Elsie Hardy, I believe, was born Elsie Murrell, in West Ham, Essex, England, on the 28th October 1889, the daughter of Mr. and Helen Murrell. In the 1891 census, she was living with John Henry and Emily Hardy, who I believe either adopted her, or alternatively, Elsie changed her name to Hardy at some stage of her life. John Henry Hardy was a miller, and he and his wife had spent a number of years living in Constantinople, Turkey, where their two daughters were born.
In May 1912, she immigrated to Montclair, New Jersey, in the United States of America. Her destination was 64. Greenwood Avenue, Montclair, where she stated her aunt, Mrs. Elizabeth Scott resided. She soon moved to 260, West 122nd Street, New York City, and presumably found employment.
In the spring of 1915, she decided to return to England for a holiday and consequently booked second cabin passage to Liverpool from New York, on the May sailing of the
Lusitania.
Nothing much more is known about her except that she would have boarded the liner on the morning of 1st May 1915, at the Cunard berth at Pier 54 in New York port, anticipating her scheduled 10 o’clock departure. She would then have had to have waited until just after mid-day, before the liner actually left the dockside, because she had to take on board cargo, passengers and crew from the Anchor Liner the S.S.
Cameronia which the British Admiralty had requisitioned for war service as a troop ship.
Then, six days later, on the afternoon of 7th May, the Lusitania was torpedoed and sunk by the German submarine
U-20 within sight of The Old Head of Kinsale in southern Ireland and a mere twelve to fourteen hours sailing time away from her destination and home port of Liverpool.
Elsie Hardy managed to survive this attack, although nearly two thirds of her fellow third class passenger companions perished, and having been rescued from the sea, she would have been landed at Queenstown, from where it is presumed that she eventually made it to her original intended destination, 115. Ilford Lane, Ilford.
In September 1915, she returned to New York on board the American Lines vessel
New York, and described herself as a musician when boarding. She returned to her home at 260, West 122nd Street, New York City, and married Charles Wilson Scott in New Jersey in 1916. Charles was an accountant with a book publishing company, and the son of Mrs. Elizabeth Scott, whom Elsie stated was her aunt when she was travelling to Montclair, New Jersey, in 1912!
Charles and Elsie had two children, Elsie Hardy, born in 1917, and Charles Wilson Jr., born in 1920. The family lived in New York City for a few years, before moving to Bergen, New Jersey. Then the couple bought a convalescent home, in Allendale, Bergen, which the named Scott’s Nursing Home, and which they managed together.
Elsie Scott died in Allendale, Bergen, New Jersey, on the 25th October 1986 – three days before her 97th birthday. Her husband had died in 1949, and her daughter in 1984.
Register of Births, Marriages and Deaths, New Jersey Marriage Index 1901 – 2016, New Jersey Death Index 1901 – 2017, 1891 Census of England & Wales, 1901 Census of England & Wales, 1911 Census of England & Wales, 1920 U.S. Federal Census, 1925 New York State Census, 1930 U.S. Federal Census, 1940 U.S. Federal Census, New York Passenger Lists 1820 – 1957, Cunard Records, IWM GB62, The Record, Graham Maddocks, Geoff Whitfield, Michael Poirier, Jim Kalafus, Cliff Barry, Paul Latimer, Norman Gray.
Copyright © Peter Kelly.