Marjorie Anne Newell | |
|---|---|
 Marjorie Anne Newell as a young girl | |
| Born | (1889-02-12)12 February 1889 Lexington, Massachusetts, United States |
| Died | 11 June 1992(1992-06-11) (aged 103) Fall River, Massachusetts, United States |
| Known for | Last surviving first class passenger of RMSTitanic |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 4 |
| External videos | |
|---|---|
 A 1986 interview with Newell about theTitanic disaster. onYouTube |
Marjorie Anne Newell (12 February 1889 – 11 June 1992) was an Americanfirst class passenger on theRMSTitanic during her maiden voyage. She survived the sinking and at the time of her death was the last surviving first class passenger of the disaster.
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Marjorie Anne Newell was born on 12 February 1889 as the youngest of three daughters ofBoston banker Arthur Webster Newell and Mary E. Greeley. In February 1912 Marjorie joined her father and older sister Madeleine on a voyage toEgypt and theHoly Land, celebrating her 23rd birthday inCairo by thegreat pyramids. From there on, they travelled toPalestine and visitedJaffa,Bethlehem andJericho among others. After touring theMiddle East, the travel party headed for theHoly Land, followed byMarseille andParis in preparation to return back home to America. In April 1912, while on a train bound forCherbourg, Arthur Newell surprised his daughters withfirst class tickets for theRMSTitanic for their return trip toNew York.[1]
The Newell family boarded the RMSTitanic atCherbourg on the evening of 10 April 1912, conveyed aboard theSSNomadic. Marjorie described the ship as beautiful and a massive affair in every way with fine furniture,panelling andcarving of the finest quality. Marjorie stayed instateroom D-36 along with her sister Madeleine while her father occupied cabin D-48. The sisters had brought theirviolins with them and would practice playing them every night an hour before going to bed. On the afternoon of 14 April, Marjorie and her family sat indeckchairs and discussed all the ancient sights they had visited on their voyage to theMiddle East. That evening, Marjorie wore the first long train gown that she had been giving when she left home to dinner and marveled at the beautifulgowns being worn by the other ladies. Following a lavish dinner, Marjorie joined her family in thereception room when her father pointed outJohn Jacob Astor andhis wife walking by before he joked to his daughters whether they would last until morning, referring to their healthy appetites. At 10.30 pm, the family decided to retire to their cabins.[2]
That night at 11.40 pm, the RMSTitanic struck aniceberg and began to sink. At the time of the collision, the sisters were sleeping in their stateroom on theport side of D deck, but were awoken by a great vibration and a terrific noise which Madeleine would go on to compare to anearthquake. While they were wondering what had caused the event, a knock came at the door before Marjorie's father came into the cabin and told his daughters to put on warm clothes and come up to theboat deck. The sisters did as their father instructed and reached the boat deck early into the evacuation. Marjorie noticed that the boat deck was almost empty and that theTitanic seemed to have taken on alist, while the ship'sorchestra was playing music on deck. At some point Marjorie learned that the ship had struck an iceberg, although she did not believe the ship was sinking. Her father took her and her sister tolifeboat No. 6 after witnessing the lowering oflifeboat No. 8. He said that he'd rather have his daughters stay on the saferTitanic than on the dangerouslifeboats in the middle of theAtlantic, yet still saw to it that his daughters were allowed onto the lifeboat. Her father was denied entry bySecond Officer Lightoller and was left behind as the boat was launched at 12.55 am with only 24 out of her 65 seats occupied, Marjorie saw her father calmly waving her and her sister off as he reassured them that he'd follow in another lifeboat. After the boat was lowered, Marjorie alongside several other women helped torow it as there were only three men amongst the lifeboat's occupants, which were not enough to row the boat on their own. Once the lifeboat was about a mile away from theTitanic, they stopped rowing as they no longer feared being pulled under by thesuction of thesinking liner. Marjorie noticed how everyporthole onTitanic was illuminated before the lights failed and a terrific noise seemed to come from the sinking ship as if theengine room had exploded. Marjorie saw the ship slip beneath the waves with a great rush of water and would go on to never forget the terrible screams and cries coming from those left in thefreezing ocean.[3]
