Name Avis Dolphin | ||
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Died February 5, 1996, Meirionnydd | ||
Avis Gertrude Dolphin, Mrs Foley (born 24 August 1902, Rotherham, Yorkshire, England, UK – died 5 February 1996, Meirionydd, Wales, UK) was a survivor of the sinking of the RMS Lusitania.
Contents
Biography
Dolphin was on her way to England, where she was to live with her grandparents and attend school, when she befriended author and professor Ian Holbourn. She was in a second-class stateroom during the voyage. She had just eaten lunch and coffee was being served when the torpedo attack occurred. The resulting list was so sudden and violent that dishes crashed off the tables; the scene was one of "absolute calm". Holbourn was able to get Avis and the two nurses traveling with her into lifebelts, onto the deck, and into a lifeboat. However, the lifeboat capsized when two men attempted to jump into it. She was rescued from the ocean, but her two nurses were not.
After a quick recovery in Queenstown, she regularly visited Holbourn, who was suffering from exposure. She continued her friendship with Holbourn up to the end of his life, even suggesting to him once that books written for girls were too boring. In response, Holbourn wrote the bestseller The Child of the Moat, A Story for Girls, 1557 A.D. (1916).
Personal life
Dolphin was introduced to journalist Thomas Foley during a visit to Holbourn's home, and the two wed in 1926. She lived out the rest of her life in Wales, dying on 5 February 1996.
In popular culture
For many years, Dolphin contributed her account of the sinking of the Lusitania to several journalists and documentary crews. For example: