Ruth Mary Wordsworth was born in Glaston, Rutland, England, in early 1878, the daughter of Christopher and Mary Wordsworth (née Reeve). Her father was a clergyman and the rector of Glaston at the time of her birth. Ruth was the third eldest of nine children. She was a great-grand-niece of the poet, William Wordsworth.
She studied at Godolphin School, Salisbury, Wiltshire, where she took first class honours and was distinguished in Religious Knowledge, English, Shakespeare, French and German. She then went to Oxford University, where she gained a first class in the Honour School of Literal Humanities in 1901.
She returned to Godolphin School as a teacher, and then in early 1908, she resigned her position and travelled to Japan as a missionary with the Girls’ Friendly Society.
In the spring of 1915, she decided to return to England, either on a holiday, or more likely to offer her services for the war effort.
On the 28th March 1915, she boarded the Aki Maru at Yokohama, Japan, and sailed to Seattle, Washington, in the United States of America, on the first part of her journey to England. She then travelled by rail to New York City, where she met with her brother, Osmund Bartle Wordsworth, who was a lecturer at Trinity College, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, and who was returning to England to enlist in the British Army.
The siblings joined the Lusitania as second cabin passengers, at the Cunard berth in New York harbour, on the morning of 1st May 1915, in time for the liner’s scheduled 10.00 a.m. departure. Her departure for Liverpool was actually delayed until the early afternoon, to take on board passengers, cargo and some crew from the Anchor Liner Cameronia, which had been requisitioned by the British Admiralty for war work as a troop ship. Then, six days later, on the afternoon of 7th May, she was torpedoed twelve miles off the coast of southern Ireland by the German submarine U-20, and sank two miles closer inland. At that stage of her voyage, she was only hours away from her home port.
Both Ruth and Osmund Wordsworth managed to survive this action, however, probably because they were able to get into one of the few lifeboats which were successfully launched. Having then been landed safely at Queenstown, they eventually completed their journey to Salisbury where their father was the Chancellor of Salisbury Cathedral.
Whereas it is known that her brother, Osmund, was commissioned into the British Army, and was subsequently killed in action in April 1917 while serving on the Western Front, nothing further is known about Ruth’s life except that she returned to Japan, where she continued her life as a missionary and school teacher.
She made frequent return visits to England until she eventually retired and went to live at Barns Close, Bicknoller, near Taunton, Somerset. She died at Tone Vale Hospital, Norton Fitzwarren, near Taunton, on the 21st February 1953, aged 75 years.
Her remains were buried in St. George Churchyard, Bicknoller, on the 26th February 1953, and Probate of her Will was granted at London on the 29th May 1953 to her nephew, William Brocklesby Wordsworth, who was described as a composer. Her estate amounted to £5,823-8s.-7d. (£5,823.43p).
Register of Births, Marriages and Deaths, National Burial Index for England & Wales, 1881 Census of England & Wales, 1891 Census of England & Wales, 1901 Census of England & Wales, Canadian Passenger Lists 1865 – 1935, Canada Ocean Arrivals 1919 – 1924, U.S. Border Crossings from Canada to U.S. 1895 – 1956, UK Incoming Passenger Lists 1895 – 1960, Cunard Records, IWM GB62, Japan Daily Mail, Salisbury Times, Salisbury and Winchester Journal, St. James’s Gazette, Probate Records, Graham Maddocks, Geoff Whitfield, Michael Poirier, Jim Kalafus, Cliff Barry, Paul Latimer, Norman Gray.
Copyright © Peter Kelly.