Rose Ellen Murray was born Rose Ellen McGinley in Strabane, County Tyrone, Northern Ireland, on the 6th August 1881, the daughter of Edward and Ellen McGinley. In 1915, the family home was at 233, Albertbridge Road, Belfast, and although she was one of eleven children, by 1911, only her mother and three of her siblings were still alive.
On 15th April 1910, accompanied by her brother, Patrick McGinley, she arrived in New York in the United States of America, from Liverpool on board the Lusitania. She subsequently married a United States citizen named Christopher Murray on the 20th April in New York. Christopher Murray, who was born in Dublin, Ireland, was an officer in the United States Navy and the fact that she was married within a week of arriving in the United States of America, would suggest that she had met her husband sometime prior to her travelling to New York.
In the spring of 1915, her brother, Patrick McGinley made up his mind to return home to Belfast and she decided to accompany him for a holiday. As a consequence, they both booked second cabin passage on the ship that had brought them to New York in 1910 and boarded her as second cabin passengers on the morning of 1st May 1915, at the Cunard berth at Pier 54 on the west side of the city, in time for her scheduled 10.00 a.m. departure. This sailing was then delayed until the early afternoon as she had to take on board passengers, crew and cargo from the Anchor Liner the S.S. 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 by the German submarine U-20 off the southern coast of Ireland and only hours away from her Liverpool destination. When the vessel was struck, brother and sister found
themselves on the deck of the sinking ship and Patrick McGinley having found a lifebelt for both of them, also managed to secure a place for them in a lifeboat which was being lowered. Unfortunately, however, the lifeboat capsized and they were both pitched into the sea and carried down by the vortex, when the Lusitania sank.
When Rose Ellen Murray finally came to the surface, there was no sign of her brother and she was eventually rescued from the sea and landed at Queenstown, fearing the worst for his safety. Having passed an uncertain night ashore, the next morning she came across him quite by chance in the street - he equally fearing that she had been lost and having searched the mortuaries for her!
After such a happy reunion, the pair finally made it back to their native city!
Sometime after her rescue, she was interviewed by the press and her story later appeared in a few sources. One of these was the book The Tragedy of the Lusitania by Captain Frederick D. Ellis, which stated: -
Mrs. C. Murray said that she and her brother dived from the steamship when it sank, both being good swimmers. They lost each other after the boat went down.
Explaining how so many passengers were lost, Mrs. Murray said that the second sitting of the luncheon was in progress when the torpedo struck. The people could not believe there was any danger. Though some of them put on lifebelts, a majority of them remained in the saloon until it was too late to make their escape. Others were in the cabins, packing their baggage, when the end came.
Not long afterwards, Rose Ellen Murray applied to The Lusitania Relief Fund, for financial help. This fund had been set up immediately after the liner had gone down, by The Lord Mayor of Liverpool and other local businessmen to help second and third class passenger survivors and the relatives of those who had perished, who had suffered loss as a result of the sinking. It was thought that saloon class passengers were wealthy enough not to need help and each claim was met on its merits.
The awards committee ultimately made her a grant of £3-0s-0d., administered through the Lord Mayor of Belfast, to replace clothing she had lost in the sinking.
Rose Ellen Murray remained in Belfast until 1920, when she returned to the United States of America to re-join her husband. She was aged 29 years at the time of her ordeal.
As Christopher Murray was a career naval officer, attaining the rank of Lieutenant in the U.S. Navy, he and Rose Ellen lived at various locations throughout the eastern United States of America, mainly in Philadelphia and New York, before eventually retiring to Ireland, settling in Dublin.
Rose Ellen maintained a home for herself and her husband, as well as her two unmarried brothers, at South Circular Road, Dublin, but it must not have been a harmonious arrangement as on the 5th July 1935, three women arrived at her home
and stated that they had come to escort her to a mental institution. Rose refused to accompany them and managed to reach her solicitor at the Four Courts – the main courthouse in Dublin City centre. While there, she attempted to instigate legal proceedings against an unknown party, but to no avail, and she was restrained by the three women, who had followed her, bundled with great difficulty into a taxi and conveyed to ‘Verville’ private mental hospital, which was situated in Clontarf, a suburb on the northern side of Dublin City.
Rose Ellen Murray remained in ‘Verville’ until the 10th October 1935, when the members of a board which was convened to determine her sanity decided that she was indeed sane, and quite fit to conduct her own affairs. In November 1939, Rose Ellen Murray sued Dr. Sullivan, the owner of ‘Verville’, alleging that she had been falsely committed to the hospital and that she had suffered injury when punched by another patient and thus having her eyeglasses knocked into her eye. The Court found in favour of Dr. Sullivan, ruling that the correct papers had been filed to commit her to the hospital, and that the assault on her was not through any negligence of Dr. Sullivan. Whereas no record has been found to identify who it was that caused her to be committed to a mental hospital, on her release, she didn’t return to her husband and brothers, and it would seem very likely that they had some part in, or knowledge of, her committal
Rose Ellen Murray was found dead on the floor of her home at 12. Merrion Square, Dublin, on the 12th January 1942, aged 60 years. Administration of her estate, which amounted to £3,987-7s.-9d. (£3,987.38½p) was granted to her solicitor, Sydney E. Cooper, on the 15th August 1942. She bequeathed the sum of £50 to her husband and each of her three brothers, and the residue, after paying fees, expenses, and funeral costs, she left to various charities.
Her three brothers contested her will, and in July 1942, awarded each of them an additional £200. Her husband, who was still serving with the U.S. Navy, wrote a letter to the Court in which he stated that he was not contesting her will and wished to honour her wishes.
Christopher Murray remarried, and died at Jervis Street Hospital, Dublin, on the 28th May 1955. His address at this time was 283. Crumlin Road, Dublin. He was aged 78 years.
Register of Births, Marriages and Deaths, 1901 Census of Ireland, U.S. Passport Applications 1795 – 1925, New York Passenger Lists 1820 - 1957, Cunard Records, Liverpool Record Office, Belfast Telegraph, Brighton Gazette, Tragedy of the Lusitania, Gare Maritime, Probate Records, UniLiv D92/2/70, Graham Maddocks, Stuart Williamson, Andy Baker, Geoff Whitfield, Michael Poirier, Jim Kalafus, Cliff Barry, Paul Latimer, Norman Gray.
Copyright © Peter Kelly