Mary Frances Nichol, always known as ‘Polly’ Nicol, was born in Dumfries, Dumfriesshire, Scotland, in 1892, the daughter of James and Agnes Nichol (née Robson). Her father was a pastry cook, and Polly was one of seven known children.
She was a trained bookkeeper and was well known in musical circles in Dumfries. She was a member of Greyfriars Parish Church choir and made frequent appearances as a singer in various entertainments in the town and district.
In August 1914, she had crossed the Atlantic to visit her two sisters Mrs. J.W. Young, who lived at 7337, South Racine Street and Mrs. W. McClelland of 7331, South Racine, in Chicago, Illinois, in the United States of America. She stayed there until the spring of 1915, and then visited Boston, Massachusetts, and Cleveland, Ohio, after which she intended to return to Scotland. She was initially scheduled to join the Lusitania in the first week of April 1915, to make the Atlantic crossing, but she missed this sailing and instead, booked to sail as a second cabin passenger on 1st May 1915.
Consequently, she arrived at the Cunard berth at Pier 54 in New York in time for the liner’s scheduled 10.00 a.m. departure, only to find that it had been delayed until the early afternoon, so that the liner 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 about 250 miles from the safety of her home port.
Polly Nichol was, tragically, one of some second cabin passengers who lost their lives as a result of this action. She was aged 23 years.
Another resident of Dumfries, Miss Sarah McLellan, who had similarly been living in the Chicago area, also travelled as a second cabin passenger on the Lusitania’s final voyage. She survived, however, and on her return to her home town, gave an interview to a reporter of the local newspaper, The Dumfries and Galloway Standard, which was published on 12th May 1915. The interview mentioned Polly Nicol when it said: -
Miss McLellan states that amongst her fellow passengers on the Lusitania was Miss Nichol, sister-in-law of Dean Mogerley, Dumfries. On the Wednesday before the disaster, a concert in aid of the Sailors’ Orphan Fund was being organised amongst the second class passengers, and Miss Nichol had been awarded a silver photograph frame as a prize for selling most programmes.
She did not see Miss Nichol at the time of the disaster, and on landing at Queenstown, she was unable to find her amongst the survivors.
In fact no-one would ever see Miss Nichol again, alive or dead and despite the fact that her brother-in-law, Dean Mogerley of Dumfries, travelled to Queenstown on the Monday after the disaster to search for her, he was forced to conclude that there was no hope of finding her alive and telegrammed that opinion to her home, on the afternoon of Wednesday 11th May.
UK Outward Passenger Lists 1890 – 1960, Massachusetts Passenger Lists 1820 – 1963, Cunard Records, Dumfries and Galloway Standard, Dundee Advertiser, PRO BT 100/345, UniLiv D92/2/125, Deaths at Sea 1871 – 1968, Graham Maddocks, Geoff Whitfield, Michael Poirier, Jim Kalafus, Cliff Barry, Paul Latimer, Norman Gray.
Copyright © Peter Kelly.