Catherine Buckley was a Third Class passenger on the Titanic. She did not survive the disaster.
Background[]
Catherine Buckley came from a Catholic family who spoke fluent English. She was born on March the 6th, 1889 in Springmount, Ovens, County Cork, Ireland as the daughter of Jeremiah Buckley, who worked on a farm, and Julia Mahony, both from Cork and married around 1883. Catherine had a brother, Daniel, born on July 22, 1886.
She also had a half-sister, Margaret, from her father’s previous marriage to Ellen Collins, who died sometime before the birth of her brother Daniel.
Jeremiah worked on a farm. He had married for the first time Ellen Collins before, with whom he had a daughter, Margaret, born on February 21, 1880. The family lived in Ovens in 1901. Catherine worked as a maid in the service of Annie and Emma Evans at the 'Adelaide Terrace' in Cork. The Buckleys were living at 30 Knockanemore, Ovens, Ireland. Catherine was no longer residing with her family by 1911. Instead, she was living and working as a maid in a nearby town for Annie and Emma Evans.
Catherine had plans to join her half-sister Margaret, who had emigrated to America after the turn of the century and was living at 71 Montview Street in Roxbury, near Boston, Massachusetts.
Titanic[]
Catherine had initially bought a ticket to travel aboard the SS Cymric, which would have taken her directly to Boston, but a coal strike forced her to change her plans, obtaining a Third Class ticket aboard the RMS Titanic, which she paid for thanks to the money sent by Margaret. She boarded the ship on Thursday April 11 in Queenstown. She was travelling by herself, being 25 years old at the time. She was travelling by herself, being 25 years old at the time. Miss Buckley was 25 years old and was traveling alone. Margaret had sent money to pay for her ticket.
On the night of April 14, 1912, the ocean liner hit an iceberg, sinking in the early hours of April 15. Catherine perished in the shipwreck, her body being recovered by CS Mackay-Bennett on April 28, noted as number #299. It was delivered to Margaret in Boston.
After her death[]
Poor Margaret unfairly received the blame for her demise and her parents disowned her. It seems that Catherine was due to work in the home of a wealthy Boston businessman, but her family was opposed to her leaving.
After being sent off at Christmas from the Buckley's home, Margaret returned to Massachusetts in 1914. There, she fell in love with another Irish immigrant named Maurice Dowd and they made their vows to eachother. They started their life together in Boston and she gave birth to 3 children. Margaret died in the 1920s.