Marion Florence Carle was born in St. George, near Bristol, Gloucestershire, England, in 1884, the daughter of Samuel John and Emma Carle (née Player). Her father was a cabinet maker, and Marion, or Florence as she was sometimes known as, was the second youngest of five children in the family.
She was a dressmaker by profession, and in 1905, she had immigrated to Toronto, Ontario, Canada, where some of her older brothers were living and working.
On the 21st April 1906, she married James Selfe in Toronto. Her husband had also emigrated from England and was a carpenter by trade. The couple resided at 203. Ossington Avenue, Toronto, and had no children.
By the spring of 1915, her husband found himself unemployed, and with little prospect
of finding employment, they decided to return to England where they believed there were better opportunities.
Consequently, they booked third class passage on the May sailing of the Lusitania from New York to Liverpool and having left Canada sometime in April, arrived at the Cunard berth at Pier 54 on the west side of New York City, on the morning of 1st May 1915, in time for the liner’s scheduled 10 o’clock departure, with a ticket numbered 37927. Once on board, however, they had to wait until just before 12.30 p.m. before the liner actually sailed, because she had to embark passengers, crew and cargo from the Anchor Lines vessel the S.S. Cameronia which the British Admiralty had requisitioned for war service as a troop ship.
Then, 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 stage of her home voyage, she was only about 250 miles away from the safety of her home port.
Both Florence Selfe and her husband lost their lives as a result of this action, and as neither of their bodies was ever recovered from the sea and identified afterwards, neither has a known grave. Florence Self was aged 31 years.
Cunard records spell her name as Self on the passenger manifest but this is erroneous and Selfe was her correct name.
Register of Births, Marriages and Deaths, Ontario Canada Marriages 1801 – 1928, 1891 Census of England & Wales, 1901 Census of England & Wales, 1911 Census of Canada, UK Outward Passenger Lists 1890 – 1960, New York Passenger Lists 1820 – 1957, Canadian Passenger Lists 1865 – 1935, Cunard Records, Toronto World, 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.