The Maid Who Lived: Ellen Bird and Titanic’s Final Farewell
I have been learning about some of the people who were on
board the Titanic, and I wanted to tell you a little about Ellen Bird.
She was born on the 8th of April 1881 in Old Buckenham in
Norfolk, into a large rural family. Like many women in her position, she began
working at a young age, she moved into domestic service and then settled in
London. By 1912, her life took an unexpected turn when she was hired as a maid
by Isidor Straus and Ida Straus, they were an elderly and very devoted couple that
were returning to America.
On the night of the 14th of April 1912, everything changed.
As the Titanic hit the iceberg and the evacuation began, Ellen followed her
employers onto the deck. When Lifeboat 8 was being boarded, Ida was urged to
leave, but she refused to go without her husband. Isidor also chose to remain
behind, insisting others should go first. Ida turned to Ellen and encouraged
her to board the boat instead, giving her a fur coat to keep warm.
Ellen thankfully survived, rescued by the Carpathia the next
morning. After arriving in New York, she gave testimony about the Strauses’
final moments and later offered to return the coat, but was told to keep it in
memory.
She remained in the United States and married in 1914, and she
tragically list her young daughter. She
became an American citizen in 1938, and spent her later years in Newport, Rhode
Island, where she died on the 11th of September 1949 at the age of 68.
Do you think Ellen Bird ever truly came to terms with
surviving that night?
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