Margaret Hurley was born in Killestry, Killaloe, County Clare, Ireland, on the 12th September 1887, the daughter of Michael and Mary Hurley (née Keogh). Her father was a farmer, and Margaret was one of eight children.
She went to London, England, where she became a trained masseuse, and then at some point, she travelled to Australia.
By 1915, she was maid to Mrs. Mabel Learoyd, who was married to wool broker Charles Learoyd, who travelled extensively through Canada and Australia in the course of his business. His home address in England was at 130, Brompton Road, London, and this may well have been where Margaret Hurley lived as well.
The couple had been in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia and leaving there in March 1915, they crossed the Pacific Ocean, arriving in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. After staying in Toronto, Ontario, for a while, they booked saloon passage through agents A. F. Webster & Son, of Toronto, to Liverpool on the Lusitania’s
May sailing from New York to Liverpool. It is assumed that Miss Hurley was with them throughout.
Leaving Toronto at the end of April, they stayed at The Baltimore Hotel, in New York, before joining the liner at her berth at Pier 54 in the harbour there, on the morning of 1st May. Having boarded with ticket number 46123, Mr. and Mrs. Learoyd were escorted to their accommodation in room D57. Margaret Hurley was accommodated in saloon room B82.
This room was under the personal supervision of First Class Bedroom Steward Arthur Clegg who came from Aintree, a district of Liverpool. Normally, even in saloon class, servants were expected to look after themselves, so Bedroom Steward Clegg would probably not have been expected to take care of Margaret Hurley.
Six days out of New York, and only about fourteen hours from the safety of her Liverpool home port, the
Lusitania was torpedoed and sunk by the German submarine U-20, within sight of the coast of southern Ireland.
Although Charles Learoyd lost his life as a result of this action, Mabel Learoyd and Margaret Hurley both survived, which would perhaps indicate that they were able to get into one of the few lifeboats which was successfully launched before the ship foundered. Before the lifeboats were lowered, only women and children were allowed into them and it is probable that Mabel Learoyd became separated from her husband at this stage. Charles Learoyd’s body was eventually recovered from the sea.
Having been rescued from the sea and landed at Queenstown, it is presumed that Margaret Hurley and her mistress eventually made it to the Learoyd’s Brompton home!
Arthur Clegg, who nominally at least, had looked after Margaret Hurley in room B82, perished in the sinking and never saw his Aintree home again.
Margaret Hurley continued to live and travel with Mrs. Learoyd for many years, perhaps up to the time of Mrs. Learoyd’s death in Monte Carlo, Monaco, in 1943. It appears that they had become companions, and it is likely that Mrs. Learoyd provided for Margaret Hurley in her will, for Margaret travelled extensively for a number of years after Mrs. Learoyd’s death.
She eventually settled in Surrey, England, finally becoming a resident at a retirement home at Cecil Court, Priory Road, Kew, Richmond, London. She died on the 2nd March 1986, aged 99 years. She had never married.
Register of Births, Marriages and Deaths, 1901 Census of Ireland, 1911 Census of England & Wales, Canadian Passenger Lists 1865 – 1935, U.S. Border Crossings from Canada to U.S. 1895 – 1960, UK Outward Passenger Lists 1890 – 1960, UK Incoming Passenger Lists 1878 – 1960, Cunard Records, PRO 22/71, PRO BT 100/345, Graham Maddocks, Geoff Whitfield, Michael Poirier, Jim Kalafus, Cliff Barry, Paul Latimer, Norman Gray.
Copyright © Peter Kelly.