Mary Eloise Smith
Mary Eloise Smith, also referred to as Eloise Smith or Mrs. Lucien P. Smith, was a survivor of the 1912 RMS Titanic disaster.
Early life[]
Mary Eloise (née Hughes) was born in Huntington, West Virginia, on August 7th, 1893.
Eloise Smith was a member of the Vinson political family; the daughter of United States Representative James A. Hughes and Belle Vinson. As children, Eloise and her sister had made the acquaintance of President Theodore Roosevelt.
Mary Eloise married Lucien Philip Smith, a 24-year old graduate, fresh from the West Virginia University. He had been trying to win her over after her introduction to the Huntington society in January 1912. She was just 18 at the time.
Their wedding was at the Central Christian Church in Huntington and it caught a lot of media attention and was hailed as one of the most brilliant events by one local newspaper. Newly pregnant, she was returning from her honeymoon in April 1912. Their trip had included a transatlantic crossing to Europe aboard Titanic's sister ship RMS Olympic as well as sightseeing in Italy, France, the Middle East and Egypt.
Titanic[]
Lucian Philip and Eloise Hughes Smith were homesick at some point so they took a voyage back to the United States. They boarded Titanic on Wednesday evening, 10th of April, in Cherbourg. They waited alongside the Astors. The couple had considered taking Cunard liner RMS Lusitania home but ultimately decided to buy a ticket for the Maiden Voyage of the newest, and most luxurious ship in the White Star Line fleet. They were First Class passengers, and stayed in cabin C-31.
Titanic sank on April 15 after making contact with an iceberg in the late evening of April 14, at 11:40 P.M. Mary had gone to bed after playing cards with three gentlemen. Lucian came to the cabin after the collision, told her to dress warmly and told her they needed to go upstairs.
After arriving on the Boat Deck, the Smiths were sitting, chatting calmly in the ship's Gymnasium, when the first of the lifeboats began to fill with women and children. It was time to leave. He assured his wife he would board a lifeboat later and ensured she got in lifeboat 6. Because women and children should enter first as a precautionary measure, Lucian stayed behind and was convinced he would board another lifeboat later.
Mary survived by being escorted to lifeboat 6, a lifeboat on port side, and male passengers weren't allowed into the boats on that side of the ship. Boat 6 was lowered away from the sinking ship, after her husband told her not to worry. He believed it would be a mere delay. However, the ship foundered and he was not saved. He became a victim of the disaster and his body was lost to the sea and his companians did survive as they were on starboard and they were free to enter lifeboat 7.
After the sinking[]
On Carpathia, two passengers who were newly weds, were kind enough to let her stay in their cabin. She went on to give birth to her son Lucian Jr. in November 1912. At the American Enquiry, she vented her suspicions that the whole Titanic affair was heavily influenced by moneyed interests.
Later life[]
On 18 August 1914, she married a fellow survivor, Robert Daniel. He was a bank executive.
Smith was quoted extensively in the 1912 best-selling book The Sinking of the Titanic by Jay Henry Mowbray. Her letters and other recollections were also used by the documentary filmmaker Melissa Jo Peltier in the A&E Network documentaries Titanic: Death of a Dream and Titanic: The Legend Lives On to illustrate the hours between the Titanic's encounter with the iceberg and the rescue of the survivors by RMS Carpathia, and in the documentary Titanic: Anatomy of a Disaster. She's also been portrayed in the National Geographic documentary television series Seconds from Disaster in the episode featuring the Titanic.
She was very unlucky in marriage. It didn't work with anyone and either they divorced or her husband died. In 1923 Smith divorced Daniel and married Lewis H. Cort Jr. Cort died several years later. She then married C.S. Wright in 1929. They lived in Charleston, and soon divorced.
Mary Eloise was a popular public speaker. She was active in Republican Party politics and campaigned for women's suffrage. She worked for a time at the pension bureau in Washington D.C.
Eloise Smith died in 1940 at the age of 46 in Cincinnati, Ohio, USA after suffering a heart attack.
In Popular Culture[]
Mary Eloise Smith with her husband in Seconds of Disaster, Titanic episodes
Mrs. Smith's recollections of the sinking have been quoted in numerous documentaries about the sinking of the ship, and she has been portrayed in at least one fictional and one non-fictional depiction of the disaster.
Mary Elosie Smith was portrayed in the documentary television series Seconds from Disaster by actress Jennifer Lee Trendowski in the episode featuring the Titanic.
Sources[]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1SIHMdhrLII ~ channel: History Inside A Nutshell