Female Crew Aboard Titanic
Amongst the around 900 members of Titanic’s crew were 23 women, mostly serving as stewardesses looking after the passengers aboard the ship, mostly first class passengers.
Piecing together, it appears there were 14 women serving as stewardesses in first class, four in second class and one third class matron. In addition, two women served as first class Turkish Baths stewardesses and two women were employed as cashiers within Titanic’s à la carte restaurant.
Those serving as first class stewardesses earned £3 and 10 shillings a month, while the 3rd class matron and those serving as second class stewardesses earned £3 a month; the Turkish Baths stewardesses earned a little more, receiving £4 a month.
The cabins for the female crew were well located, with most of their cabins, seemingly including the restaurant cashiers, being located within the first class passengers' section of the ship.
During the sinking the majority of the female crew members were saved by boarding lifeboats, but the third class matron and two second class stewardess were lost.
First Class Stewardesses
Annie Robertson was 47-year-old when she joined Titanic. She married in 1885 and by 1894 she is known to have had two daughters. When Titanic struck the iceberg she was in bed, and after getting up she observed from the top of the stairs that there was water in Titanic’s mail room on F deck and that the water was approaching E Deck. At some point during the sinking of Titanic she was encouraged by the ship's designer Thomas Andrews to put on a lifebelt. She survived the sinking by boarding Lifeboat 11. While King George V and Queen Mary were vising Liverpool a year or so after the disaster, it was reported that they met Annie, and that the king asked her about Titanic.
Elizabeth Leather was 50-year-old born in Liverpool, United Kingdom. She is said to have married Isaia Leather in 1851 who was employed as a vet. At the time of the iceberg collision she was in bed and was woken up by the crash; seemingly sensing no danger, she stayed in bed for a time after. She was rescued by boarding Lifeboat 16.
Evelyn Marsden was a 28-year-old born in Australia to British parents. Having been said to previously have been a nurse, Evelyn left Australia behind around four years prior to Titanic and sailed to Britain, where she become a ships stewardess. By the time she boarded Titanic she was engaged to a British ships doctor. After Titanic had hit the iceberg, fellow stewardess Mary Sloan later said that she and Evelyn spoke to Dr John Simpson, Titanic’s Assistant Surgeon, and that he gave them both a little whiskey and water. She survived the sinking. In the summer of 1912, she married and later in that same year she and her husband moved to Australia.
Kate Gold was a 45-year-old born in Woolwich, London serving aboard Titanic having last served upon Olympic. It was reported that she was sleeping at the time of the accident with the iceberg, and that she was later rescued from the sinking ship in Lifeboat 11. Soon after the disaster she emigrated to Australia where she remained and later married.
Mabel Bennett was a 33-year-old born in Eling, near to Southampton, United Kingdom. Although living apart from him by 1912, she married George Bennett in 1905 and had a daughter within the following year. Amongst the crew aboard Titanic were her brother-in-law Alfred Crawford and her nephew Leonard Hoare, both serving as stewards. Said to have been encouraged in by J Bruce Ismay, the Managing Director of the White Star Line, Mabel boarded Lifeboat 5. She and her brother-in-law were saved, and in 1918, by this time divorced from her first husband, she married a man named John Walker. The coat Mabel was wearing at the time she escaped from Titanic was sold at auction in 2017 for a reported £150,000.
Mary Gregson was a 45-year-old born in Liverpool who had joined Titanic as a stewardess having last served aboard Olympic. She was amongst Titanic’s survivors.
Annie Martin was a 39-year-old born in Guernsey. She is said to have been rescued in Lifeboat 11.
Hypatia McLaren was a 42-year-old born in Liverpool. At some point prior to 1912 she had married Robert McLaren. She survived the sinking.
Alice Prichard was an around 36-year-old said to have been born in Notting Hill, London. She married Robert Prichard in 1904 and they had a daughter together around two years later. She was rescued, it is said, in Lifeboat 11.
Mary Roberts was a 41-year-old born in Liverpool. She married David Roberts in 1896 and is known to have had five children. She was amongst Titanic’s survivors.
