Elizabeth Margaret Burns was a nanny working for the Spedden Family onboard Titanic.
Early life[]
Elizabeth Margaret Burns was born in Newark, New Jersey on December 7, 1870. She was baptized at St. Patrick's Roman Catholic Cathedral on December 11, 1870. She was the daughter of Patrick Burns and Margaret Neary.
Elizabeth 'Muddie Boons' Burns with Robert Douglas Spedden as he's playing with his toys.
Unfortunately, her father died on December 27, 1880, when Elizabeth was only 10 years old. Elizabeth graduated first from Cathedral School and St. Mary's Academy in Newark. Subsequently, she also graduated with honors from Bellevue Hospital in New York and later graduated from the Roosevelt Hospital Training School and Sloane Maternity Hospital and specialized in the Willard Parker Hospital for Childhood Diseases.
In 1906, Elizabeth began working for the Spedden family as a nanny for little Robert Douglas Spedden, who called her "Muddie Boons" because he found it difficult to pronounce her name. In 1911 Helen Alice Wilson joined the family as the maid of Mrs. Margaretta Corning Spedden. Elizabeth took excellent care of Robert during 'a serious bout of illness' and, as a way of showing their gratitude, Frederic Oakley Spedden and his wife Margaretta invited her to accompany them on a 3-month vacation in Europe.
In the 1911 passport, Miss Elizabeth Margaret Burns was described as 'a woman 5.2 inches tall, with gray hair, brown eyes, and an elongated face.'
Titanic[]
In April 1912, after a stint abroad visiting Madeira and several Riviera resorts, Elizabeth, Helen and the family boarded the Titanic in Cherbourg, They were transferred from the Nomadic with other First Class passengers. While the parents stayed in cabin E-34, Robert and Elizabeth were booked in cabin E-40.
On the night of April 14 when the Titanic hit the iceberg, Frederic Spedden was woken up. He felt the collision and came to Elizabeth's room to talk to his son, saying they would go star-gazing. Elizabeth, Helen and the entire Spedden family headed to the starboard Boat Deck, where the women and little Robert were loaded into lifeboat 3. Moments later, Frederic was also allowed to get on that boat. This way, they all survived the disaster. Titanic foundered on April 15 at 2:20 A.M.
Elizabeth, Helen and the Speddens stayed at the Seville Hotel in New York for a while.
Later life[]
A short time after the disaster, she left her job as a nanny. In 1915, the little Robert Douglas Spedden, whom she had cared for so much, died at the age of 9 in an accident with a truck.
Some friends of Elizabeth Margaret Burns claimed that she never fully recovered from her experience on the sinking Titanic and her health was never as before, so she frequently suffered from endocarditis. As a member of the Red Cross, Elizabeth Margaret Burns was employed during World War I from 1914-1918 as a member of the executive committee of the New York County Chapter and participated in the recruitment of nurses.
In her later years, she was working with Joseph Harvey Ladew, one of the world's largest leather manufacturers, and accompanied him on his many travels. Subsequently, she was in charge of the industrial nursing department of the JH Ladew Company on Lincoln Highway.
Elizabeth Margaret Burns died at the Young Women's Nurses Club on May 25, 1921 at age 50 from an attack of pulmonary edema. She was interred in Holy Sepulchre Cemetery, East Orange, New Jersey.