Ethel Paull Williams was born on the 30th January 1882, in the village of Foxdale, Isle of Man, the daughter of John and Ellen Williams (née Paull). Her parents had originally come from Wales and settled in Foxdale, where John Williams worked as a mine agent in one of the local mines. Ethel had at least four siblings, and in June 1890, her father died, aged 45 years, leaving her mother to raise a young family.
The circumstances of when or where she met Guy Winstanley Chambers, a marine engineer from Liverpool, who emigrated to the United States of America in 1907, are unknown, but on the 31st May 1910, Ethel Williams embarked on the
Caronia at Liverpool, and disembarked in New York City on the 7th June. She married Guy Chambers in New York City the following day! The couple established their home at 435 East 70th Street, New York City.
In 1914, the couple relocated to 15. May Street, East Braintree, Massachusetts, but in the spring of 1915, they decided to return permanently to England. They booked as second cabin passengers on the May sailing of the
Lusitania. They then arrived at the Cunard berth at Pier 54 in New York on the morning of 1st May 1915, in time for the liner’s scheduled 10 a.m. departure.
This was delayed until the early afternoon as the Lusitania had to take on board passengers, crew and cargo from the Anchor Liner
Cameronia which the British Admiralty had requisitioned for use as a troop ship at the end of the previous month. Then, six days later, on the afternoon of 7th May, the
Lusitania was torpedoed and sunk by the German submarine U-20 off the southern coast of Ireland and only hours away from her Liverpool destination.
Although her husband survived this action, Ethel Chambers was killed. She was aged 33 years.
Her body was eventually recovered from the sea and landed at Queenstown, where it was given the reference number 165, in one of the temporary mortuaries set up there and described as: -
Woman about 30, fair hair, blue eyes, regular nose, fresh complexion, thin face, slight make, about 5’ 3”, wore white blouse, dark skirt and black button boots.
Her remains were then buried in The Old Church Cemetery, Queenstown, on 14th May in Mass Grave B, 5th Row, Lower Tier.
She was not actually identified until sometime after this, however; by her husband Guy Chambers, from a photograph taken of it, and property recovered from it. As it was necessary to bury all the recovered bodies as soon as possible, because they could not be hygienically stored in the increasing heat of May, they were all photographed in the temporary mortuaries in Queenstown before being buried as soon as was practicable. Anxious friends and relatives of those missing were then invited to identify their loved ones through these photographs.
The property belonging to her was handed to her husband at 5. Hyde Road, Waterloo, Liverpool, on 8th June 1915, and consisted of a ring, a brooch, a bracelet taken from her left arm, a ring taken from her right hand which had a large blue stone in the centre and was set all around with six diamonds on each side, a wedding ring, an engagement ring which she had worn on her second right hand finger, with four blue stones and four diamonds, three £5 Bank of England notes, and a set of false teeth.
Four days later, administration of her estate was also granted to him at London. Her effects amounted to £193-6s-8d (£193.34p).
Isle of Man Select Births and Baptisms 1821 – 1911, 1891 Isle of Man Census, 1901 Isle of Man Census, New York Passenger Lists 1820 – 1957, New York New York Marriage License Indexes 1907 – 2018, New York New York Extracted Marriage Index 1866 – 1937, Probate Records, Cunard Records, PRO BT 100/345, UniLiv.D92/1/8-10, Boston Globe, Deaths at Sea 1871 – 1968, Graham Maddocks, Margery West, Geoff Whitfield, Michael Poirier, Jim Kalafus, Cliff Barry, Paul Latimer, Norman Gray.
Copyright © Peter Kelly.