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By the time dawn arrived, Marjorie noticed the many icebergs that seemed to surround the area before the rescue shipRMSCarpathia arrived. Lifeboat No. 6 rowed to theCarpathia and Marjorie and her sister climbed therope ladders to board the ship. There, Marjorie expected to reunite with her father, not yet realising the scale of the disaster. As theCarpathia made her way back to New York after having picked up all ofTitanic's survivors, Marjorie's father was listed among the missing. Upon the sisters' arrival in New York on 18 April, a friend of her father awaited the women atPier 54 and escorted them to theHotel Manhattan so they could reunite with their mother and sister. Their mother had already learned of her daughters' survival through the available survivors list and hoped that her husband's name hadn't been added due to a simple oversight. In the hotel corridor, their mother gave a howl of despair upon learning her husband hadn't survived the sinking. Her mother turned down an offer of asettlement from theWhite Star Line and forbade her daughters from ever speaking of theTitanic disaster. Despite the family being in mourning, Marjorie felt proud of her father as he had abided bythe rule of the sea and let the women and children be saved first. Her father was the 122nd body recovered by theCSMackay-Bennett and was shipped home toLexington, Massachusetts, after having been prepared for travel byundertaker Frank Newell, who was Arthur'snephew and was the first body he had been assigned to prepare, after discovering it was his own uncle, Frankfainted. Arthur was buried at theMount Auburn Cemetery inCambridge, Massachusetts, on 4 May 1912. For the rest of her life, Mary Newell slept with hispocket watch under her pillow.[4]
Marjorie went on to work as amusic instructor and social worker inChicago. While there, she met her future husband Floyd Newton Robb, whom she married in 1917; she went on to have three daughters and one son with him. She named her son Arthur Newell Robb in memory of her late father. Marjorie returned to theEast Coast and moved toSouth Orange, New Jersey, in 1920 before she became a music instructor atWells College inAurora, where she taughtviolin andpiano. She also became a founding member of theNew Jersey Symphony Orchestra. Marjorie's husband built a house inWestport Point, Massachusetts, in 1952 and the couple moved there that same year. Her husband passed away in 1957, followed by her mother, also in 1957, at the age of 103. In 1960, Marjorie visitedLitchfield, England, the home town ofCaptain Smith and visited the town'scathedral and statue dedicated to Captain Smith. While she was listening to theorgan music in the cathedral, she was very moved and the experience gave her the solace she needed to begin to move on from theTitanic disaster. Marjorie made a further 17 trips to Europe in the 1960s, including spending many summers inLe Prese, Switzerland, while she would spent the winter months near one of her daughters inCalifornia. Alongside another one of her daughters, Marjorie briefly ran anantiques business inNew England.
Her sister Madeleine died in 1969 followed by her other sister Alice in 1972. Throughout the years, Marjorie had respected her mother's wishes to not discuss theTitanic with anyone until the 1980s, when she began giving interviews and public presentations about her survival out of respect and honor for her lost father. Following the discovery of the wreck of theTitanic in 1985, Marjorie commented that there were no people left to be saved and that the great ship should be left undisturbed as amemorial to all those who perished, while also adding that she never believed that the ship would be found within her lifetime and called the discoveryunimaginable. Following the death ofJohn Borie Ryerson in 1986, Marjorie became the last surviving first class passenger of theTitanic. Marjorie attended several conventions held by theTitanic International Society and theTitanic Historical Society, to speak about her experiences on board the doomed ship to manyTitanic enthusiasts. Marjorie would move a final time to aretirement home inFall River in 1990 at the age of 101, that same year her eldest daughter passed away.[5]
Marjorie passed away in her sleep on 11 June 1992 inFall River, Massachusetts at the age of 103. At the time of her death, she was the last surviving first class passenger of theTitanic and the second longest livedTitanic survivor behind Mary Davies Wilburn, who had died in 1987 at the age of 104.
