Martha Horsburgh was born in Gladsmuir, Haddington, East Lothian, Scotland, on the 16th March 1894, the daughter of George and Harriet Horsburgh (née Henderson). Her father was a gardener, and Martha had one younger brother named, George.
In 1912, her father had immigrated to the United States of America, settling in Bernardsville, New Jersey. The following year, in 1913, her mother and brother went to join him. Martha had been working as a clerk in Edinburgh, Midlothian, at this time.
In October 1914, she boarded the Cameronia at Glasgow, and left Scotland to join her family, but in the spring of the following year, she decided to return to Scotland. She again booked passage on the Anchor Lines ship the S.S.
Cameronia for her voyage across the Atlantic.
However, at the end of May the British Admiralty requisitioned that vessel for war service as a troop ship and the passengers, some of the crew not needed for her new purpose and most of the cargo were instead transferred to the
Lusitania, which was scheduled to leave the Cunard berth at Pier 54 in New York port, on the morning of 1st May 1915. This sailing was then delayed until just after noon, to accommodate her extra cargo and personnel and Martha Horsburgh was allocated a room in the second cabin section of the ship.
What must have seemed at the time like an amazing bonus for her turned into tragedy, however, just six days later, on the afternoon of 7th May, when the liner was torpedoed and sunk by the German submarine
U-20, in sight of the Old Head of Kinsale in Southern Ireland and only hours away from her Liverpool destination and home port.
Martha Horsburgh lost her life through this action and as her body was never recovered from the sea and identified afterwards, she has no known grave. She was aged 21 years.
Perthshire Scotland School Registers of Admission and Withdrawals 1869 – 1902, 1901 Census of Scotland, New York Passenger Lists 1820 – 1957, Cunard Records, New York Times, PRO BT 100/345, UniLiv D92/2/388, Deaths at Sea 1871 – 1968, Graham Maddocks, Geoff Whitfield, Michael Poirier, Jim Kalafus, Cliff Barry, Paul Latimer, Norman Gray.
Copyright © Peter Kelly.