Ella White

Ella Holmes White (December 18^th, 1856 - January 31^st, 1942) was a First Class passenger of the Titanic. She survived the sinking.

Early Life[]

Ella Holmes White was born in New York on December 18th, 1856, daughter of Edwin Holmes and Eliza Ann Richardson. She had 3 siblings.

She married to John Stuart White in Manhattan on 12 December 1894. They had no children and her husband died less than three years later on 19 May 1897.

She befriended Mary Grice Young and spent some time in Europe with her, in 1911 they drove through France in an automobile.

On the Titanic[]

She boarded in Cherbourg with Ticket 17760 at a price of £135 12s 8d. She travelled along with Marie Young, her maid Nellie Mayo Bessette, and manservant Sante Righini (who did not survive the sinking) in cabin C-32. She was 55 years old at the time.

The two ladies were returning home after completing a trip to Britain and France. With them, they brought four roosters and hens, which were probably kept in or near the F-Deck Dog Kennels. They had imported them from France with the intention of improving the poultry stock at home.

She remained in her cabin for the entire voyage and only left it when roused by the collision which she described as if the ship had run over a thousand marbles. Mrs. White, Marie Young and Nellie Bessette survived the sinking by stepping aboard lifeboat 8. Sante Righini lost his life during the sinking. His body was in fact recovered and identified.

She had her own thoughts about the crew's behaviour during the night, as she says:

"Before we cut loose from the ship two of the seamen with us ... took out cigarettes and lighted them on an occasion like that! ... All of those men escaped under the pretense of being oarsmen. The man who rowed me took his oar and rowed all over the boat, in every direction. I said to him, "Why don't you put the oar in the oarlock?" He said, "Do you put it in that hole?" I said "Certainly." He said, "I never had an oar in my hand before." I spoke to the other man and he said; "I have never had an oar in my hand before, but I think I can row." Those were the men that we were put to sea with at night - with all these magnificent fellows left on board, who would have been such a protection to us. Those were the kind of men with whom we were put out to sea that night.

Our head seaman would give an order and those men who knew nothing about the handling of a boat would say, "If you don't stop talking through that hole in your face there will be one less in the boat.""

She later testified before the American Inquiry that the Titanic had broken in two before sinking.

During the Inquiry, she had justified critisism and the right idea on the way the evaction was handled. Senator Smith asked her to confirm that there were no male passengers in her lifeboat. Her reaction:

"Not one. I never saw a finer body of men in my life than the men passengers on this ship — athletes and men of sense — and if they had been permitted to enter these lifeboats with their families, the boats would have been properly manned and many more lives saved, instead of allowing stewards to get in the boats and save their lives under the pretence that they could row when they knew nothing about it."

Lightoller[]

Second Officer Lightoller later recalled how Ella White annoyed him and his crew during the evaction. She was constantly waving her precious staff with an electric light on its knob, and this blinded him. He asked someone if he would throw her item overboard.

Later Life and Death[]

She and Mrs. Young remained best friends until Mrs. White died on January 31st, 1942 in New York City, at the age of 85. She was living at the Plaza Hotel at the moment she died.

Titanic-29 — Telegram by Mrs. White to her loved ones (not send)

In popular culture[]

A Night to Remember (1958)[]

20200802 154224 — Andrea Troubridge as Ella White in *A Night to Remember (1958)*

“	That man over there is smoking a cigarette. I think it's disgraceful that anyone should smoke at the time like this! People really ought to control themselves.	”
—Ella White

Ella White makes a possible appearance in A Night to Remember, portrayed by actress Andrea Troubridge.

She first appeared after Titanic sank, when the passengers on lifeboat 14 were transferred to lifeboat 12 so that it could be used to pick up survivors again. Mrs. White had refused to move to another lifeboat, so Fifth Officer Harold Lowe had to persuade her.

When the crew and passengers of lifeboat heard an officer whistle, they agreed to return to the direction of the whistle, which turned out to be the whistle of Second Officer Charles Lightoller, who survived by straddling an overturned Collapsible B with several other passengers.

Mrs. White noticed that a crew member was smoking, which she considered embarrassing if someone was smoking at a time like this, but no one seemed to respond to Mrs. White. This is clearly a reference from Mrs. White’s experience while on a lifeboat in real life.

She reappeared when RMS Carpathia arrived, and with the other passengers she joined in the prayer together the next morning.

Sources[]

_{Ella White at Encyclopedia Titanica.}
_{Ella White at Titanic-Titanic.com.}
_{Titanic at pinterest.}
_{Titanic: My Obsession.}