| “ |
I really think I'd rather freeze to death outside than spend one more minute with these ghastly, screaming women. |
” |
—Lady Manton | ||
Louisa Grex, Countess of Manton is a fictional character of the 2012 Miniseries Titanic. She is portrayed by Geraldine Somerville. She appears in all four episodes.
Biography[]
Louisa Manton is first seen on a train[1] travelling with her husband and daughter to Southampton.
Once on board the ship, she complains to Hugh that he said to John Batley she was Irish. She reveals the Mantons will be at the Captain's table.
When going for dinner, the Mantons are welcomed by Captain Smith, John Jacob Astor and Madeleine Astor. Dorothy Gibson joins them and they shake hands. The Wideners also join them, but their son Harry keeps staring at Georgiana. Finaly, the Duff-Gordon's also join them, with Mrs. Rushton complaining about their locked-up "darling", then Joseph Rushton explains she refers to their Pekinese.
After dinner, they head to the reception, where the band plays "Autumn" on Georgiana's request. Harry nods to Lord Manton, who nods back, meaning he allows it. Harry asks her to dance, which she accepts. Harry starts to dance with Georgiana and talk while being guarded by the Mantons.
Jack Thayer crashes the party and takes Georgiana from Harry. Lady Manton seems to be worried about her.
Back in her cabin made up by Barnes and Mabel, she still complains about the behaviour of the people.[2]
That Sunday, Captain Smith hosts a church meeting with passengers of all classes. Hugh has a brief conversation while a few steerage passengers join in. After the meeting, Hugh invites the Batleys for tea at 4. Louisa is not too pleased with her husband's request, but eventualy she agrees.[3] She goes to the party room, only to find Mme. Aubart at a table which is empty exept for her. Mme. Aubart leaves and Lord Manton soon joins her with the Batleys. [2]
The family dines at Gatti's restaurant with Harry Widener, Dorothy Gibson, Captain Smith, the Astors and others. Georgiana and Harry are clearly developing feelings for each other.[4]
When preparing for bed, Mabel wants to take Lady manton's jewelry back to the safe, but Louisa holds her back: there is a big queue.
Louisa is already asleep when Hugh wakes her up, he noticed the engines have stopped. He leaves for information and comes back with disturbing news: they hit something and she's asked on deck. Barnes and Watson arrive as well, and Watson helps Louisa get dressed. Louisa suddenly notices a brooch among her jewelry which she wasn't wearing last night.
Once reunited with Georgiana, the group heads out to Second Class to avoid the masses in First Class. They pass the Purser's Office, where loads of passengers ask for their jewelry. Lady Manton is relieved she kept her jewels with her. Suddenly the Batleys, who found their way up to First Class, find the Mantons, and Muriel heap abuses on Lady Manton about her 'aristocratic' behavior. Lord Manton tries to make her shut up, but his efforts are in vain and John Batley has to push her wife away.
Once outside, The Mantons approach the falls. Hugh sees a lifeboat getting lowered away which is only 30% filled and stops it, but the boat can't be brought back. [2]At this moment, Barnes notices Watson is missing. Louisa says she's back to the cabin to get her book, making Barnes rush away, swearing.[4]
Hugh then finds Lightoller launching a boat, but the boat's already full and Lightoller directs Hugh to the other side.
The group descends to A Deck, where they find the orchestra again, and once again they play "Autumn" for Georgiana. Back on the Boat Deck, Hugh tries to speak with his wife about what Muriel said, but Louisa cuts him off. Georgiana moves on to the lifeboat, where she sees Alice Cleaver with Trevor Allison, without the rest of the Allison family. Dorothy Gibson and her mother (who had been drinking) also rush into the lifeboat, making Louisa refuse to enter. Georgiana is on the verge of entering when she bails back to her father. Harry Widener finds her again, his mother is already in a lifeboat.
The Mantons, their servants and Harry then go to another lifeboat, once again Lightoller wants to launch an underfilled boat, afraid they might split. Hugh confronts him with the dilemma of the men who have to be forced to swim to the boats which are rowing away, afraid of the suction when she goes down. [2]
The group then find themselves at a lifeboat with Third Class passengers, who were brought to the deck by Steward Hart. Suddenly, Mary Maloney rushes to the scene with her children and gets trampled. Hugh helps her to get up, only to get held back by her jealous husband. Mary calms him and Hugh takes little Sean to the lifeboat. Thanks to Hugh's loud orders, they make it to the boat, only to be held back again, this time by First Officer Murdoch. Murdoch claims the boat is already full, but Hugh manages to order Murdoch to allow the Maloneys in. Jim thanks Hugh, who returns to his family. [5]
At around 2:00 A.M., the Mantons are still not safe. They suddenly encounter Harry, who saw his mother away. He giudes the Mantons to a collapsible lifeboat. At a moment, Barnes hesitates a second and has some time alone with Watson.
