Juliette Marie Louise Laroche
Juliette Marie Louise (Lafargue) Laroche was a passenger on Titanic.
Early life[]
Juliette Marie Louise Lafargue was born in Boulogne-sur-Seine (today Boulogne-Billancourt), near Paris, on October 20th, 1889. She was the daughter of André Charles Lafargue, a wine merchant, and his wife Célestine Marie Louise Amélie Reynaud.
The Lafargue family later lived in Villejuif, a few kilometers away. That's where Juliette met Joseph Philippe Lemercier Laroche, a Haitian engineer who had studied and worked in France. They married on March 18th, 1908.
The Laroche couple initially had 2 daughters: Simone Marie Anne Andrée and Louise Marie Marguerite. Simone was the eldest, born on 19 February 1909. Her sister came into this world on July 2, 1910. Sadly she was born prematurely and had a few health issues.
They had some other problems as well. Joseph had difficulties finding and maintaining a job due to racial discriminations and the couple was still living with Juliette's parents. The special care that Louise needed was costly so Joseph needed a sustainable job to provide. The family eventually decided to move to Haiti. A stroke of luck was the fact that Joseph's uncle Cincinnatus Leconte was recently elected President of Haiti, which enabled Joseph to secure a position as a math teacher on the island.
Juliette's third pregnancy hastened the emigration projects, as the couple wanted to be in Haiti for the birth and leave before Juliette's condition made travel impossible. Joseph's mother first bought them First Class tickets on the France of the Compagnie Générale Transatlantique, but the ship's policy of not letting children eat with their parents made them cancel the booking and exchange their tickets for Second Class passage on the Titanic. After all, Juliette and Joseph didn't want their frail youngest child out of sight.
On the Titanic[]
Thus Juliette boarded the Titanic in Cherbourg on April 10th, 1912, with her husband Joseph and two daughters. They had a cabin on the F-Deck. The family was amazed by the luxurious ship.
On April 14, at 11:40 P.M., Titanic struck an iceberg. Joseph woke Juliette and told her that the ship had suffered an accident. He put all of their valuables in his pockets, and he and his wife carried each of their sleeping daughters to the ship's top deck. It is not known for sure which lifeboat Juliette and her daughters boarded, although Juliette remembered a Countess being in her lifeboat, which makes lifeboat 8 the most plausible.
Juliette later described the panic after the shock and how everyone was frantic and pushing each other. Her eldest daughter Simone was taken from her and put on a lifeboat, Juliette called out for her and was soon put on the same lifeboat. Joseph was holding their second daughter Louise, and managed to convince people to put her on the lifeboat with Juliette and Simone. He told Juliette to take care of the girls and her that he would find another lifeboat.
This was the last time Juliette saw her husband. Juliette and her daughters were picked up by the RMS Carpathia with other survivors. On board Carpathia, Juliette found it very hard to get linens which she could use as diapers for her children. Since there were none to spare, Juliette improvised and at the end of each meal she would sit on napkins, conceal them and make diapers out of them after returning to the cabin. Carpathia arrived in New York on April 18. It's only after arriving in New York that she knew for sure that her husband wasn't saved.
She returned to France on the Chicago and arrived in Le Havre on May 1st. On May 3rd she gave an interview to 'Le Matin' from her parents' house.
Later life[]
On December 17th, 1912, she gave birth to her third child, and named him Joseph Laroche in honor of his late father. Financial problems hit the Laroche family. After World War I, Juliette was pushed by her father to ask for compensation from the White Star Line. She received 150,00 Francs which helped her establish a dyeing shop.
Juliette Marie Lousie Laroche died on 10 January 1980.