Caroline "Carrie" Hickson was born in Troy, New York, in the United States of America, in 1862, the daughter of Nicholas Joseph and Catherine Hickson (née Farrell). Her parents were Irish immigrants, and her father was a shoemaker. She was the youngest of six children, her siblings being Elizabeth, Margaret, Catherine, twins Mary Ellen and Richard Joseph. In 1886, the family moved to Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Carrie became a dressmaker and seamstress, and resided with her parents at Terauley Lane, Toronto, until she married Robert Alex Kennedy in Toronto on the 12th April 1898. He husband worked as a clerk at the time of their marriage and they had no children.
Her brother, Richard, had moved to New York City in 1895, and in 1902 started a ladies’ tailoring service, in which Carrie invested. Richard and Carrie operated as a family business, trading as Hickson and Company. Carrie and her husband had moved to New York City, her husband finding work as a bartender, and then he died in 1903, leaving Carrie a widow. Her sister, Catherine, came to New York City in 1910, after the death of their father, and joined Carrie and Richard in the business. Both sisters resided over the business at 657, 5th Avenue, New York City.
In the spring of 1915, Carrie and Catherine decided to cross the Atlantic to act as buyers for the business. It was their intention to stay for some considerable time in Paris.
They had booked as saloon passengers on the Lusitania and joined the liner at the Cunard berth at Pier 54 in the port, before the vessel left New York for the last time. When they boarded - with ticket number 46738 - they were allocated room B54. This was in the personal care of First Class Waiter John Roach, who came from Liverpool and was acting as a First Class Bedroom Steward on what became the Lusitania’s last voyage. The liner’s scheduled 10.00 a.m. departure was delayed until just after noon, as she had to embark passengers, cargo and some of the crew from the Anchor Liner Cameronia, which had been requisitioned by the British Admiralty for use as a troop ship. After this, the Lusitania slipped out into the North River and began her date with destiny!
Then, six days later, on the afternoon of 7th May, the liner was sunk by the German submarine U-20, within sight of the coast of southern Ireland and only hours away from the safety of her Liverpool home port. Both sisters were killed as a result of this action.
It was first thought that Catherine’s body had been discovered when The Queenstown harbour tender Flying Fish recovered seventeen bodies from the sea between Baltimore and Castletownshend, about thirty miles from where the liner had gone down. These were later landed at Queenstown and taken to one of the temporary mortuaries there. Eight of them were those of women, and it was initially reported in the press that one of them was that of Catherine Hickson, presumably from documents discovered on it. It was given the reference number 160, pending a positive identification and described as: -
Female, 40 years, 5’4”, dark hair, strong build, blue dress, grey Tweed coat, brown boots, magnifying glass suspended from black string. Gold filled teeth in upper and lower jaw.
Local newspaper The Cork Examiner went as far as to print a much more full and gruesome description of the corpse, which stated: -
A second lady, Miss Hickson, was badly mutilated, her eyes being pulled out, probably by birds. She had a bent wrist, but this was the result, apparently of an old accident. She wore a considerable amount of jewellery, including a number of good diamond rings.
This prompted a cable from New York which arrived at Queenstown on 15th May and stated: -
NEWSPAPERS REPORT BODY FOUND. CAN YOU CONFIRM. ALSO GIVE DESCRIPTION CLOTHING. IF IDENTIFIED, EMBALM AND HOLD PENDING ARRIVAL PHILIP VERNON PASSENGER PHILADELPHIA
Mr. Philip Vernon duly arrived at Queenstown on board the Philadelphia and was able to identify the embalmed body of No. 160 not as Catherine Hickson, but as her sister Carrie Kennedy. Documents discovered on Mrs. Kennedy’s body had led to the erroneous identification.
Following this positive identification, however, the Cunard Office at Queenstown received a telephone message on 28th May 1915, from London, presumably from representatives of the family, which stated: -
Regarding body of Mrs. Hickson Kennedy, Mr. Philip Vernon states that
you are holding the body until you can get his instructions. He wants the body shipped to New York by tomorrow’s steamer. The body is to be consigned to Richard Hickson, 657, Fifth Avenue, New York. (Mr. Hickson is Mrs. Hickson Kennedy’s brother).
The case containing the remains is marked by the undertaker “Caroline Kennedy”. Mr. Vernon says that he understands the Cunard Company will bear the cost of the shipment of the remains. Is this so? Inform us as soon as possible whether these instructions can be carried out.
The instructions were not carried out immediately, however, but Mrs. Kennedy’s body was shipped to New York on 2nd June 1915, on board the White Star liner S.S. Cymric, (having left Cork for Liverpool on the regular packet steamer on 27th May), virtually one month after the Lusitania had left that port for the last time. Property taken from her body, which had led to its erroneous identification as her sister, Catherine Hickson, was sent to the American Consul in London from Queenstown, two days later. It consisted of eight $1 bills, a ticket for deck chairs on board the Lusitania, two small keys tied with a red ribbon, some assorted American and British coinage, a black Morocco leather purse containing eight blank cheques, travellers cheques to the value of $500.00, a cheque for $500.00, paid to the order of Miss K. Hickson, countersigned by Richard J. Hickson, (which obviously caused the identification confusion), a first class rail ticket from Liverpool to London, a small silver brooch set with diamonds and a pair of corsets.
Catherine Hickson’s body never was recovered and identified.
Bedroom Steward Grant survived the disaster and eventually returned to his home in Liverpool.
Richard Hickson filed a claim for compensation for the loss of his sisters and their personal belongings, consisting of clothing, jewellery and furs, as well as cash. Richard claimed that both women’s personal belongings amounted to $7,000.00, each.
On 24th September 1924, the Mixed Claims Commission issued a ruling on his claims, awarding him the sum of $7,000.00 for the loss of the personal belongings of both sisters, making a total sum of $14,000.00. At the time of the decision, Richard’s business was in serious financial difficulties, which he blamed on the loss of his sisters, stating that they were the chief designers of his apparel, and therefore he sought a large amount of compensation for their loss. The Commission was unimpressed, and declined to make any award for their loss, deciding that he was not dependant on them.
Ontario Canada Marriages 1826 – 1938, 1871 Census of Canada, 1881 Census of Canada, 1891 Census of Canada, Cunard Records, Mixed Claims Commission Docket No. 417 & 418, Cork Examiner, New York Times, PRO 22/71, PRO BT 100/345, UniLiv.D92/1/8-10, UniLiv. PR13/6, Deaths at Sea 1871 – 1968, Graham Maddocks, Geoff Whitfield, Michael Poirier, Jim Kalafus, Cliff Barry, Paul Latimer, Norman Gray.
Copyright © Peter Kelly.