Martha Moody – always known as “Meta” - was born at Main Street, Limavady, County Londonderry, Northern Ireland, on the 6th July 1884, the daughter of William and Martha Moody (née Hemphill). Her father was a merchant, and Martha was the
youngest of five children. In November 1897, he eldest brother, William Walker Moody, died in a drowning accident, aged 22 years.
Following her father’s death in 1907, Meta lived with her mother, and her sister named Harriet in their family home until Harriet married in February 1914. Following her sister’s wedding, her mother decided to visit her brother, the Reverend John Hemphill, in Los Gatos, California, in the United States of America, and Meta decided to accompany her
Meta and her mother boarded the Lusitania at Liverpool in June 1914, and on arriving in New York City a week later, they made their way by rail to Los Gatos, spending three months visiting her uncle, before moving on to San Francisco, where they resided at the Loring Apartments, 2400. Van Ness Avenue. They entertained extensively, Meta becoming a great favourite of the “smart set” in the area. For their return home to Ireland in the spring of 1915, they again booked second cabin passage to Liverpool via New York on the May sailing of the Lusitania.
Having left San Francisco some time at the end of April, daughter and mother boarded the vessel at the Cunard berth at Pier 54 in New York port on the morning of 1st May 1915, in time for her scheduled 10 o’clock sailing. This was then delayed until the early afternoon, so that she could take on board passengers, cargo and crew from the Anchor Liner Cameronia, which had been requisitioned by the British Admiralty for war work as a troop ship. Then, six days later, on the afternoon of 7th May, the Lusitania was torpedoed twelve miles off the coast of southern Ireland by the German submarine U-20, and sank just eighteen minutes later. At that stage of her voyage, she was only 250 miles from the safety of her home port.
Although her mother was killed as a result of this enemy action, Meta survived. She was aged 30 years at the time.
Having been rescued from the sea and landed at Queenstown, she was able to send a telegram to her brother John H. Moody, in Limavady, informing him of the situation and he hastened to Queenstown to help with the search for their mother.
Despite his efforts, however and the efforts of everyone else involved in the search for victims’ bodies, nothing more was ever learned about her mother or her fate!
In August 1915, Meta Moody received a letter from Mostyn Prichard, whose brother, Richard Preston Prichard, had also been a second class passenger on the Lusitania, and who had been an occupant of cabin D.90. Nothing had been heard of him after the sinking and he was presumed lost. His mother, Margaret Prichard, and his brother, Mostyn, wrote to all the survivors they could obtain addresses for, seeking any information about him. Meta Moody, although she mistakenly believed that Mostyn Prichard was Richard Preston Prichard’s brother, replied: -
35. Main Street.
Limavady
Londonderry
Ireland
August 7 ‘15
Dear Sir,
I received such a shock on receiving photo of your son. We were great friends during the trip, he being seated beside my mother and I at the dining table. The last time I saw him was during lunch, it was his custom in coming from the dining room to go to his cabin. Where D.90 is situated I cannot tell as my cabin was on another Deck C, the stairs had a frightful lilt, and the rush of people from lunch 2nd sittings and cabins made it impossible to get down. With our exception climbing bannisters, still I believe with the exception of children and old people, all 2nd class passengers managed to get top-deck, your son would to me like a person who could most assuredly reach Deck and also to possess a life belt, and whom again would willingly give up same to a woman. There were people everywhere in the water. Boats overturned and their occupants clinging to the bottoms of same. A boat being lowered at my side slipped and all the occupants dashed into the water, it is almost impossible to describe the Lusitania disaster in its frightfulness, and also impossible to think how any one might meet their fate, as all happened so quickly.
I have lost my Darling Mother, she lay down to rest. I was on deck but a few minutes when torpedoed. We never saw each other again.
You have my heartfelt sympathy in your sad bereavement. I who am heart-broken can understand.
Yours truly,
M. Moody.
P.S. I should feel so pleased to keep your son’s photo.
Despite the efforts of the Prichard family, no trace of Richard Preston Prichard was ever found.
In the summer of 1922, Meta married Frederick Richard Walter Crump in Dorking Surrey. Her husband was a widower, with a son, and worked as a clerk. The couple had no children.
In 1928, Meta and her husband immigrated to Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, where they lived for a time at 1415. West 41st Avenue, in the city. It is not known how long they remained in Canada, but eventually they returned to England and settled in Chester, where Frederick Crump died in 1959.
After her husband’s death, Meta returned to Limavady, presumably to be closer to her siblings. She resided at Wheatfield, Myroe, Limavady, until she died on the 10th December 1969, aged 85 years.
Register of Births, Marriages and Deaths, 1901 Census of Ireland, 1911 Census of Ireland, New York Passenger Lists 1820 – 1957, California Passenger Lists 1882 – 1959, Canadian Passenger Lists 1865 – 1935, Cunard Records, Belfast Telegraph, San
Francisco Examiner, New York Times, Northern Whig, IWM GB62, PRO BT 100/345, Deaths at Sea 1871 – 1968, Graham Maddocks, Geoff Whitfield, Michael Poirier, Jim Kalafus, Cliff Barry, Paul Latimer, Norman Gray.
Copyright © Peter Kelly.