Sarah Helena Groveham was born in Great Crosby, near Liverpool, Lancashire, England, on the 13th September 1865, the only child of George Charles and Elizabeth Groveham (née Stockwell). Her father was a flour dealer and victualler, who died on the 20th December 1866, when Sarah was only fifteen months old. The family home and business was at Blair Street, Toxteth, Liverpool.
She became known as Sarah Rogerson from 1870, when her mother married John Rogerson, a licenced victualler (which in those days meant a publican) in Liverpool. Her mother and step-father went on to have seven children, only three of whom were still alive by 1911!
On the 27th April 1898, Sarah married Arthur Vaughan Wiggins at St. Mary’s Church, Waterloo, Liverpool. Her husband was a decorative artist and sign writer, and the couple established their home at 24. Woodland Grove, Blackpool, Lancashire.
In January 1910, Sarah and her husband moved to Canada, and settled in Toronto, Ontario; however difficulties arose in their marriage and the couple separated. In the spring of 1915, Sarah Wiggins decided to return to Liverpool and as a consequence, booked a second cabin passage to Liverpool on the Lusitania. Leaving Toronto at the end of April, she joined the vessel at New York, on 1st May 1915, before she sailed from Pier 54 for the last time, just after mid-day.
She survived the sinking, just six days later and was eventually landed at Queenstown from where she made it to the home of her half-sister, Miss Clara Elizabeth Rogerson, at 29, Rossett Road, Blundellsands, Liverpool. The week after the sinking, the local newspaper, The Crosby Herald reported: -
For some time it was doubtful whether she was saved, but on Sunday, Miss
Rogerson, her sister who resides at Blundellsands, received a telegram stating that Mrs. Wiggins was one of the survivors. She was then staying at a hotel in Queenstown, suffering from shock and slight injuries. We understand she is going on favourably, and is expected at Blundellsands at the close of this week.
Sarah Wiggins did indeed arrive at Blundellsands and successfully applied to The Lusitania Relief Fund, administered by The Lord Mayor of Liverpool, from her sister’s home, for a financial award for the ordeal she had suffered, and on 12th June, she was granted the sum of £20-0s-0d.
The awards committee in making this award simply stated: -
Injury to health - of gentle-folk class.!
It is likely that Arthur and Sarah divorced, as Arthur Wiggins married Ethel Neely in Reno, Nevada, in the United States of America, on the 13th September 1917. Sarah Wiggins never re-married.
Sarah Wiggins died in Southport, Lancashire, on the 11th October 1936, aged 71 years. Her home at the time was at 103. Forest Road, Southport. She left her estate of £451-14s.-11d. (£451.74½p) to her half-sisters, Miss Clara Elizabeth Rogerson and Mrs. Maria Victoria George. Curiously, at the time of her death, she was still being described as being the wife of Arthur Vaughan Wiggins! Arthur Vaughan Wiggins died in Alameda, California, in the United States of America, on the 27th May 1937.
Register of Births, Marriages and Deaths, Liverpool England Church of England Baptisms 1813 – 1919, Lancashire England Church of England Marriages and Banns 1754 – 1936, 1871 Census of England & Wales, 1881 Census of England & Wales, 1891 Census of England & Wales, 1901 Census of England & Wales, Canadian Passenger Lists 1865 – 1935, New York Passenger Lists 1820 – 1957, Cunard Records, Crosby Herald, Liverpool Weekly Courier, Liverpool Record Office, Graham Maddocks, Geoff Whitfield, Michael Poirier, Jim Kalafus, Cliff Barry, Paul Latimer, Norman Gray.
Copyright © Peter Kelly.