Miss Ailsa Georgina Booth-Jones

Ailsa Booth-Jones Second Cabin Passenger Lost
Jim Kalafus Collection.
Born	Ailsa Georgina Booth-Jones 19 December 1906 Bowdon, Cheshire, England, United Kingdom
Died	7 May 1915 At sea, RMS Lusitania
Age on Lusitania	8
Traveling with	–Edward Booth-Jones (father) –Millichamp Booth-Jones (mother) –Percival Booth-Jones (brother) -Albert Smith (family friend) -Gladys Smith (family friend) -Dorothy Smith (family friend)
Body number	213
Interred	Old Church Cemetery, Queenstown (now Cobh), Ireland Private Grave 487, Row 18, No. 15
Citizenship	British
Residence	Richmond, Surrey (now Greater London), England, United Kingdom

Ailsa Booth-Jones (1907 – 1915), 8, was a British subject residing in Richmond, Surrey (now Greater London), England, traveling aboard Lusitania with her parents, Edward and Millichamp Booth-Jones, and her younger brother, Percival Booth-Jones. Ailsa had won a number of prizes while on board Lusitania. The entire family was lost in the Lusitania sinking of 7 May 1915.

Life

Ailsa was born on 19 December 1906 at the old cottage in Bowdon, Cheshire, England, United Kingdom. She was the daughter of Edward and Millichamp Booth-Jones (née Percival). Ailsa was three years older than her brother Percival. The Booth-Jones family first lived on Prospect House, Strines, Marple, a suburb of Manchester, England. Edward Booth-Jones was a respected antiques dealer with shops in St. Anne’s Square, Manchester, and Chester and Bond Street, London. Ailsa and her brother Percival both attended Friends’ School of Green and School Lanes.

Edward decided to concentrate on the West End business in London on Bond Street, and so with sadness the Booth-Jones family left Marple for London around May 1914. There, they lived at No. 3, Old Palace Terrace, The Green, Richmond, in Surrey. Though Edward’s business was successful, the war was starting to hurt the art market, so in October 1914, the Booth-Joneses moved to Germantown, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. They stayed with Dr. and Mrs. McCarthy of 136 Price Street in Germantown. During their time in America, the Booth-Joneses traveled to Atlantic City to enjoy building sand castles on the beach.

In the spring of 1915, the Booth-Joneses were to return England and booked passage aboard Lusitania for 1 May 1915, on what later proved to be Lusitania‘s last crossing. Before they sailed, they stayed in New York’s Waldorf Astoria Hotel and had their family portrait taken. Ailsa gave a copy of their portrait to Harry Zehner, one of the Waldorf’s assistant managers. That picture would then later be published around the world to represent the tragedy and barbarity of the Lusitania sinking.

The Booth-Jones family could have booked saloon cabin (first class) aboard Lusitania, but they chose second cabin to sail with their family friends, Albert and Gladys Smith and their infant daughter Dorothy in second cabin. Albert Smith was art dealer for Ackermann & Sons.

Lusitania

During the Lusitania‘s last voyage, Ailsa won four prizes in various sports and games that had been organized for the children’s amusement. One of these prizes included a golden brooch in the shape of a miniature Lusitania. Preston writes that Ailsa showed off these prizes to Ian Holbourn and Avis Dolphin (pg 184). Hickey and Smith suppose that during the voyage that Ailsa also became acquainted with Helen Smith.

The German submarine U-20, under the command of Captain-lieutenant Walther Schwieger, torpedoed Lusitania on the afternoon of 7 May 1915. The Lusitania sank in 18 minutes. Ailsa and her entire family were lost in the Lusitania sinking.

Helen Secchi of New York said that during the sinking, she had seen both Edward and Millichamp Booth-Jones in the doorway of the cabin putting on their lifebelts, but not the children, who were presumably on deck when the torpedo hit.

First reports had said that the children had survived, leading Edward’s brother Griffiths to travel to Queenstown to search for them. Arriving at the Imperial Hotel in Cork, Ireland, he placed the following advertisement in the Cork Examiner:

Wanted: any information regarding a girl of eight years, light-golden hair, blue eyes, nice complexion, very pretty, named Ailsa Booth Jones: also a boy, aged 5, short black hair, short stature, rather thin face, named Percival Booth Jones, believed to have been saved from the Lusitania. Any information that will lead to their recovery will be great fully received.

Ailsa’s body was recovered, #213. She was wearing a green velvet dress, lace-up boots, and a blue jersey. The miniature golden Lusitania that she had so proudly shown off was still pinned to her jersey. Ailsa was buried in private grave #487 in the Old Church Cemetery in Queenstown (now Cobh), Ireland, with her mother Millichamp, identified as body #189. Memorials were dedicated to the family both at Ailsa and Millichamp’s burial site in Queenstown and at the Jones family graves in Conway, Wales, where Edward was from.

Links of interest

Antiques Dealer and Family Lost in Disaster – Gare Maritime

Marple’s Lusitania Connection

Contributors:
Cliff Barry, UK
Peter Clarke, UK
Peter Engberg-Klarström, Sweden
Jim Kalafus, USA
Peter Kelly, Ireland

References:
Barry, Cliff and Peter Kelly. “Antiques Dealer and Family Lost in Disaster.” Gare Maritime. Web. Published 7 May 2015. <https://www.garemaritime.com/antiques-dealer-family-lost-disaster/>. Accessed 11 May 2020. 

Clarke, Peter. “Marple’s Lusitania Connection.” The Marple Website. Web. 27 July 2011. <http://www.marple-uk.com/lusitaniax.htm>.

Engberg-Klarström, Peter. “Booth-Jones, Miss Ailsa Georgina.” Peter’s Lusitania Page. Published 11 June 2017. Web. <https://lusitaniapage.wordpress.com/2017/06/11/booth-jones-miss-ailsa-georgina/>. Accessed 10 May 2020.

Hickey, Des and Gus Smith.  Seven Days to Disaster.  G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1981. Pages 70, 271, 286.

Preston, Diana. Lusitania: An Epic Tragedy. Berkley Books, 2002. Pages 184, 280, 298.