| Dr. James Houghton Saloon Passenger Saved |
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| Born | James Tilley Houghton 23 July 1885 Saratoga Springs, New York, United States |
| Died | 25 March 1931 (age 45) |
| Age on Lusitania | 29 |
| Ticket number | 46167 |
| Cabin number | E 64 |
| Lifeboat | Damaged collapsible |
| Rescued by | 050 or a trawler, Stormcock |
| Traveling with | Marie Depage |
| Occupation | Surgeon |
| Citizenship | United States |
| Residence | Troy, New York, USA |
| Spouse(s) | – Mabel Parsons (c. 1916 – ?) – Caroline Howard Prichitt (1929 – ?) |
Dr. James Houghton, 29, was from Troy, New York. He was a doctor traveling with Marie Depage aboard Lusitania, and his college classmate Richard Freeman also happened to be on board. He was working for the Red Cross in the Western Front hospitals. Houghton survived the Lusitania sinking of 7 May 1915. Marie Depage and Richard Freeman died in the disaster.
Houghton was born on 23 July 1885, the son of Warren Houghton, a New York State Supreme Court Justice. James Houghton was educated by private tutors and enrolled in Harvard, where he became a member of the Pi Eta Society. Houghton received his Bachelor’s degree in 1908 and his medical degree from Harvard Medical School in 1911.
Houghton worked for the City Hospital of Boston. In February 1914, his father was rushed to the hospital for emergency surgery for appendicitis. The operation was not successful and Justice Houghton died on 14 February 1914.
In 1915, Belgian Red Cross fundraiser Marie Depage solicited Houghton for help. They would work on the Western Front field hospitals with her, her husband Dr. Antoine Depage, and nurse Edith Cavell. Dr. Houghton had told Marie that he signed a new will the night before leaving New York on the Lusitania. Marie had not, in response describing herself as a “happy fatalist” (Hoehling/Hoehling, 79).
While on board, James found out his is old college friend, Richard Freeman was also on board. They had known each other since sophomore year at Harvard. James arranged for them to sit together in the dining saloon with Carlton Brodrick and Scott Turner.
James was in his cabin, E-64, when when the Lusitania was hit. He found Marie Depage and Richard Freeman on A-deck, where they had seen the submarine and torpedo strike the ship. Houghton recalled that Marie and Richard were covered in spray and soot, and that Richard was happy to have witnessed the torpedoing. Richard went on to assist in the lowering of lifeboats and be of use wherever he could be, and James and Marie worked busily to calm women and children and assist them into the lifeboats. Houghton then saw Freeman give his lifejacket to a woman, and then the two men joked for a moment or two. Houghton wrote to Richard’s father:
I suppose it seems strange to you that under such tragic circumstances there should have been so much joking and it seems strange to me now and the only way I can explain it is that we were all under a terrific strain and by making witty or silly remarks we could at once cheer up those about us and relieve our own feelings.
According to Hoehling and Hoehling, Marie also helped bandage the hand of Matt Freeman, the amateur lightweight boxing champion of England, who had hurt his hand in assisting the lowering of lifeboats. A letter from James Houghton to Richard Freeman’s father relates a story of Marie bandaging Richard Freeman’s hand.
As the water rose up to the decks, Marie and James made for the rail. They jumped from the port side just as the deck was awash and were caught by the suction. Dr. Houghton was hit in the head as they went under and the force of the water separated them.
As I sank I was struck by some wreckage but came to almost immediately. As I was whirled about in the whirlpool created by the sinking ship I escaped death by an inch at least a dozen times. There was the most astounding [amount] of wreckage being whirled about and I am certain that all the others were struck by some of it. I like to think that this is what happened for when I go, I would ask nothing better than such a speedy and painless death.
 Image courtesy Mike Findlay. |
Marie became entangled in ropes lying on the deck, but managed to get herself free. Dr. Houghton then saw Marie struggling, but then she was swept away. When he came up, Marie was gone.
Dr. Houghton got aboard a damaged collapsible and was rescued by the 050 or a trawler before he was transferred to the Stormcock. Before rescue, one account given said that he saw George Vernon go mad and dive off the lifeboat.
Houghton was saved with only the money he had in is money belt. With the money he had left, he labored whether to spend it on a hat for Marie Depage’s funeral or buy flowers. He decided to buy flowers.
James Houghton married Mabel Parsons around 1916. They had a son. He married Caroline Howard Prichitt in 1929.
