Early life
Edith was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to a wealthy family. She was the second daughter of lawyer Cadwalader Evans and his wife, woman's rights activist Angeline Burr Corse. [1] She had a sister, Lena Cadwalader Evans, who was a renowned painter.
A long-time resident of New York, unmarried Edith was a member of the Colonial Dames of America and a descendant of Andrew Hamilton. She had great interest in genealogical studies.
The Colonial Dames of America (CDA) is an American organization composed of women who are descended from an ancestor who lived in British America from 1607–1775, and was of service to the colonies by either holding public office, being in the military, or serving the Colonies in some other "eligible" way.
Andrew Hamilton was a Scottish lawyer in the Thirteen Colonies, where he finally settled in Philadelphia. He was best known for his legal victory on behalf of the printer and newspaper publisher John Peter Zenger. This 1735 decision in New York helped to establish that truth is a defense to an accusation of libel. His eloquent defense concluded with saying that the press has "a liberty both of exposing and opposing tyrannical power by speaking and writing truth."
Titanic
On the evening of April 10, 1912 Edith boarded the Titanic at Cherbourg-Octeville to return home from a visit to her cousins in Paris. Along the way, she met her aunt by marriage, Malvina Cornell, and her sisters, who were returning from a funeral in London.
Cherbourg-Octeville is a city and former commune situated at the northern end of the Cotentin peninsula in the northwestern French department of Manche. It is a subprefecture of its department, and was officially formed when the commune of Cherbourg absorbed Octeville on 28 February 2000. On 1 January 2016, it was merged into the new commune of Cherbourg-en-Cotentin. The city is a Maritime prefecture and sub-prefecture of la Manche. Due to its union, it is the most populated city in its department with 37,121 inhabitants making it the first city of the department before the Saint-Lô prefecture and the second in the region after Caen.
Paris is the capital and most populous city of France, with an area of 105 square kilometres and an official estimated population of 2,140,526 residents as of 1 January 2019. Since the 17th century, Paris has been one of Europe's major centres of finance, commerce, fashion, science, and the arts.
London is the capital and largest city of both England and the United Kingdom. Standing on the River Thames in the south-east of England, at the head of its 50-mile (80 km) estuary leading to the North Sea, London has been a major settlement for two millennia. Londinium was founded by the Romans. The City of London, London's ancient core − an area of just 1.12 square miles (2.9 km2) and colloquially known as the Square Mile − retains boundaries that follow closely its medieval limits. The City of Westminster is also an Inner London borough holding city status. Greater London is governed by the Mayor of London and the London Assembly.
On April 14, 1912, the Titanic struck an iceberg on its starboard side. When passengers started to realize the "Titanic" was sinking, chaos ensued to board the remaining lifeboats. Upon suggestion from Second Officer Charles Lightoller, Captain Smith ordered, "Women and children first." The First and Second officers interpreted the evacuation order differently; one took it to mean women and children first, while the other took it to mean women and children only. Thus one of the officers lowered lifeboats with empty seats if there were no women and children waiting to board, while the other allowed a limited number of men to board if all the nearby women and children had done so. When the lifeboats were first being lowered, Edith and Caroline Brown either dismissed the immediate need to board a lifeboat or were simply unaware, as many others were, of the peril of their situation. With few lifeboats left, they arrived at one of the last ones at 2:09am. It has commonly been reported that there was not enough room for both of them in it, so Edith persuaded Caroline to get in because she had children, even though she repeatedly refused. However, Walter Lord stated in his 1955 book A Night to Remember that it was hurriedly lowered before Edith could get in. Additionally, Collapsible Boat D, the last functioning one, was not filled to capacity when lowered and had 30 people aboard when it was designed to accommodate 50. It is not understood whether Edith intentionally stepped aside or not before it was lowered.
Charles Herbert Lightoller,, RNR was the second officer on board the RMS Titanic and a decorated Royal Navy officer. He was the most senior member of the crew to survive the Titanic disaster.
John Walter Lord Jr. was an American author and historian, best known for his documentary-style non-fiction account A Night to Remember (1955), about the sinking of the RMS Titanic.
A Night to Remember is a 1955 non-fiction book by Walter Lord that depicts the sinking of the RMS Titanic on 15 April 1912. The book was hugely successful, and is still considered a definitive resource about the Titanic. Lord interviewed 63 survivors of the disaster as well as drawing on books, memoirs, and articles that they had written. In 1986, Lord authored his follow-up book, The Night Lives On, following renewed interest in the story after the wreck of the Titanic was discovered by Robert Ballard.
Edith went down with the ship. She was never identified among the recovered bodies. [2] On 22 April 1912, a memorial service was held for her at Grace Church in New York City, and a plaque was dedicated in her honor. There is also a plaque in her honor hanging inside of St. Anne's Episcopal Church in Sayville, New York. [3] [4]
The City of New York, usually called either New York City (NYC) or simply New York (NY), is the most populous city in the United States and the U.S. state of New York. With an estimated 2017 population of 8,622,698 distributed over a land area of about 302.6 square miles (784 km2), New York is also the most densely populated major city in the United States. Located at the southern tip of the state of New York, the city is the center of the New York metropolitan area, the largest metropolitan area in the world by urban landmass and one of the world's most populous megacities, with an estimated 20,320,876 people in its 2017 Metropolitan Statistical Area and 23,876,155 residents in its Combined Statistical Area. A global power city, New York City has been described as the cultural, financial, and media capital of the world, and exerts a significant impact upon commerce, entertainment, research, technology, education, politics, tourism, art, fashion, and sports. The city's fast pace has inspired the term New York minute. Home to the headquarters of the United Nations, New York is an important center for international diplomacy.
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