Simonne Laroche after the disaster.
Simonne Marie Anne Andrée Laroche was a child passenger on Titanic. She was part of the only black family that traveled as passengers on the famous ocean liner.
Early life[]
Simonne Marie Anne Andrée Laroche was a native of Villejuif, Seine in France. She was the eldest daughter of the French-Haïtian pair Joseph Philippe Lemercier Laroche and Juliette Marie Louise Lafargue. Her mother was from Boulogne-sur-Seine, Seine, France and the daughter of a wine merchant. Juliette Marie and her family moved to Villejuif later. This is where she met her husband. An Haitan immigrant and engineer who studied and worked in France, Joseph Laroche was from a well-to-do family with political ties in his native country. He had met Juliette in VIllejuif and was married to her in 1908. They lived in the house of Juliette’s parents. Simon came into this world on February 9, 1909.
Simonne was a very bright girl. She had one yonger sister named Louise Marie Marguerite. She was born on July the second, 1910. Sadly, Louise was born premature and frail, suffering from many medical problems in her first years . As her sister struggled wit her illness, their parents had financial difficulties to afford the expensive medication that she needed. Joseph tried to find work but he was denied a job in the engineering departement because of discrimination. Not wanting to rely on Marie's father any longer, they to Haïti as Joseph didn't want to be a burden to her parents, as this felt wrong for him to keep doing. With the ever growing difficulties to find work, Joseph longed back to his motherland and now wanted to take his family there.
Jospeh was now the nephew of the President of Haiti. His uncle was Cincinnatus Leconte who just won the election and he wrote to Joseph that he could arrange a job for him as math teacher. Her mother was also pregnant during that time, so the pair wanted to hurry and make it to Haiti before she would give birth to her third child, otherwise travel would become ever more difficult with her condition.
A surprise gift came from Joseph’s mother Josephine: She sent First Class tickets for the SS France so they could come over. But they discovered a policy on the French ship that they didn’t agree with: Children in First Class should stay in the nursery and weren’t allowed to be at the dinner table with their parents. The Laroches didn’t like it and they had to take a watchful eye over the physically weak Louise. Therefore, they exchanged their tickets to travel a class lower and became passengers of a new ship that was making her Maiden Voyage: the RMS Titanic.
Titanic[]
Simonne and her family where in Cherbourg on the 10 of April in 192, on the tender SS Normadic which brought them and other passengers to the large steamer. Their tickets provided them with accomodations in Second Class. Simonne was only 3 years old at the time.
On the late night of April 14, Joseph rushed to his cabin where his family was, after he had enjoyed the company of fellow Second Class passengers in the Smoking Room. Titanic had just collided with an iceberg and he woke them, while collecting valuable belongings.
Photo of Simonne and Louise Laroche on the Carpathia, with another passenger.
On April 15, the ship’s captain officially declared that his officers should evacuate the passengers. Later, the Laroches were on the Boat Deck. Simone and. Louise were crudely seperated from their father that night. As the ship went down,They were saved in lifeboat, having been thrown in one by a sailor who was in a hurry. Which boat it was is not perfectly clear but it might have been lifeboat 14. However her mother, who was put into the boat after the children, had later mentioned a Countess in her lifeboat, which must have been boat 8 which had the Countess of Rothes in it, who famously took the tiller to help steer the boat. Joseph promised his family to come look for them, but he couldn’t this promise as he was left behind and couldn’t save himself as the ship foundered at 2:20 A.M, leaving may passengers in the bitter cold ocean struggling for surival. He became another of 1503 victims of this terrible disaster.
Simonne’s mother was still looking for Joseph when they were aboard the Carpathia, which had sped to the wreck site as she was too far to assist Titanic before she disappeared and now picked up her survivors and lifeboats. They obviously couldn’t find him. His body wasn’t recovered either.
Later life[]
Not long after arriving on the Carpathia in New York, Julliette took passage on another ship and returned to her own parents in France with her daughters.
A son was conceived in Villejuif on December 17, 1912. He was named Joseph Lemercier in the honor of their late father. World War I made their life difficult as it cost Simonne’s grandfather his beloved wine celery. They lived in penury for a good while and had to win a case against the White Star Line to get out of it. A settlement meant Julilette could start up her own dying business.
In her later life, Simone didn’t get married.
Simone Laroche passed away in Argenteui on August 9, 1973, reaching the age of 64, being outlived by both her sister and mother.