Annie Sophia Wright was born in Faversham, Kent, England, on the 4th October 1891, the daughter of William Charles and Esther Elizabeth Hannah Wright (née Hunt). Her father was a mariner, and Annie was one of fourteen children, although only Annie and five of her siblings were still alive by 1911.
On the 6th April 1912, she married Thomas William Marsh, who was an engine driver, and in April 1913, the couple had immigrated to Canada and settled in Toronto, Ontario, where a son, also named Thomas, was born to them in November of that year. The family had lived in Westgate-on-Sea, Kent, before going to Canada.
In the autumn of 1914, Annie Marsh had accepted the position of housekeeper to the Hook family, who lived at Millicrest Street, Toronto. George Hook, who was also born in England, had recently lost his wife, so needed help to run his house and look after his two young children, Elsie and Frank.
However, in the spring of 1915, George Hook decided that he could make a living just as easily back in England and so decided to return home. This would naturally have left Annie Marsh without a job, so she and her husband decided to return to England as well. Consequently, both families decided to travel together as third class passengers on the May sailing of the Lusitania, which was scheduled to leave New York for Liverpool on the morning of 1st May 1915.
Having left Canada sometime in April, the two families arrived in New York in time to board her on that morning, only to have to wait until just before mid-day before she actually left the port. This was because she had to wait to embark passengers, crew and cargo from the fellow Anchor Liner the Cameronia which the British Admiralty had requisitioned for war service as a troop ship.
Six days out of New York on the afternoon of 7th May, and within sight of the coast of southern Ireland, the Lusitania was torpedoed and sunk by the German submarine U-20. At that time, she was only about 250 miles away from her destination.
Although both Annie Marsh‘s husband and child were killed as a result of this action, she survived, and having been rescued from the sea, she was landed at Queenstown. Once there, Cunard gave her a boat and rail ticket to London and travelling expenses of £0-7s-0d., (£0.35p.), which enabled her to get to the home of her in-laws at 2, Mabel Terrace, Richborough Road, Westgate-on-Sea, on Sunday 9th May.
Once there, she gave an account of her experiences to a representative of local newspaper The East Kent Times. Looking very pale and showing physical signs of her ordeal, she thus told her story: -
We came from Toronto to New York and took a berth on the Lusitania, which was sailing on the morning of May 1st, I, my husband and eighteen months’ old baby. I was sitting sewing after I had dressed my baby, when I heard the explosion. Rushing to the steps I saw my husband who took me to the second-class deck. I remained there with my husband as long as I possibly could, and tied the baby around me.
I took to the water as the vessel was sinking fast. Within a few minutes the baby got loose and I lost him.
After being in the water for over half an hour and only being kept afloat by holding on to two large pieces of wood, I heard a man call out “Come on lady.” One of the stewards of the vessel was in the boat and he assisted me into it. Later I arrived at Queenstown.
The first explosion caused the ship to list heavily, which caused much difficulty in getting to the upper deck. In doing so, many people were thrown down and injured.
In the lifeboat which had rescued Annie Marsh she saw a dead baby and also watched as a woman who had been taken on board, died soon afterwards. Annie Marsh was of the opinion that: -
The women acted with wonderful coolness, as did the sailors.
She also stated that the night before the sinking, her husband had had a dream that the vessel had been torpedoed! It is perhaps a pity that he did not take more heed of the dream!
Although the body of her baby son was never recovered from the sea and identified, that of her husband was, and was later buried in one of the mass graves in the cemetery just outside Queenstown. During the second week in June 1915, she took possession of property recovered from this body at the Mabel Terrace address. She was 23 years of age at the time of the sinking.
All three members of the Hook family, like Annie Marsh, survived the sinking.
While recovering from her ordeal, Annie Marsh received a letter from Mrs. Margaret Prichard, whose son, Richard Preston Prichard, had been a second class passenger on the Lusitania, and who was presumed lost. His mother, and brother, Mostyn Prichard, wrote to all the survivors they could obtain addresses for, seeking any information about him. Annie Marsh replied: -
2. Mabel Terrace
Richborough Rd.
Westgate-on-Sea.
Dear madam,
I received your letter today, Tuesday. I am very sorry to write & tell you I cannot write & give you any information about your son. You have my Deepest Sympathy as I have lost my husband & baby boy 18 months old, they have found my Husband body but there is no trace of the baby. I had a wire from Queenstown to say my husband was Buried and his (sic.) is 29 I must year of age. I must draw my letter to a close hoping & trusting you will soon hear some news of your son.
Yours faithfully,
Mrs. Marsh.
No trace of Richard Preston Prichard was ever found.
On Christmas Day, 1916, Annie married Alfred Steven Thomas Wood in Faversham. Her second husband, like her father, was a mariner. The couple had no children, and lived at 31. Priory Row, Faversham, Kent.
Annie Sophia Wood died on the 20th February 1977, aged 85 years. She left an estate of £6,246
Register of Births, Marriages and Deaths, Ontario Canada Births 1832 – 1914, 1901 Census of England & Wales, 1911 Census of England & Wales, 1939 Register, Canadian Passenger Lists 1865 – 1935, Cunard Records, Cork Examiner, East Kent Times, Isle of Thanet Gazette, Seven Days to Disaster, IWM GB62, Probate Records, PRO BT 100/345, UNiLiv.D92/1/1, UniLiv D92/2/319, Deaths at Sea 1871 – 1968, Graham Maddocks, Geoff Whitfield, Michael Poirier, Jim Kalafus, Cliff Barry, Paul Latimer, Norman Gray.
Copyright © Peter Kelly.