Fanny Elizabeth Marshall was born in Wortley, near Leeds, Yorkshire, England, on the 28th February 1880, the daughter of Fred and Elizabeth Marshall (née Riley). Her father was a bricklayer and general labourer, and Fanny was the second eldest of six known children.
On completion of her education, Fanny worked as a cloth weaver, and then, on the 24th April 1905, she married Harry Marshall, an insurance agent, in St. John the Evangelist Church, Wortley.
Harry Marshall had enlisted in the British Army in October 1899, and as 5556 Private Marshall, had served with the York and Lancashire Regiment, seeing service in Ireland, before being sent to India, and later South Africa, where he served during the Boer War. He was honourably discharged in 1904, but on the 1st July 1907, he had re-enlisted and transferred to the Northumberland Fusiliers, where he served as 30359 Private Marshall.
On the 16th August 1907, Fanny Marshall arrived in Quebec, Canada, having sailed from Liverpool on the Empress of Britain. She settled in Hamilton, Ontario, where she lived at 282. Ferguson Street. In 1909, her parents and two of her younger siblings joined her. In the meantime, her husband was serving in India with his regiment.
In January 1915, her husband had returned with his regiment, and Fanny decided to return to England to see him. As a result, she booked third class passage on the Lusitania and having left Canada by rail at the end of April 1915, she joined the liner at New York in time for her sailing just after mid-day on 1st May!
Six days later, she survived the sinking of the vessel twelve miles off the coast of southern Ireland and having been rescued from the sea and landed at Queenstown, she eventually made it back to Leeds. She was aged 35 years at the time of the sinking.
Soon after her return, she 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 business dignitaries to help second and third class passenger survivors and the relatives of those who had perished, who had come upon hard times 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.
She was granted a once and for all payment of £5-0s-0d by the awards committee.
Fanny resided at 3. East View Terrace, Low Worsley, Leeds, on her return to England, and while there, she received a letter from a Mrs. Margaret Prichard, whose son, Richard Preston Prichard, had been a second cabin passenger on the Lusitania, and no trace of him had been found after the sinking. Mrs. Prichard had written to all of the survivors she could trace in an effort to learn any information about her soon. Fanny Marshall replied to the letter, stating that she could offer no information, and was not familiar with Mr. Prichard.
Fanny’s husband, Harry, was attached to the 3rd (H.S.) Bn. Northumberland Fusiliers which saw service in Ireland, and was not sent to the Western Front. It is not known if Fanny travelled to Ireland to be close to him, but their daughter, Laura Elizabeth was born on the 22nd August 1916 in Sunderland, County Durham.
In 1918, Fanny had returned to her parents and siblings in Hamilton, Ontario, bring her daughter, Laura, with her. Her husband was demobilised from the army in 1919, but there is no evidence to suggest he followed his wife and daughter to Canada.
In 1921, Fanny gave birth to her second child, a son named Clarence Fred, in Hamilton, but it is not known who the father of this child was.
On her return to Canada, she had filed a claim with the Canadian Commission seeking compensation for the personal effects she had lost in the sinking of the Lusitania. In August 1926, she was awarded $511.75 in settlement.
Fanny moved to Detroit, Michigan, in the United States of America, where on the 3rd December 1924, she filed for divorce from her husband, claiming cruelty, desertion, and non-support as her reasons. Her divorce was granted on the 24th March 1925, and the following day, she married Samuel Bailey in Detroit. It is not known if they had any children.
Fanny Bailey died in Hamilton, Ontario, on the 23rd November 1968, aged 80 years. She was buried in Woodlawn Cemetery, Hamilton.
Register of Births, Marriages and Deaths, West Yorkshire England Church of England Births and Baptisms 1813 – 1910, Michigan U.S. Divorce Records 1897 – 1952, Michigan U.S. Marriage Records 1867 – 1952, 1881 Census of England & Wales, 1891 Census of England & Wales, 1901 Census of England & Wales, 1911 Census of Canada, 1921 Census of Canada, Canadian Passenger Lists 1865 – 1935, Cunard Records, Canadian Claims Case No. 823, IWM GB62, Liverpool Record Office, PRO BT 100/345, Graham Maddocks, Geoff Whitfield, Michael Poirier, Jim Kalafus, Cliff Barry, Paul Latimer, Norman Gray.
Copyright © Peter Kelly.