Elizabeth Machell was born in Dumfries, Dumfriesshire, Scotland, on the 17th September 1873, the daughter of Thomas Graham and Christina Machell (née Gowanlock). Her father was a tea warehouseman, and Elizabeth was the second oldest of five children in the family.
While still a child, her family relocated to Liverpool, Lancashire, England. Their home was at 35, Linacre Road, Litherland, Liverpool, Lancashire, England, and her father found work, first as a shore steward, and later in the Mercantile Marine as a steward on passenger liners.
After leaving school, Elizabeth worked as a dressmaker, before joining the Mercantile Marine as a stewardess on passenger liners. It is likely that she was advised on this career choice by her father. Both Elizabeth and her father worked for the Cunard Steam Ship Company.
On the 12th April 1915, she engaged as a stewardess in the Stewards' Department on board the Lusitania at Liverpool at a monthly rate of pay of £4-0s.-0d., and reported for duty on board at 7 a.m., on the 17th April, - the morning that the steamer left her Liverpool home port for the last time, for New York. Her previous ship had been the Anchor liner Transylvania.
Having completed the first leg of her voyage, the liner left New York in the early afternoon of the 1st May 1915 to return to Liverpool, but never made it home. She was torpedoed and sunk off The Old Head of Kinsale, southern Ireland, six days later, by the German submarine U-20, when she was only 250 miles from Liverpool.
Elizabeth Machell was fortunate enough to survive the sinking - out of 22 stewardesses who served on board ship, thirteen were killed and only nine survived. She was aged 41 years at the time of the sinking, although when she signed on, she claimed to be only 36!
Having been rescued from the sea, she was landed at Queenstown, from where she eventually got back to Bootle. She was also officially discharged from the Lusitania’s voyage and paid the balance of wages owed to her, which amounted to £6-4s.-0d. (£6.20p.). This was in respect of her service from the 17th April until the 8th May, 24 hours after the liner had gone down.
On the 27th June 1918, Elizabeth married George Craige in Liverpool. George was serving as a Second Lieutenant with the 10th Bn. (Liverpool Scottish)(Territorial) Kings (Liverpool Regiment) at the time of their marriage, and Elizabeth was serving as a nurse. Unfortunately, their happiness was short-lived as George died of pneumonia in hospital in Oswestry, Shropshire, on the 28th October 1918, aged 32 years, and was buried in Great Crosby (St. Luke) Graveyard near Liverpool.
After the war, Elizabeth continued to serve as a stewardess on trans-Atlantic liner for many years, primarily as the chief stewardess on the Berengaria. She resided with her younger sister, Mrs. Christina Thomas at 31. Linacre Road, Litherland, Liverpool, which was only two houses away from her parents’ home at 35. Linacre Road!
In the summer of 1934, she retired as a stewardess and married Alfred Henry Hewlett in Liverpool. Her second husband was a sub-postmaster in Ash Magna, Whitechurch, Shropshire, but had previously served as a ship’s steward with the Cunard Steam Ship Company and it is likely they met while serving together on the Aquitania, and other liners. Following their marriage, the couple resided in Ash Magna where they would live out the remainder of their lives. They had no children.
Elizabeth Hewlett died in Whitechurch, Shropshire, England, on the 19th October 1962,
aged 89 years. Her husband, who was 19 years younger than her died in 1970.
Register of Births, Marriages and Deaths, Scotland Select Births and Baptisms 1564 – 1950, 1881 Census of England, 1891 Census of England, 1901 Census of England, 1911 Census of England, 1939 Register, Cunard Records, Liverpool Echo, PRO BT 100/345, PRO BT 348, PRO BT 349, Graham Maddocks, Geoff Whitfield, Michael Poirier, Jim Kalafus, Cliff Barry, Paul Latimer, Norman Gray.
Copyright © Peter Kelly.
Revised & Updated – 12th March 2024.