Margaret Elizabeth Robinson was born in Dublin, Ireland, on 13th October 1888, the daughter of Alexander George and Elizabeth Robinson (née Nicholson), of 21. Portland Row, Dublin. Her father was a clerk.
On the 6th September 1912, Margaret arrived in Quebec, Canada, and eight days later, on the 14th September, she married Samuel Joseph Cox in Winnipeg, Manitoba. The couple set up their home in Winnipeg. Samuel Cox had been born in County Kildare, Ireland, and was an accountant. He had arrived in Canada in April 1912, so it is likely they were engaged to be married prior to their immigration to Canada.
On the 21st November 1913, the couple welcomed a son, named Desmond Francis. Desmond was not a healthy child, however; and in the spring of 1915, Margaret’s doctor advised her to take him to Dublin so that he would not have to withstand the intense heat of a Winnipeg summer. At the same time, her husband had decided to enlist in the Fort Garry Horse to do his patriotic duty, and husband and wife had sub-let their Winnipeg flat and sold all their furniture.
Consequently, Margaret and Desmond Cox arrived at the Cunard berth at Pier 54 in New York, on the morning of 1st May 1915 to take second cabin passage to Liverpool on the
Lusitania.
The liner’s departure was then actually delayed because she had to wait to embark passengers, crew and cargo from the liner
Cameronia which the British Admiralty had requisitioned for war service as a troop ship at the end of April.
Then, six days later, on 7th May, she probably owed her life and that of her son to the fact that she turned down the suggestion of an attentive dining room steward to take the first luncheon sitting at mid-day. He had informed her that first sitting was always much cleaner and fresher and the food was always warmer. Had she taken up his suggestion, then she would have been sleeping in her cabin when the liner was hit by a single torpedo fired by the German submarine
U-20. At this stage in her voyage, the liner was within sight of the coast of Ireland and only about 250 miles away from her home port!
Instead, she and Desmond took the second sitting and were actually eating when the liner was struck. Having felt that the room was about to disintegrate, she was nevertheless able to push through the panicking diners to find her steward who advised her to get up the stairs and out onto the deck without delay!
Once there, she slipped on the already sloping planking and dropping Desmond, frantically scrabbled on her hands and knees to recover him, as he was sliding inexorably towards the deck rails. She and Desmond were then able to get into one of the few lifeboats which were successfully launched, but their ordeal was not over then, for as the liner lurched to her death, the lifeboat was narrowly missed by her sweeping funnels! Having been eventually rescued from the sea, mother and son were eventually landed at Queenstown. Once there, Margaret Cox was given a rail ticket to her native Dublin and the sum of £0-5s-0d., (£0.25p.), expenses for herself and Desmond, by Cunard.
Margaret Cox gave an interview to the press while in Queenstown which was published in the 10th May edition of the
Daily Express. The report stated: -
Mrs. Cox, Winnipeg, who is a native of Dublin, was coming with her seventeen month old baby son on a visit to her friend, Mrs. Hobcroft, Dalkey, has been saved and gave an account of her dreadful experience to our representative last evening. She said:
‘I was at lunch when there was an explosion right under us, and everyone jumped to their feet. We made for the door, but the steward told me to go back – that there was only a panic and that there was plenty of time. I went back, but when I saw the staircase crowded with people I went to another steward and asked him what was I to do, that I had to get my baby away, and he said I had better go on deck.
I was at the high side of the ship, where men were working at the boats. A man named Mr. Ward of Bundoran, who was coming from Pittsburgh – I don’t thin k he has been saved – gave me a hand to a boat that was on the deck. Where I was standing there was a crowd of others. I was holding up a delicate lady, who had two children, with one arm whilst I held my baby in the other. We were told to go to the lower side of the ship, that the boats on the high side could not be worked, and I was parted from the lady I was holding. Owing to the fearful list, I was unable to hold my feet, and the baby was knocked out of my arms several times.
