Yvonne ‘Eve’ Jessie Marichal was born in Southend-on-Sea, Essex, England, on the 5th September 1909, the eldest daughter of Rene Joseph Philibert and Jessie Marichal (née Emerson). She had one sister, Phyllis born in 1913 and a brother, Maurice, born
in 1910. Her father was a language teacher in a secondary school at the time of her birth.
Since 1913, the family had been living in Kingston, Ontario, Canada where Yvonne’s father had been Professor of Romance Languages at Queen’s University, but in April 1915, he had accepted an appointment at Birmingham University, in Warwickshire England and as a result, he booked second cabin passage on the Lusitania, for them all from New York to Liverpool, for the 1st May 1915 sailing.
Remarkably, they were all saved, six days later on the afternoon of 7th May, after the vessel was torpedoed and sunk by the German submarine U-20, within sight of the coast of southern Ireland. This was probably because they were all able to get into one of the few lifeboats which was successfully launched. Eve Marichal was later to state that her parents had insisted that all three of their children dine in the restaurant with them rather than in the nursery and that consequently they were all together when the liner was struck!
After being rescued from the sea and landed at Queenstown they all managed to make it to Birmingham and eventually settled in Worcestershire. Eve Marichal was aged 5 years at the time of the sinking.
Once in England, a successful application for financial help was made to The Lusitania Relief Fund, (administered by The Lord Mayor of Liverpool and a specially selected committee from the local business community) to pay a doctor’s bill, and at that time, the family address was shown to be 21, Hampstead Road, Handsworth, Birmingham.
Eve’s father was later killed in action in August 1916, whilst serving with the French Army, on the Somme. Mrs. Marichal was then left to bring up her young family on her own!
When she grew up, Eve Marichal met and married Eric Vincent Pugh, whose father was a Worcester, Worcestershire, businessman and High Sheriff and magistrate of Worcester. They set up home in Worcester, and had one child, a daughter named Rita.
Tragedy at the hands of Germany struck Eve Pugh once more during the Second World War. Her husband, who had obtained a commission in the Royal Artillery and who was serving as a captain with air observation, was killed in action over Normandy just after ‘D’ Day, on 10th June 1944. Rita Pugh, like her mother before her, was just seven years old when her father succumbed to German action! She went on to marry a Mr. John Couling, and followed her ancestral roots by going to live in France. She was later to state that her mother was haunted by her experiences on the Lusitania for the whole of her life!
In the early 1980s, Eva Pugh moved to Hereford in Worcestershire, setting up home in Broad Street, where she made many friends. Although she confessed to being affected by the Lusitania tragedy, she did not dwell on it, nor did she ever ‘dine out’ on the tragedy!
She died, aged 92 years, in The Weir Nursing Home, Hereford, on Saturday 15th September 2001, and her body was cremated at the city crematorium the following Friday, 21st September.
Register of Births, Marriages and Deaths, 1911 Census of England & Wales, 1939 Register, U.S. Border Crossings from Canada to U.S. 1895 – 1960, Cunard Records, Commonwealth War Graves Commission, Liverpool Record Office, Ministère de la Défense, République Française, Hereford Times, The Times, Lusitania, PRO BT 100/345, Graham Maddocks, David Seeney, Geoff Whitfield, Michael Poirier, Jim Kalafus, Cliff Barry, Paul Latimer, Norman Gray.
Copyright © Peter Kelly.