Doris Maude Charles was born on the 10th September 1893, in Lanark, Ontario, Canada, the daughter, and one of eleven children of Joseph Henry and Annie Louise Charles (née Beavis). While she was still a child, her family moved to Toronto, Ontario.
Her father was secretary and treasurer of The Musson Book Company of Toronto and in the spring of 1915, he had occasion to go to Europe on business and sometime after making his plans, he decided to take Doris with him. This was because Doris had become engaged to an electrical engineer named Elliott Rowe Lawler, who was six years older than Doris, and her parents disapproved of her liaison with a man they thought was too old for her.
As a consequence, having booked saloon passage with A. F. Webster & Son, of Toronto, they both left home at the end of April and travelled by rail to New York, where, on the early afternoon of 1st May 1915, they left the Cunard berth and the port on board the Lusitania. With ticket number 13106, Doris Charles was allocated room D14, which was under the personal supervision of First Class Bedroom Steward William Fletcher, who came from Liscard, Wallasey, Cheshire, on the opposite bank of the River Mersey to Liverpool.
During the voyage, Doris and her father became acquainted with the Loney family, who were also travelling as saloon class passengers, and Doris became quite friendly with 15-year-old Virginia Loney. Doris and her father spent much of their time in the company of the Loney’s.
Six days after leaving New York harbour, on the afternoon of 7th May, the liner was torpedoed and sunk off The Old Head of Kinsale in southern Ireland, by the German submarine
U-20. At that stage in her voyage, she was only about fourteen hours away from her destination and safety. Both Doris Charles and her father survived the sinking, spending three hours floating in the sea, and having been rescued and landed at Queenstown, they eventually made their way to England.
Bedroom Steward William Fletcher also survived and eventually made it back to his Liscard home, however; only Virginia Loney survived from her family, her parents having perished.
Doris Charles and her father returned to Canada on board the St. Paul on the 14th June 1915, and on the 22nd September 1915, Doris married Elliott Rowe Lawler, known by his second forename – “Rowe”, in Toronto. Presumably her parents had given their consent to the marriage.
Doris submitted a claim for compensation for personal injuries and the loss of her personal effects which was dealt with a Canadian Commission established to deal with all such claims. By the time she submitted her claim, she was Doris Lawler, and the Commission awarded her the sum of $1,580.35, with interest at a rate of 5% per annum from the 10th January 1920 to the date of the settlement.
Doris and her husband resided in Toronto and had three children – Joseph, Barbara, and Michael. On the 6th February 1969, Doris Lawler died, aged 75 years. Her husband died in 1976, and they are interred together at Park Lawn Cemetery, Toronto. Their three children are buried with them.
Ontario Canada Births 1858 – 1913, Ontario Canada Marriages 1826 – 1936, 1901 Census of Canada, 1911 Census of Canada, 1921 Census of Canada, New York Passenger Lists 1820 – 1957, Canadian Passenger Lists 1865 – 1935, Canadian Claims case No. 778, Cunard Records, Edmonton Journal, PRO BT 100/345, Graham Maddocks, Geoff Whitfield, Michael Poirier, Jim Kalafus, Cliff Barry, Paul Latimer, Norman Gray.
Copyright © Peter Kelly.