Name Ethel Fortune | ||
Born September 22, 1883 ( 1883-09-22 ) Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada Spouse(s) Crawford Gordon I (1913-1957)
2 children Died March 1961, Toronto, Canada | ||
Ethel Flora Fortune was a first-class passenger and a survivor of RMS Titanic.
Contents
Early life
Ethel Flora Fortune was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada on September 22, 1883. She was the second daughter and third child of Mark and Mary Fortune. Her parents, Mark and Mary, invited her to join them and her younger siblings on a Grand Tour of Europe. She had 3 younger siblings, Alice Elizabeth (b. May 10, 1887), Mabel Helen (b. November 3, 1888) and Charles Alexander (b. October 13, 1892). Ethel's two elder siblings Robert William H. (b. July 1, 1877; d. Dec 28, 1965) and Clara Alma (b. Aug 2, 1879; d. 1964) did not accompany the rest of the family on their tour. Ethel was engaged to Crawford Gordon I, a rising Winnipeg banker. Ethel agreed to postpone her wedding so that she could shop for a trousseau in Europe and chaperone her younger siblings. She bought gowns from the leading fashion house, Worth, in Paris.
RMS Titanic
Ethel boarded RMS Titanic at Southampton as a first-class passenger together with her parents and siblings. They occupied staterooms C-23-25-27.
She thought getting into a lifeboat was a waste of time. She left her two sisters on the deck to return to her cabin. In her cabin, a steward informed her that her mother had gone on deck. The steward escorted her to lifeboat 10, just as it was being lowered. She jumped into the lifeboat. The people in the boat caught her. By the time Titanic went down their lifeboat was a mile away from the site. The thought of Charles crying for someone to save him stayed with her for the rest of her life.
Later life
Ethel married Crawford Gordon I in 1913. Seven years later they moved to Jamaica. They, again, moved to Toronto, Ottawa and London, England when Crawford Gordon I was appointed manager of the Bank of Commerce in United Kingdom. They had two sons, William Fortune Gordon and Crawford Gordon Jr. Crawford Jr. became the head of the Canadian aircraft manufacturing plant A.V. Roe. In the 1950s Crawford II was responsible for producing the Avro Arrow aircraft.
Death
Ethel died in Toronto on March 22, 1961. She is buried in Mount Pleasant Cemetery, Toronto.