Hudson Joshua Creighton Allison was a Canadian First Class passenger of the RMS Titanic who perished in the sinking
Early life[]
Hudson Joshua Creighton Allison was born in Chesterville, Ontario, Canada in 1881. Lean and saturnine, with a good head for figures, he was imbued with the Protestant work ethic. He worked for a time as a clerk at Chester Casselman's General Store in Chesterville, but at age 19, he was hired by his uncle, George "Frank" Johnston, to run the brokerage firm's junior division in Montreal, Canada.
Hudson was sent to Buffalo, New York, to learn shorthand. There he worked as a life insurance agent for his uncle and was later sent to Winnipeg (Canada), where he opened an office. Throughout her 2 years in Winnipeg, she met Mark Fortune and Thomson Beattie. During one of his frequent trips to Montreal, he met Bessie Waldo Daniels. They were married in Milwaukee (Wisconsin, USA) on December 9, 1907.
The Allisons were devout Methodists; they taught Sunday school, Bible classes, and Hudson often served as a lay preacher. In 1909, their first child and daughter, Helen Loraine Allison, was born and in 1911 their son Hudson Trevor Allison was born. That same year, they decided to open the Allison Stock Farm near Winchester, Ontario, and built a new home in Westmount, Canada.
Mr. Hudson Allison served on the board of directors of the British Lumber Corporation and sailed to England for a meeting of directors. While the family was there, they hired domestic staff for their 2 residences: George Swane as Chauffeur, Amelia Mary Brown as Cook, Alice Catherine Cooper as Trevor's nanny. Sarah Rebecca Daniels as a maid for Lady Bessie.
Titanic[]
The Allisons had altered travel plans to sail back with old friends on the Titanic. They boarded the ship in Southampton, England, bound for Montreal, Canada. Mr. Hudson and Mrs. Bessie were in one suite, Sarah and Helen Loraine in another suite, and Alice and Trevor in another suite. The other employees traveled Second Class. On the last night of their lives, Hudson and his wife sat down to dinner with Commander Arthur Godfrey Peuchen and Harry Markland Molson. Bessie then briefly took Loraine into the Dining Room so she could see how pretty it was.
Unfortunately, on the night of April 14-15, 1912, Titanic struck an iceberg and the family was not worried. Except Miss Cooper, who took Trevor with her into a lifeboat. Hudson and his wife suddenly realized they couldn't find their baby and searched everywhere, which caused them to miss out on a chance to get off the ship. Hudson, Bess and their little daughter Lorraine perished in the sinking. Hudson's body was recovered by the CS Mackay-Bennett and is buried in the Allison family plot at Maple Ridge Cemetery near Winchester, Ontario, Canada.
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