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Today in Titanic History - with Searching
Today in
Titanic History

Sunday, June 22, 2025
1967 - 3rd class survivor Mrs Leah Aks died at the age of 73.

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People: First Class: Lady Duff-Gordon


Born
July 13, 1863

Lady Duff-Gordon (Lucy Christiana Sutherland), the daughter of Douglas Sutherland, a Toronto engineer, was born on June 13, 1863. Her sister was the writer Elinor Glyn. At the age of 18, she married James Stuart Wallace with whom she had one child. Their marriage ended in divorce in 1888 and Lucy was left penniless.

In 1894 Lucy decided to try her hand at dressmaking to make some money. She rented a shop and a workplace and began 'Lucile.' Her business was a huge success, with Lucy eventually moving to a larger store in London. Business started to slow down and she began to worry about loosing money and her business. In a shrewd buisness move she married Sir Cosmo Duff Gordon in 1900. Sir Cosmo and Lucy were rarely together since Lucy traveled so much because of her business, which had opened stores in New York and in 1912 in Paris.

An urgent business matter is the reason the Duff Gordon's were on the Titanic. Sir Cosmo was 49 when he boarded the Titanic with Lucy whom was 48. They held ticket number 11755 and for reasons still unknown, signed in as "Mr. and Mrs. Morgan" which later caused numerous problems when the passenger list was released after the sinking (J.M. Morgan was the owner of the IMM whom owned the White Star Line and was to travel on the Titanic. He ended up cancelling his trip however at the last minute). Sir Cosmo occupied room A-16 and Lucy A-20.

At 1:10 A.M. Sir Cosmo and Lucy asked First Officer Murdoch if they could board Lifeboat 1 together. Murdoch replied that he would be glad if they would and they did. Lifeboat 1 only carried 12 passengers - 7 of which were crew members.

Sir Cosmo and Lady Duff Gordon were rescued by the Carpathia and later returned to London.





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