Georgiana and Watson enter the collapsible, but Louisa doesn't. Georgiana, Harry and Bruce Ismay urge Louisa to save herself and leave Hugh behind. Eventually, Louisa promises to take care of both of Hugh's daughters and enters the lifeboat. Lowe and Ismay enter the boat too.
Louisa and Georgiana watch Titanic sink. They urge Lowe to go back to the site and look for Hugh and Harry. Lowe says they'll form a pontoon to head back, which is what happens. It takes loner than expected, and when the lifeboat returns to the disaster site, most swimmers are dead. They only come back with three swimmers, including a dead steward Sandrini and an unconscious Hugh. He is revived with brandy brought by Dorothy, Louisa apologizes to Dorothy for her rude comment about her carrying brandy into the boat.[4]
Personality and traits[]
| “ |
You think you're so smart. So fine, so aristocratic, don't you? You are pathetic. You're stupid! |
” |
—Muriel Batley to Lady Manton | ||
Lady Manton has an Anglo-Irish aristocrat. She is married to Hugh, Earl of Manton in Yorkshire. Together they have one daughter, Lady Georgiana Grex. Lady Manton has a very strong opinion against Catholics as she is Anglican. She is also ashamed of her "Irish" roots as in a conversation with Lord Manton she said "I wish you wouldn't tell people I'm Irish". This causes problems between her and Muriel Batley, the wife of Lord Manton's lawyer. Lady Manton doesn't like mixing with people of second and third class as she believes herself to be above them and more important than them. This is shown by the comment she makes during the service as she says that they shouldn't mix up the classes. She dislikes Americans, prostitutes and anyone travelling in first class that isn't part of the Aristocracy.
Relationships[]
Hugh, Earl of Manton[]
Lady Manton with her husband
Lord and Lady Manton appear to get along well with other. They obviously respect each other and enjoy each other's company. Lady Manton loves her husband to the extent of choosing to stay with him rather than getting of the sinking ship. This shows that she loves him dearly and would rather die than live without him. Even when she finds out that he cheated on her with another woman and fathered a child with the woman she stands by him and refuses to leave him. She forgives him for this instantly and tells him that she knows he loves her and that she will stand by him.
Lady Georgiana Grex[]
Lady Georgiana is Lady Manton's only daughter and the two are very similar. As a result of this, they argue a lot mainly over Lady Georgiana's political beliefs. Lady Manton doesn't think that being involved with the Suffragettes is very ladylike but Lady Georgiana believes in fighting for it because it is a just cause. She is so passionate about it that she ends up being arrested for asulting a police officer. Naturally her father gets her released straight away and he isn't totally against her taking part in it like his wife. Together Lord and Lady Manton decide to book Georgiana a cabin on Titanic in the hope that her being in America will stop her from being in any serious trouble through the Suffragette movement.
Muriel Batley[]
From the moment they meet, these two feisty women clash. Lady Manton doesn't want to socialize with people who are lower than in society e.g second and third class citizens. Muriel Batley believes that the aristocrats are too snobbish and she hates that they look down on the second in the way that Lady Manton does. Lady Manton is really cold towards the Batleys and when not in their company, she insults them to her husband but when she is, she puts them down and almost refuses to sit with them.
Harry Widener[]
Harry instantly takes an interest to Lady Manton's daughter which at first she is against. She looks down on the Widener family because they didn't inherit their wealth instead they earnt it through work. She also dislikes them because they are American. However when she sees how fond Lady Georgiana is of Harry, she changes her opinion and even defends him to her husband saying that "it could be worse, he has wealth and its only Philadelphia".
- ↑ The train appears to be from the 1950's, which is an anachronism
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Titanic (2012 Miniseries), Episode 1 First Class
- ↑ Titanic (2012 Miniseries), Episode 2 Second and Third Class
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Titanic (2012 Miniseries), Episode 4 The Sinking
- ↑ Titanic (2012 Miniseries), Episode 3 No Way Out