Mrs. Andrew Semple (Agnes Gilmour)

Agnes Semple (c. 1885 – 1915), 29, was the wife of Andrew Semple and mother of her infant son John Semple. Agnes and John were traveling aboard Lusitania when the ship was torpedoed and sunk on 7 May 1915. Both mother and son were lost. Agnes’ husband, Andrew, was not on board the ship.

Agnes was born as Agnes Gilmour of Ardoch Farm in Scotland around 1885. She was the daughter of Hugh Gilmour and his wife, Marion Mitchell Stewart. Hugh was a farmer from Ballimore, Kilfinan, Scotland. Agnes had a brother also named Hugh. The family patriarch died on 20 June 1886 at the age of 42.

Agnes married Andrew Semple. Andrew had been born in Craighead, Scotland on 2 April 1883. In 1905, Andrew had emigrated to Toronto, Ontario, Canada, but returned to marry Agnes at Enoch Farm on 8 March 1911. Agnes went with Andrew back to Toronto later that month. On the 1911 census, Agnes and Andrew are listed as living in Calgary, Alberta, where Andrew was employed as a carpenter. At some point between late 1913 and early 1915 John Semple was born.

Agnes and John were lost in the Lusitania disaster.  Neither of their bodies were recovered or identified.

Agnes’ brother Hugh died on 26 February 1919 at the age of 34. Their mother outlived them and died two days later on 28 February 1919 at the age of 58. The family headstone in the Carswell Parish Church in Eaglesham, Scotland, has the name of all four family members.

Links of interest

John Semple – Agnes Dickie

Gilmour Family Headstone

Contributors:
Karin Nicholson

References:
“RMS Lusitania.” Immigrant Ships Transcribers Guild. Online. Accessed 24 February 2012. <http://www.immigrantships.net/v4/1900v4/lusitania19150507.html>

“John Semple – Agnes Dickie.” Family History of Annie-Marie Smyth Russell and Robert Struthers. Online. Accessed 25 February 2012. <http://www.halmyre.abel.co.uk/Family/Semple_Dickie.htm>