Winifred “Frieda” Neatby was born in Hampstead, London, England, on the 24th June 1885, the daughter of Edwin Awdas and Winifred Neatby (née Jones). She was the
youngest of two daughters, and her father was a medical doctor who converted to homeopathy, working at the London Homeopathic Hospital, as well as being a consultant at many other hospitals, and was a president of the British Homeopathic Society.
In 1908, her mother died and her father re-married in 1910. His second wife was Mary Ruth Jones, who was no relation to his first wife.
Frieda became a student of domestic economy, and then, in April 1914, she arrived in Portland, Maine, in the United States of America, having sailed from Liverpool on the Cymric. She then travelled overland to Renown, Saskatchewan, Canada, to her paternal uncle. She divided her time between her uncle and her cousin, Mrs. Edith Hedlin in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, and became engaged to be married to Frans Hedlin, Edith’s brother-in-law.
In the spring of 1915, she decided to return home - possibly because of the war which had been raging in Europe since August 1914 - and she consequently booked second cabin passage for herself on the May sailing of the Lusitania from New York to Liverpool.
Having left Saskatoon sometime in April, she boarded the liner at the Cunard berth at Pier 54 in New York port on the morning of 1st May 1915 in time for the liner’s scheduled 10.00 a.m. sailing. She then had to wait until 12.27 p.m. before the liner actually left, because the Cunarder had to embark passengers, cargo and some of the crew from the Anchor Lines vessel Cameronia, which had been requisitioned by the British Admiralty for war service as a troop ship.
Six days later, on the afternoon of 7th May, she survived when the Lusitania was torpedoed and sunk within sight of the coast of southern Ireland by the German submarine U-20. At that stage of her voyage, she was only about twelve to fourteen hours away from the safety of her home port.
Having been rescued from the sea, Frieda Neatby was landed at Queenstown, from where she made it to her intended destination in London.
Frieda enlisted as a nurse with the Scottish Women’s Hospitals for Foreign Service on the 28th October 1915, and later transferred to Queen Alexandra’s Imperial Military Nursing Service. In early 1918, she was sent to France to work in hospitals there, and remained until January 1919.
Very little is known of Frieda’s life after 1919, except that she broke off her engagement with Frans Hedlin, and never returned to Canada. She was a beneficiary of her father’s will when he died in 1933, and also of her sister’s will when she died in 1945, leaving her in a comfortable financial position.
Frieda Neatby lived her final years at 134. Holtye Road, East Grinstead, Sussex, and died at the Homeopathic Hospital, Tunbridge Wells, Kent, on the 7th May 1958, aged 72 years. She was laid to rest beside her mother in Kensal Green Cemetery, London.
Register of Births, Marriages and Deaths, 1891 Census of England & Wales, 1901 Census of England & Wales, 1911 Census of England & Wales, 1939 Re
Records, UK World War I Service Medal and Award Rolls 1914 – 1920, Kent & Sussex Courier, Probate Records, PRO BT 100/345, Graham Maddocks, Geoff Whitfield, Michael Poirier, Jim Kalafus, Cliff Barry, Paul Latimer, Norman Gray.
Copyright © Peter Kelly.