, Golders Green, London.
Margaret Barnes died on the 26th January 1954, aged 88 years, at 24. Hayes Crescent, Temple Fortune, London, which might have been a nursing home. He home address was still at 19. Golders Manor Drive, Golders Green, at the time of her death. Administration of her will was granted to Lloyds Bank Limited at London on the 11th April 1954, and her effects were recorded as “nil”!
Register of Births, Marriages, and Deaths, 1871 Census of Scotland, 1881 Census of Scotland, 1891 Census of Scotland, 1901 Census of Scotland, 1921 Census of Scotland, 1939 Register, Massachusetts Passenger Lists 1820 – 1963, New York Passenger Lists, 1820 – 1957, Cunard Records, UK Campaign Medals Awarded to World War I Merchant Seamen 1914 – 1925, Daily Mirror, Probate Records, PRO BT 351/1/30206, UniLiv. D92/6/1, Graham Maddocks, Geoff Whitfield, Michael Poirier, Jim Kalafus, Cliff Barry, Paul Latimer, Norman Gray.
Copyright © Peter Kelly.
Revised & Updated –20th January 2023.