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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
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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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