Alice Elizabeth Fortune
Alice Elizabeth Fortune was a passenger on Titanic.
Early life[]
Alice Elizabeth Fortune was born in Manitoba, Winnipeg, Canada on May 10, 1887 and was the 4th of 6 children conceived by the wealthy Mark Fortune and Mary Fortune McDougald.
In 1912, when her parents invited her and 3 of her siblings (Ethel, Mabel and Charles), to the grand tour of Europe, Alice was still living with her parents although she was already engaged to Charles Holden Allen.
William Thomson Sloper, who admired Alice, was with her at Sheapheard's Hotel in Cairo. According to him, on February 12, 1912, Alice was sitting in the gallery of the hotel when a fortune teller approached her and said: "You are in danger every time you travel by sea, because I see you adrift in an open boat. You will lose everything but your life." Alice gave some money to the little man who disappeared into the crowd. It's shocking how right the fortune teller was. Especially since Fortune is her last name.
Titanic[]
To return to Manitoba, Canada, the Fortune family (Mark, Mary, Ethel, Alice, Mabel, and Charles) decided to board the Titanic as First Class passengers. They boarded the ship on 10 April 1912 in Southampton. Alice was 24 years old at the time. They had cabins on starboard side. While their parents were occupying cabin C-27. the three sisters shared cabin C-25. Brother Charles had his own cabin to himself, C-23.
On the night of April 14, Titanic collided with an iceberg and she went down by the head. As it became clear the ship was sinking, her captain had ordered to evacuate the passengers. Alice, her mother and two sisters managed to board lifeboat 10 and survived. However, neither her brother Charles nor her father Mark managed to survive the disaster.
Later life[]
A few months after the Titanic disaster, Alice and Charles Allen married. They took their vows on June 8, 1912.
Charles quickly gained prominence in Canadian business and government affairs and for some years practiced law in New Brunswick and then was Assistant Canadian Manager and Director of National Bonding Company in Montreal.
In 1914, Alice and Charles had their first and only child, Mary Marjorie Allen.
Mary Marjorie Allen later had husband, Clark Rutherford, who eventually was lost at sea when the ship he commanded, HMCS Ottawa, sank in World War II in September 1942.
Alice and Charles had a holiday home in Chester, Nova Scotia and retired there. She became widowed when Charles passed away in 1955.
Alice died on April 7 1961 at the age of 73, a few days after the death of her sister Ethel. She and Charles were laid to rest at Bayview Anglican Cemetery in Chester.
Sources[]
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MW1V4AJtYco Special thanks to the channel of 'MBTubes Biographies & More'
- https://www.encyclopedia-titanica.org/titanic-survivor/alice-elizabeth-fortune.html