Edith Haisman
| Edith Haisman | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born |
Edith Eileen Brown 27 October 1896 Cape Town, South Africa |
| Died | 20 January 1997 (aged 100) Southampton, England, United Kingdom |
| Known for | centenarian and one of the oldest survivors of the Titanic |
| Spouse(s) | Frederick Haisman (1917-1977, his death) |
| Children | 10 |
| Parent(s) | Thomas Brown Elizabeth Ford |
Edith Haisman (27 October 1896 – 20 January 1997) was one of the last remaining and oldest survivors of the sinking of the RMS Titanic in April 1912. She was the last survivor born in the 19th century, although seven younger survivors outlived her.
Edith Eileen Brown was born on 27 October 1896 in Cape Town, South Africa to Thomas William Solomon Brown and his wife, Elizabeth Catherine (née Ford) who owned and operated a hotel in Worcester.
Edith was 15 years old when she and her parents boarded the RMS Titanic in Southampton, England as second-class passengers. Her father was taking them to Seattle, Washington where he was going to open a hotel business. The ship's hold contained tableware, furnishings, and 1,000 rolls of bed linen for the intended hotel.
Edith remembered clearly when the ship struck the iceberg at 11:40 p.m. on 14 April 1912. In a series of interviews in her later years and a biography, A Lifetime on the Titanic, published in 1995, she gave a vivid account of its final moments, although some details have been called into question.
Father appeared a few minutes later. He told us, 'You'd better put on your life jackets and something warm, it's cold on deck. It's just a precaution. We've struck an iceberg, it's nothing much. The steward in the corridor says it's nothing to worry about.' We waited for ages on the boat deck for someone to tell us what to do. The ship's band was playing ragtime. They played to keep our spirits up. Everybody kept saying, 'She's unsinkable. She won't go down.' Father kissed us and saw us into Lifeboat 14. Up to fifty people got in as it swung perilously over the side. One man jumped into the boat dressed as a woman. As we rowed away from the ship, we could still hear the band playing, but now it was hymns. We were almost six hours in the lifeboat and during that time we had no water and nothing to eat. I kept wondering if my father had gotten off the ship, that's all I could think of. - 1995
Her father did not survive and his body, if recovered, was never identified. Her last memory of him was that he was dressed in an Edwardian dinner jacket while smoking a cigar and sipping brandy on the deck as she and her mother were being lowered in the lifeboat. Upon arrival in New York City, they stayed at the Junior League House before traveling to Seattle to live with her aunt, Josephine Acton. They soon returned to Cape Town where she lived with relatives after her mother remarried and moved to Rhodesia.
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Wikipedia