Emily Davis was born in Ireland in the latter half of the nineteenth century. Nothing is known about her life except that she emigrated to Canada and was employed in the household of Sir Montague and Lady Allan, in Montreal, Quebec, Canada as a maidservant to Lady Allan.
Sir Montague Allan was vice-chairman of The Allan Shipping Line and in early 1915, he was in England on business and his wife decided to join him with her two daughters, Anna, aged 16 years and Gwendolyn, aged 15 years, and her two maidservants, Emily Davies and Annie Walker, whose job was to look after the young girls.
Consequently, saloon passage was booked for them on the Lusitania with local agents Robert Reford and Co., (with ticket No. 12933) and the party of five left Montreal at the end of April 1915 and arrived in New York in time to board the liner on the morning of 1st May 1915. Emily Davies and Annie Walker were allocated room B79, which was situated fairly near to the Allan family who were in rooms B47 and B49.
For the next six days, the two maids enjoyed the journey and the company of George Slingsby and another gentleman’s valet. Slingsby was well known to the Allan family as he was valet to Sir Frederick Orr-Lewis, who, with his wife, were great friends of Sir Montague and Lady Allan.
Then, on the afternoon of 7th May, with the liner only hours away from her Liverpool destination, the adventure came to an abrupt halt when the vessel was sunk!
Just before the torpedo struck, the two maids had met George Slingsby and another valet friend, (who was probably Ronald Denyer, valet to millionaire Alfred Vanderbilt), for dinner in the second class dining room. Just as their lunch order had been taken, the ship was hit by U-20’s torpedo! George Slingsby later described the moment to his daughter Nina Slingsby-Smith, who wrote it in her biography of him,
Memoirs of a Gentleman’s Gentleman, which was published in 1994. It states: -
The impact was so violent that the great ship seemed to lurch out of the water. Up on the balcony, the orchestra was playing a lively rendering of 'It's a long way to Tipperary' when the explosion occurred, and the grand piano was flung through the balustrading, to land with a discordant crash in the middle of the dining saloon. There was an ear-splitting sound of breaking glass and crockery and a pall of scalding steam billowed in through the doorway. Black smoke and dust descended in a choking cloud and the ship took on a steep list to starboard, making it difficult to stay on one's feet. Seconds later came another loud explosion, presumably a second torpedo, and the list worsened, throwing everyone in a heap. They clawed at one another in fear and desperation and George struggled as hard as any.
Whilst George Slingsby went off searching for his master, Emily Davis and her fellow maid Annie Walker managed to find Lady Allan and the two girls and as they had no chance to get into a lifeboat, they all joined hands and jumped into the sea, when it became obvious that the liner was going to go down!
Eventually, both maids managed to get into a lifeboat, after which they were rescued from the sea by the Greek steamer
Katerina which was outward bound from Havana, Cuba, to Europe, with a cargo of sugar and just happened to be passing the scene of the disaster. Shortly afterwards, the same vessel rescued Lady Allan who had suffered a broken collar bone in the sea, when she had been struck by the keel of a lifeboat. Both Anna and Gwendolyn Allan perished!
When Emily Davis was landed at Queenstown, she, along with Annie Walker, was found to be suffering from exposure and the two were admitted to Queenstown hospital where they came across Lady Allan who was being treated there for her broken collar bone. All three eventually made a complete recovery.
Emily Davis returned to Canada and filed a claim with the Canadian Commission for the loss of her personal effects and money, which she valued at $1,000.00, and also for medical expenses. Her claim revealed that she had been returning to Ireland to get married, and that by the time her claim was heard, she was married to a man named Wright. It is not known when she got married, and whether her husband was the man she was intending to marry in Ireland. Her case was settled in December 1926, and she was awarded the full amount of her claim, along with $500.00 for medical expenses she incurred while recovering from her ordeal, with 5% interest from the date of the sinking to the settling of her claim.
Cork Examiner, Cunard Records, Canadian Claims Case No. 841, Memoirs of a Gentleman’s Gentleman, Graham Maddocks, Geoff Whitfield, Michael Poirier, Jim Kalafus, Cliff Barry, Paul Latimer, Norman Gray.
Copyright © Peter Kelly.