Mary Sloan was 45-year-old woman born in Belfast who survived Titanic. After the iceberg collision Mary later said that along with stewardess Evellyn Marsden she spoke to Dr John Simpson, Titanic’s Assistant Surgeon and like her also born in Belfast, who gave them both a little whiskey and water. She then later spoke to Thomas Andrews who encouraged her to put on a lifebelt and to see her passengers did the same. At some point after the disaster she moved to North America and in 1919 married William Gleason.
Kate Smith was a 44-year-old born in Bredon, Worcestershire, United Kingdon, near to Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire. She was rescued in Lifeboat 11.
Sarah Stap was a 47 year who notably, with her father being a ship's captain joined at sea by his wife, was born on a ship in the Indian Ocean. At the time of the accident with the iceberg she was asleep in her cabin and although the collision woke her up, seemingly unconcerned, she stayed in bed. She was rescued. After the disaster she continued serving aboard White Star Line ships including onboard Olympic.
Violet Jessop was a 24-year-old born in Argentina to Irish parents. She moved from Argentina to Britain when she was a teenager and eventually followed in her mother's footsteps and become a ships stewardess. At the time of the iceberg collision she said she was in bed but not yet fully asleep. She was rescued in Lifeboat 16. Four years later while sailing on Titanic’s newer sister ship Britannic - which was serving as a World War One hospital ship, the ship suddenly hit an enemy mine and fairly quickly started to sink. Violet was lucky to survive the sinking of Britannic: sat in a lifeboat which had been lowered without the knowledge of the captain, the lifeboat was sucked towards the ship’s moving propellors, causing Violet to have to jump out of the lifeboat to save her life. Despite hitting her head while in the water, she was rescued.
Second Class Stewardesses
Bessie Lavington was a 40-year born in Wells, Somerset, United Kingdom. Like many of her colleagues she had last served on Olympic. She was rescued in Lifeboat 11.
Emma Bliss was a 45-year-old who had been born in Switzerland - but by 1912 had lived in Britain for many years. With her husband Ernest Bliss, she had two sons and one daughter. She survived the sinking.
Kate Roche - signed on to Titanic using her maiden name, Kate Walsh - was a 42-year-old born in Clonmel, County Tipperary, Ireland. By 1905 she was married to John Roche and they had a son and two daughters together. Kate Roche was not amongst the survivors.
Lucy Snape was an about 22 year born in Farnham, Surrey, United Kingdom. She married Lawrence Snape in 1909 and had a daughter in the following year. She was not amongst the survivors.
Third Class
Catherine Wallis was an around 36-year-old born in Southampton. She married James Wallis in 1898, and they are known to have had four children. She served aboard Titanic as a matron serving third class passengers. She was lost in the sinking.
Turkish Baths
Annie Caton was a 33-year-old born in Clerkenwell, London who survived the Titanic disaster. At the time of the iceberg collision, she was in bed. In the years following the disaster she had a daughter in 1918, and later moved to Australia where in 1930 she married William Howland.
Maud Slocombe was a 30-year-old born in London who survived the disaster. She married in 1906, and it is known that she had a son named Stanley. Maud later said that she had been in bed at the time of the iceberg collision and that later on when returning to her cabin to collect some of her things, she was prevented from doing so by water. Two years after Titanic she moved from Britain to and then settled in America.À la Carte Restaurant
Mabel Martin was a 20-year-old born in London employed as a cashier within Titanic’s à la carte restaurant, a special restaurant aboard the ship to which passengers had to pay extra to dine in. She survived the sinking by boarding Lifeboat 6. She married in 1914 and later had a daughter.
Ruth Bowker was a 31-year-old who was born in Ware, Hertfordshire, United Kingdom, employed within Titanic’s à la carte restaurant as a cashier. Prior to joining Titanic, she had worked within Olympic’s à la carte restaurant. She was rescued in Lifeboat 6.
Related pages - Titanic Lookouts and Crow's Nest, All Titanic Pages