Dr. James Tilley Houghton died on 25 March 1931.
Related pages
James Houghton at the Mixed Claims Commission
Links of interest
James Houghton – Lest We Forget: The Lusitania
Contributors:
Heather Houghton (granddaughter of James Houghton)
Barbara Hookings (granddaughter of James Houghton)
Richard Bailey
Michael Findlay
Jim Kalafus, USA
Michael Poirier, USA
References:
Hickey, Des and Gus Smith. Seven Days to Disaster. G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1981.
Hoehling, A. A. and Mary Hoehling. The Last Voyage of the Lusitania. Madison Books, 1956.
Kalafus, Jim, Michael Poirier, Cliff Barry and Peter Kelly ( 2013 ) “Lest We Forget : The Lusitania.” Gare Maritime (ref: #10962, accessed 21st May 2013 08:03:29 PM) <http://www.encyclopedia-titanica.org/lest-we-forget-the-lusitania.html>.
I have a copy of an undated letter written by James T. Houghton on Harvard Club (27 West 44th Street) to Richard Rich Freeman of Wollaston, Mass. detailing the loss of the latter’s son Richard Rich Freeman, Jr. aboard Lusitania. I’m wondering who I might dialog with about this…
I transcribed James T Houghton’s letter to Richard Rich Freeman last night. The Freeman he was about the deck with after the ship was struck was definitely Richard Rich Freeman, Jr.; he spoke of knowing him “since sophomore year at College” and of “when we were at Cambridge together.”
“Mme Defage” is also prominently and repeatedly mentioned.
Here in full is James T Houghton’s letter concerning Richard Rich Freeman, Jr (undated) to hid father Richard Rich Freeman of Wollaston, Mass. describing the last days/hours of Tilley’s Harvard classmate (and RRF’s son…forwarded from Boston by RRF to his wife on Cape Cod on July 14, 1915). In addition to accounts of Marie Depage bandaging the hand of waiter Matthew Freeman, it appears she also bandaged the hand of Richard Rich Freeman, Jr.:
My dear Mr. Freeman,
My delay in writing is I know inexcusable and although my reason in no way excuses me still the fact that my nerves have been in such a condition since the catastrophe that I have actually been unable to write about it may to some extent modify the opinion you must have of me. I can give you my sympathy more wholeheartedly because I knew Dick ever since sophomore year in College and he being the only person on board whom I had known for any length of time I feel his loss more keenly than any of the others. I will start at the beginning of the trip for I’m sure that you want to know everything that happened throughout the entire voyage even though the reading of it will cause you additional pain.
When I boarded the boat about a quarter to ten I was delighted to find that he was going across and during the two hours delay we stood on the deck talking most of the time, he telling me of his plans and I congratulating him upon having such a fine trip ahead of him. I asked him to let me sit at his table for my own party was pretty well scattered for they could not get a table so as to be all together. He and Broderick and Turner and I then went down and got seated at the same table. We had a most delightful time for two days at the end of which my party got rearranged and I had to go over to their table. We had a fine time at meals however for those two days although the conversation was mostly on mining topics I enjoyed it immensely and felt that I was acquiring a great deal of information on that subject. After leaving the table I didn’t see quite as much of Dick but several times we had tea together and almost every night we would walk about the deck together talking of our friends and of the days when we were at Cambridge together. On the day we were torpedoed I was in my stateroom when we were struck and when I came on deck I found him shortly after finding Mme Defage, who was a member of my party. It seems he had been standing near Mme Defage by the rail and had suddenly seen the periscope pop up then almost instantly disappear and immediately the torpedo started he called to Mme Defage and they both watched the torpedo coming and it struck almost under them. They were both covered with spray and soot. He was immensely pleased at having pleased at having seen it and was laughing and joking about it and recounting the experience to anybody who asked about it. I saw him several times from then on but he would dash away every few minutes when he saw some place where he could be useful. I saw him helping lower one of the boats and later I saw him upon the top deck (the deck above the boat deck) disentangling ropes. He must have gone down and got his life preserver for when the order had been given that no more lifeboats should be powered and we were all standing about waiting for the next emergency to arise he suddenly appeared with one. He walked over to a woman who was standing near us and said “Haven’t you a lifebelt.” She answered “No” and he immediately lifted his off and told her she must take it. She protested but he wouldn’t hear a word of it but started tying it about her laughing and joking all the time saying that he was a good swimmer and the belt was in his way etc. He then came over to us and we joked a moment or two. I suppose