Isabella Menzies was born in Drymen, Stirlingshire, Scotland, on the 10th March 1858, the daughter of Archibald and Elizabeth Menzies (née McNaughton). Her parents were publicans in the village, and Isabella was the second-youngest of five children.
She was unmarried and in June 1913 she had set out from Glasgow, Renfrewshire, Scotland on the Anchor Lines ship Cameronia, to sail to the United States of America. The ship arrived at New York on 22nd June and Miss Menzies eventually stayed with her sister, a Mrs. Mary Prior, in North Yakima, in the state of Washington.
In the spring 1915, she decided to return home and having booked second cabin passage on the May sailing of the Lusitania from New York to Liverpool, she left North Yakima, probably sometime in April, and boarded the liner at the Cunard berth at Pier 54 in New York port on the morning of 1st May 1915 in time for her scheduled 10.00 a.m. sailing.
She then had to wait until 12.27 p.m. before the liner actually left port, because she had to wait to embark passengers, cargo and some of the crew from the Cameronia, which Isabella Menzies obviously knew well, which had been requisitioned by the British Admiralty for war service as a troop ship.
Then, six days later, on the afternoon of 7th May, the Lusitania was torpedoed and sunk within sight of the coast of southern Ireland by the German submarine U-20 under the command of Kapitänleutnant Walther Schwieger. At that stage of her
voyage, she was only about twelve to fourteen hours away from the safety of her home port.
Unfortunately, Isabella Menzies lost her life as a result of this action and as her body was never recovered and identified afterwards, she has no known grave. She was aged 57 years.
Scotland Select Births and Baptisms 1654 – 1950, 1861 Census of Scotland, 1871 Census of Scotland, 1881 Census of Scotland, 1891 Census of Scotland, 1901 Census of Scotland, New York Passenger Lists 1820 – 1957, Cunard Records, Stirling Observer, PRO BT 100/345, Deaths at Sea 1871 – 1968, Graham Maddocks, Geoff Whitfield, Michael Poirier, Jim Kalafus, Cliff Barry, Paul Latimer, Norman Gray.
Copyright © Peter Kelly.