Elizabeth Cumbe Heard was born in Stoke Damerel, Devonport, Devon, England, in 1863, the daughter of Richard and Eliza Heard (née Cumbe). Elizabeth was one of five children, and her father was a butcher.
On the 6th July 1893, she married William Martin Davey, who was a consulting engineer and naval architect, and who was also her first cousin – Elizabeth and William’s mothers being sisters! They had one son, Arthur, who was born in Birkenhead, Cheshire, in 1898.
Sometime around 1900, or shortly afterward, William Davey began to style his surname as Martin-Davey, as did his wife and son. The reason for this is not known, but it could have been for business reasons, or to make himself and his family seem more important in social circles.
Originally residing in Claughton, Birkenhead, Cheshire, England, at 4, Caroline Place, she left for Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, with the family in 1912, as her husband had taken up a position there as a consultant engineer with the Union Steamship Company. The family home there was at 4435, 12th Avenue, West Point Grey, Vancouver.
In early 1915, William Martin-Davey secured a similar position in Devonport, in Devon, and the family decided to return to Birkenhead for a few days (staying with an old family friend, a Dr. Dalzell) before moving south. Consequently, William Martin-Davey booked second cabin passage for them all on the Lusitania which was scheduled to leave New York for Liverpool on the morning of 1st May 1915.
Leaving Vancouver at the end of April, the family arrived at the Cunard berth at Pier 54 in New York harbour on that morning and had to wait until the early afternoon for the liner to leave, as her departure was delayed while she loaded passengers, crew and cargo from the Anchor Liner Cameronia. This liner had to transfer these, as she had been requisitioned by the British Admiralty for war work.
Six days later, Elizabeth Martin-Davey and the rest of the family perished after the Lusitania was torpedoed and sunk off the southern coast of Ireland, by the submarine U-20. At that time, the vessel was only hours away from her Liverpool destination. Elizabeth Martin-Davey was aged 52 years.
Of the three, hers was the only body that was recovered and identified. It was landed at Queenstown and given the reference number 35, in the temporary mortuary set up in the yard of the Cunard office in Lynch’s Quay, on the waterfront. This low number shows that it must have been one of the earliest to have been recovered from the sea. At the time, it was described as: -
Female, 53 years, hair turning grey, low size, medium build.
It was then buried in The Old Church Cemetery, Queenstown, in Mass Grave A, 2nd Row, Lower Tier, on 10th May 1915. This was the day on which most of the recovered dead were buried, in a mass funeral following a long procession which began outside the Cunard Steam Ship Company's office at Lynch‘s Quay.
As it was necessary to bury all the recovered bodies as soon as was practicable, for reasons of hygiene, they were all photographed in the temporary mortuaries in Queenstown before being buried. Anxious relatives of those missing were then invited to identify their loved ones through these photographs. Elizabeth Martin-Davey’s body was identified through the photograph taken of her corpse by both her brother and sister. Also, her brother, a Mr. R. Heard, of Barrack Street, Devonport, was sent a photograph and a written description of corpse No. 35, although he had already stated that he had not seen his sister-in-law for some years. The description was: -
Height about 5ft., Eyes full and protruding, Age 52 hair, turning grey from fair, Figure medium, Wearing pink jersey.
By this time, however, it is likely that it had already been identified by Second Cabin Bedroom Steward James Clarke, who came from Birkdale, near Liverpool, in Lancashire.
On 28th February 1917, administration of Elizabeth Martin-Davey’s estate was granted at London to Louisa Fleming Harvey, wife of William Edward Harvey who was one of her sisters. Mrs. Martin-Davey’s effects amounted to £321-10s-9d.,
(£321.54p.). Prior to this, property recovered from her body had been received in England and consisted of: -
One double row brilliant diamond crescent brooch, with safety chain attached, one half moon diamond ring, one 22 carat gold wedding ring, (English), a half loop diamond ring, (mount English), a five stars sapphire ring and a rimless eyeglass.
Register of Births, Marriages and Deaths, 1871 Census of England & Wales, 1881 Census of England & Wales, 1891 Census of England & Wales, 1911 Census of England & Wales, Cunard Records, Birkenhead News, Belfast News-Letter, Probate Records, PRO BT 100/345, UniLiv.92/1/6-2, Deaths at Sea 1871 – 1968, Graham Maddocks, Denise Deighton, Geoff Whitfield, Michael Poirier, Jim Kalafus, Cliff Barry, Paul Latimer, Norman Gray.
Copyright © Peter Kelly.