it seems strange to you that under such tragic circumstances there should have been so much joking and it seems strange to me now and the only way I can explain it is that we were all under a terrific strain and by making witty or silly remarks we could at once cheer up those about us and relieve our own feelings. Mme Defage noticed that he had a handkerchief about his hand and demanded to see it. He protested that it was nothing but on taking off the handkerchief we found that a piece of skin about the size of a dime had been torn from the palm of his hand by the flying wreckage of the torpedo. She scolded him for putting on the dirty handkerchief but he said he was too healthy to get any infection but she took her own handkerchief and bound it up scolding him all the while for being too careless. The wound didn’t amount to anything but it must have smarted a little. I suppose under ordinary circumstances nobody would have paid any attention to it but as it was it gave us all something else to think about and was welcomed as such. After that I again lost track of him until the ship started on her final plunge down. I saw him holding down the ropes which were stretched across the space where the lifeboats had been for some women to get across. Shortly after that, in fact immediately Mme Defage and I jumped over the side into the water which at that time had risen almost to our feet. As I sank I was struck by some wreckage but came to almost immediately. As I was whirled about in the whirlpool created by the sinking ship I escaped death by an inch at least a dozen times. There was the most astounding [amount] of wreckage being whirled about and I am certain that all the others were struck by some of it. I like to think that this is what happened for when I go, I would ask nothing better than such a speedy and painless death. I know that this has been a perfectly terrible blow to you and Mrs. Freeman but I am sure that it must be a continual source of comfort to you to know that Dick went like a man thinking only of others and giving his life that the women and children might be saved. If we all can, when our time comes, acquit ourselves as nobly and as fearlessly as he did, we will have nothing of which to complain. I know there must be thousands of questions you want to ask me and I shall try to get to Boston in the near future. I shall let you know well in advance and shall consider it a great favor to do anything in the world to alleviate your sorrow. With my most heartfelt sympathy to both you and Mrs. Freeman I am your most sincerely
James T. Houghton
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I was excited to find this letter. My grandmother was Caroline Prichitt Houghton. (2nd marriage for both), wife of James T. Houghton. He was, therefore, my mother’s step-father. They called him Uncle Percy. He was quite a hero, wasn’t he?
Barbara Hookings
Germantown, TN
I would appreciate being put in touch with Heather Houghton to exchange information. Barbara Hookings
Hello Barbara,
I attempted to contact Heather, but her old email address no longer seems to be working. Hopefully she might stumble upon this page again in the future and be able to contact you.
Thank you for trying! Barbara
That was a great letter Richard. I have a friend doing a biographical article on Houghton
I would love to have a copy of that or contact him. Dr. Houghton was my grandmother’s husband. Barbara
Hello Barbara,
I have been researching the descendants of our common ancestor, Hugh Jackson (1707-1777) of Ballybay, Co. Monaghan, Ireland. I was wondering if you could help me square away some details concerning your more immediate ancestors. If so, please write to me at juuledwards”at”yahoo.com.
Sincerely,
Adam
I will be glad to share information. What is the connection to this website?
Mike…interesting…I’ve been inattentive to the site…will remedy.R Bailey
His name is Cliff Barry. His email is Londonboston@live.co.uk
Sorry, I have been absent for a while. Tonight I’m having drinks with my 98 year old cousin Catherine Nimitz Lay, her mother Catherine (Freeman) Nimtz was youngest sister of James Houghton’s friend, Harvard classmate and (lost) Lusitania traveling companion Richard Rich Freeman, Jr. It is most curious (to me) that RRF, Jr. was lost to a submarine sinking while his brother-in-law Chester Nimitz (later Admiral) was building his young naval career as a submariner. At the end on his career (circa 1946) Nimitz wrote a deposition for the defense of German Admiral Karl Doenitz, providing an interesting bookend to career. I mean to query Catherine about family memories of her father’s thoughts regarding the manner of her uncle’s loss.
Very ironic. It would be interesting if Rich Freeman had sent a letter home from the ship, as so many did before the mail was taken off by the Caronia
No letter home from the ship by RR Freeman has been found; there is a short letter written by him to the older of his two sisters, Elizabeth Emerson Freeman, who graduated from Radcliffe the same year he graduated Harvard. I’ll transcribe it some time.
Richard
Could you email me at Lusitaniasinking@yahoo.com please? It’s regarding Houghton