Sarah Elizabeth Smith was born in Netherton, Gloucestershire, England, in 1873, the daughter of James and Hannah Smith (née Betterton). Her father was an agricultural labourer and the family home was at Bibury Road, Coln St. Aldwyns, Gloucestershire, England.
On completing her education, Sarah entered domestic service, and in May 1913, she had immigrated to Canada and settled in St. Thomas, Ontario, where she found employment as a cook. Whilst there, she made friends with another Englishwoman, Miss Hilda Ellis, who was a nurse.
However, in the spring of 1915, Sarah Smith’s sister, Flora, became seriously ill and she decided to return home to be with her. As Hilda Ellis was also overdue to return home for a holiday, she decided to accompany her.
At that time, Miss Ellis was employed by an Englishwoman named Mrs. Dolphin, who ran a nursing home in St, Thomas, and by 1915, she had decided that her twelve year old daughter, Avis, should return to England for an English education. When she discovered that Hilda Ellis and Sarah Smith were about to make the journey across the Atlantic, she thought that it was an ideal opportunity to send Avis home in their company. Consequently, they all booked second cabin passage on the Lusitania’s May sailing and at the end of April, set off by rail to join the ship in New York, for her sailing on the morning of 1st May 1915, to Liverpool.
The liner’s departure from the port was delayed from her scheduled 10.00 a.m. until just after mid-day and Sara Smith would have had her last glimpse of New York then, as she helped her friend look after young Avis Dolphin. This was no easy task as the young lady suffered for most of the journey from seasickness and neuralgia!
Six days out of New York, on the early afternoon of 7th May, the liner was torpedoed
and sunk off the southern coast of Ireland and only hours away from her Liverpool home port. Although Avis Dolphin survived, both her charges were killed. In 1988, at the age of 85 years, Avis Dolphin, then Mrs. Avis Foley, wrote a brief account of her experiences on that day, which mentioned Hilda Ellis and Sarah Smith and a Professor Ian Holbourn, a Scottish laird who had befriended her: -
When the torpedo struck, while we were having our mid-day meal, he (Professor Holbourn), came over to my table and took me (with Miss Ellis and her friend Miss Smith, who was also going to England for a vacation) to his cabin to put lifebelts on us. Miss Smith refused hers as he was a family man. The professor said he would keep it if he could put us in a lifeboat, but as it was being lowered, two men jumped in, causing all its occupants to be pitched into the sea.
In the book Seven Days to Disaster, by Des Hickey and Gus Smith, published in 1981, the authors expanded on Sarah Smith’s refusal to take up Professor Holbourn’s offer of a lifebelt, which might well have resulted in the loss of her life!
On reaching his cabin just off the main stairs Holbourn took down a life-jacket and tried it on Avis. He tied a second life-jacket on Nurse Ellis, but when he turned to give the third to Sarah Smith, she brushed it aside. “I won’t take it”, she said. Holbourn was taken aback. “But why not?” “Because you have a wife and children. You’re going to need it desperately.”
He didn’t wait to argue. “Come quickly,” he ordered, “We will get you to a lifeboat.”
The capsizing of that lifeboat effectively killed both Hilda Ellis and Sarah Smith, as both must have been drowned as a result, and nothing more was ever seen or heard of either of them again. Consequently neither has a known grave. Sarah Smith was aged 41 years.
Professor Holbourn, like Avis Dolphin, did survive the sinking, however and once safely on shore, tried to discover any news of either of Avis Dolphin‘s adult companions, but without success, as Avis would later relate: -
Before leaving Queenstown, the Professor had made enquiries about Miss Ellis and Miss Smith and had been to the mortuaries to see if they were among the dead. Sadly nothing was ever discovered about them. My mother had written to the family of Miss Ellis, but no more was heard of her or Miss Smith.
To make the tragedy even more poignant for the Smith family, Sarah’s sister, whom she was returning home to see, died on May 2nd, whilst Sarah was still at sea, making it a double loss for the family within the course of less than a week!
Register of Births, Marriages and Deaths, Gloucester England Church of England Baptisms 1813 – 1913, 1881 Census of England & Wales, 1891 Census of England & Wales, 1901 Census of England & Wales, Canadian Passenger Lists 1865 – 1935, Cunard Records, Cheltenham Chronicle, Gloucestershire Echo, Gloucestershire Graphic, Seven Days to Disaster, PRO BT 100/345, Deaths at Sea 1871 – 1968, Graham Maddocks, Joe Devereux, Avis Foley, Geoff Whitfield, Michael Poirier, Jim Kalafus, Cliff Barry, Paul Latimer, Norman Gray.
Copyright © Peter Kelly.