Margaret “Sissy” Arthur was born in Kemnay, Aberdeenshire, Scotland in 1890, the daughter of William and Julie Arthur (née Sharp). Her father was a coachman in domestic service at the time of her birth, but later became a labourer in a wood yard and the family moved to Aberdeen. Margaret was one of seven known children in the family.
After completing her education, Margaret entered domestic service and in April 1910, she immigrated to Canada where she settled in Toronto, Ontario. She resided at 10. Wilton Avenue, Toronto.
On the 15th July 1911, she married Frederick George Webster in Toronto. Her husband was a plumber and the couple had three children – William Frederick, born in 1912, and twin boys, Frederick George and Henry Harrison, born in 1914.
In the spring of 1915, however, they decided to return to Great Britain for a holiday and as a consequence, booked second cabin passage on the Lusitania, which was scheduled to sail for Liverpool on 1st May.
Leaving Toronto at the end of April, they set out for New York and joined the liner at her berth at Pier 54 in the harbour there, on the morning of 1st May. They had their last glimpse of the city as the huge Cunarder began her delayed sailing out of the port just after mid-day.
Six days later, when she was only hours away from her Liverpool destination and just off the coast of southern Ireland, the family was split asunder after she was torpedoed and sunk by the German submarine U-20.
The family catastrophe was outlined in the book The Tragedy of the Lusitania written in 1915 by Captain Frederick D. Ellis, in which he stated: -
They reached the deck with the others who were dining when the torpedo struck. Webster took his son by the hand and darted away to bring lifebelts. When he returned, his wife and babies were not to be seen, nor have they since been seen.
Out of the five of them, only Frederic G. Webster and their son William survived. All the others were killed, including Margaret Webster, who was aged 24 years at the time.
As her body was never recovered from the sea and identified later, she has no known grave.
Tragically, on Monday 10th May 1915, Margaret Webster’s widowed mother at her home at 38. Esslemont Avenue, Aberdeen, received a letter from her daughter which had been written and posted the previous Thursday from New York, informing her that the family was due to leave the next day, on board the Lusitania. By the time this letter had arrived, Mrs. Arthur had already received news, via a telegram sent by Cunard in Queenstown to a shipping agent in Aberdeen, which had informed her of the loss of her daughter and twin grandsons!
Ontario Canada Marriages 1826 – 1938, 1891 Census of Scotland, 1901 Census of Scotland, Canadian Passenger Lists 1865 – 1935, Cunard Records, Aberdeen Daily Journal, Aberdeen Weekly Journal, Tragedy of the Lusitania, UniLiv D92/2/381, PRO BT 100/345, Deaths at Sea 1871 – 1968, Graham Maddocks, Stuart Williamson, Michael Poirier, Jim Kalafus, Cliff Barry, Paul Latimer, Norman Gray.
Copyright © Peter Kelly.