There was a young man of about twenty-three years – I hope he has been saved – every time I lost the baby he got it back for me, and he led me to where the men were working at the boats on the lower side. I was turned away from the first boat, because I think there were too many in it, and I was sent to a second boat. They told me there to go back to the first, bit I said I would not go. I said “You will have to take the baby, and I will be all right”. Then somebody took the baby and put it into the boat.
A Mrs. Wilson, who was also saved, caught the baby. I don’t know how I got in. I think I was thrown in. The boat was swinging from the davits, and the men had to cut the ropes to get it away. I think that the first boat was broken up. When we got away, our boat went right in under the funnels, and we were afraid of being drawn in by the suction.
There were 85 people in our boat and she was near turning over, when two or three people jumped into the water. One lady was drawn down the funnel, and she was shot up and was saved. The men worked hard with the oars to get away from the ship. I saw water closing over her. It was terrible.
Though there was some excitement, I did not hear much crying. My baby then became hysterical. We were rowed to a small boat, which contained only one man, and some of the people in our boat were transferred into it.
Mrs. Burdon of Newcastle told me that she saw the submarine, and a man on it hoisting a flag, and that the submarine cruised about among the boats. The women were wonderful, they were so calm. They kept their heads; I could never have believed it; it was a credit to them.
The only thing I can not forget is the piteous cry of the people in the water appealing to be taken into our boat, which was over-crowded. I had to place my hands on my ears. Some Americans told me that the Germans would never torpedo a ship in which they were. They know differently now’.
Margaret Cox and her baby son reached the home of her friend, Mrs. Hobcroft, at 102. Sorrento Road, Dalkey, County Dublin.
Having been in Dublin for a while, she applied to The Lusitania Relief Fund for financial help. This fund had been set up by the Lord Mayor of Liverpool and other local dignitaries immediately after the sinking, and the committee awarded her an immediate grant of £5-0s-0d., promising to look further into her circumstances.
Danger seemed to stalk the pair nevertheless, for a year later during the Republican Easter Rising in the city, she and Desmond narrowly missed death in the Phoenix Park, when a burst of machine-gun fire missed them but killed a man who had come to their aid!
Margaret Cox later moved to 8. Catherine Place, in Limerick city, where she gave birth to her second child, a daughter, named Jean Elizabeth, on the 4th August 1917. Her husband was by this time serving as a Lieutenant with the Fort Garry Horse on the Western Front.
Following the end of the War, on the 29th May 1919, the entire family, including her husband, arrived in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, on board the
Carmania, and returned to their home in Winnipeg.
On returning to Canada, Margaret lodged a claim with the Canadian Commission established to decide on compensation for injuries, losses and damages suffered by Canadian citizens as a result of German actions during the War. Margaret was awarded $2,000.00 in respect of personal injuries suffered by her in the sinking, and $672.55 for the loss of personal effects.
In correspondence written to Graham Maddocks by Desmond Cox in January 1997, he said that he owed his survival to his mother's
extreme bravery and he also stated that: -
She was the third last passenger taken from the liner.
Furthermore, Desmond Cox also stated that throughout her life: -
The shock suffered by my mother ..... was evident!
Nevertheless, she lived to be 90 years, and died in Winnipeg, on 28th March 1978. She was buried in St. John's Cathedral Anglican Cemetery there. Her husband outlived her by only one year, dying himself in 1979. Desmond Cox died in Winnipeg on the 15th September 2000, aged 87 years, and was also buried in St. John's Cathedral Anglican Cemetery.
Ireland Civil Registrations Births Index 1864 – 1958, Manitoba Marriage Index 1881 – 1937, Manitoba Vital Statistics Agency, 1921 Census of Canada, Canadian Passenger Lists 1865 – 1935, Canadian Claims Case No. 860, Cunard Records, Daily Express, Winnipeg Tribune, Limerick Leader, Liverpool Record Office, UniLiv.D92/1/1, Thom’s Official Directory 1920 Edition, Graham Maddocks, Desmond Cox, Ray White, Geoff Whitfield, Michael Poirier, Jim Kalafus, Cliff Barry, Paul Latimer, Norman Gray.
Copyright © Peter Kelly.