Theodore Naish was born in Sparkbrook, Birmingham, Warwickshire, England, on the 21st January 1856, the son of Arthur John and Margaret Prideaux Naish (née Paull). He was the fifth of eight known children, and his father either owned or managed an iron foundry.
He qualified as a civil engineer, and in 1885, he immigrated to the United States of America to pursue his profession. Through naturalization, he became a citizen of the United States of America on the 25th September 1891.
He was employed in the Department of Public Works in Kansas City, and on the 19th June 1911, he married Belle Saunders, a school teacher, in Detroit, Michigan. They lived at 2926. Penn Valley, Place, Kansas City, Missouri.
Theodore Naish enjoyed taking long walks, especially in the wooded hills overlooking the Kaw River near Edwardsville, Kansas, which is about 20 miles west of Kansas City. He joined the Methodist Church in Edwardsville, where he helped to conduct church services. Just before he got married, he bought 180 acres of land around Edwardsville and built a summer lodge, where he and Belle spent the summer months. Belle also became involved in the local Methodist Church, becoming a Sunday School teacher.
In the spring of 1915, the couple decided to travel to Europe on a belated honeymoon, to visit Theodore’s family, and as a consequence, Theodore Naish booked second cabin passage for them both on the Lusitania and having left their Kansas City home at the end of April, they travelled by rail to New York City to join the liner for her 1st May sailing at the Cunard berth at Pier 54.
Almost from the start of the voyage, which began just after mid-day, Theodore Naish was seasick and spent most of the crossing in his cabin, which was on “D” deck,
being administered to by his wife, Belle. On the early afternoon of 7th May, he advised her to go up on deck to see the coast of Ireland, which was no more than twelve miles off the port bow.
Many years later, in the early 1980s, the story of the Naish’s part in the sinking was described by Des Hickey and Gus Smith in their book Seven Days to Disaster: -
Belle Naish, had turned from the rail and was halfway to the second class entrance when she heard “a crash.” ..... Her clothes soaked by the water that showered on the deck, she was confronted by a tide of passengers pouring out of the companionway. She wanted desperately to join her husband on D deck, but these people were cursing and shrieking. Terrified that the crowd would carry her over the rail of the tilting deck into the sea, she doggedly fought her way through them. By the time she reached D deck the last passengers in the thinning group were trying to help one another.
She found Theodore, who had forgotten the discomfort of his seasickness, freeing the tapes of their life-jackets. She helped him on with his jacket, then he with hers, and to save time they each tied the other's tapes at the neck, chest and waist. .....
An officer assured Belle Naish, “She's all right, she’ll float for an hour.” Gauging the widening angle between the deck rail and the horizon Mrs. Naish knew this simply wasn't true. “We're sinking fast,” she told Theodore. “It can't be long now.”
The couple continued helping passengers don their lifejackets correctly. One woman was persuaded to remove her fur coat before putting on her life-jacket. They tied another woman's life-jacket tapes securely, but could not persuade her to remove an enormous hat with a long floating veil. A woman in a heavy woollen coat with a large fur collar had strapped a child of about two years inside her life-jacket. “If you want to save your child,” Theodore advised, “you'd better take him out of that life-jacket, or else you'll both go down“. .....
Just as the liner took her final plunge, a great green wave burst along the deck, driving everything before it and sweeping Belle and Theodore Naish into the sea. Belle was able to grasp a lifeline from a lifeboat into which she was hauled and from there, via a rescue trawler, she was landed safe and almost sound, at Queenstown. Theodore Naish, however, must have drowned, as no trace of him, dead or alive, was seen or heard of again. As a consequence, he has no known grave. He was aged 59 years.
Belle Saunders Naish was awarded the sum of $12,500.00 by the Mixed Claims Commission for the loss of her husband, and an additional $780.00 to compensate her for the loss of their personal belongings in the sinking.
As well as receiving compensation from the Mixed Claims Commission, Belle Saunders Naish was the sole beneficiary of her husbands will, which consisted of a
number of properties in and around Kansas City, personal effects, bank accounts and two life assurance policies in England.
Belle Saunders Naish continued to reside in Kansas City, and in the summer months, Edwardsville. In 1925, she donated 90 acres of the land in Edwardsville to the Boy Scouts of America, and the remaining 90 acres the following year. The land is still used by the Boy Scouts of America today, named Camp Naish, in honour of Theodore and Belle.
When Belle Naish died on the 25th August 1950, she was buried in Edwardsville Cemetery. The gravestone over her grave is of granite, and there is a depiction of the Lusitania sinking at the top. The inscription states: -
~ O God, our help in ages past. ~
NAISH
In Memoriam
THEODORE
BORN IN BIRMINGHAM
ENGLAND, JAN. 21. 1856.
WENT DOWN WITH THE
LUSITANIA,
ON MAY 7, 1915.
HIS WIFE
BELLE SAUNDERS
SURVIVOR
BORN IN CHARLOTTE,
MICHIGAN, OCT. 22. 1865.
AUG. 25. 1950
Register of Births, Marriages and Deaths, Michigan U.S. Marriage Records 1867 – 1952, 1861 Census of England & Wales, 1871 Census of England & Wales, 1900 U.S. Federal Census, 1910 U.S. Federal Census, Iowa U.S. Federal Naturalization Records 1856 – 1937, U.S. Passport Applications 1795 – 1925, New York Passenger Lists 1820 – 1957, Cunard Records, Mixed Claims Commission Docket No. 257, Cork Examiner, Seven Days to Disaster, Boy Scouts of America, Missouri Wills and Probate Records 1766 – 1988, 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.