Mrs. Arthur Wellesley Elliott (Annie Louise Harrott)

Annie Elliott, 25, was a British subject from Calgary, Alberta, Canada. She was traveling aboard Lusitania with her husband of four months, Arthur Elliott, in second cabin. At the time of the Lusitania‘s last sailing, Annie was pregnant. When the German submarine torpedoed and sank the Lusitania on 7 May 1915, Annie and her unborn child survived and was carried to full term, but Arthur was lost in the sinking.

Life and Lusitania

Born Annie Harrott, she was originally from Scotland before moving to Canada. Some of her family had emigrated to Canada before she did.

Arthur and Annie had only been married for four months up until the time of the Lusitania disaster. He was an electrician who worked with his brother in Calgary, and in the Mixed Claims Commission following Arthur’s death, Annie stated that she believe that Arthur would have made $1,200 a year. Arthur and Annie were on their way to see Arthur’s brother in France when they sailed on the ill-fated Lusitania.

In Annie’s account of the sinking published in newspaper, she states that people did not seriously believe that the Lusitania was in trouble when the torpedo hit, so Arthur went below decks to their cabin to retrieve some clothing. Annie then states that a second shock happened and the boat (the article is not clear if she was referring to her lifeboat or the ship) turned over. She believes that Arthur was trapped in the cabin when the ship sank. His body was never recovered.

The newspaper article states that she was thrown into the water, but in the Mixed Claims Commission, Annie states that she jumped over the side of the ship. When she surfaced, the Lusitania had already plunged beneath the waves. She reached an overturned lifeboat that she clung onto until she and her fellow survivors were picked up by a patrol boat and taken to Queenstown (now Cobh), Ireland. (The newspaper article reported her rescue vessel as a fishing boat)

Annie spent the next two months recuperating in England, and returned to Canada in July of 1915. Her and Arthur’s daughter, Helen, was born on 29 December 1915. In Annie’s statement to the Mixed Claims Commission, she states that Arthur’s death left her unable to support herself, a situation made worse by the fact that she also had a child to raise. However, she was later able to find work in Ottawa, Ontario. Annie also suffered greatly from shock and was ill for some time and had to see a doctor for two years. By the time of the Mixed Claims Commission, Annie states that she had physically recovered and did not need to make any medical claims, but that Germany owed her $15,000 compensation for the loss of her husband and $1,877 for the loss of effects. The Mixed Claims Commission ruled in her favor on 4 November 1926.

Annie passed away in Ontario, Canada, on 10 Aug 1952 and is buried at Pinecrest Cemetery in Ottawa.

Links of interest

Lest We Forget – Encyclopedia Titanica

Contributors
Cliff Barry, UK
Jim Kalafus, USA
Peter Kelly, Ireland
Michael Poirier, USA
John Redmond, Canada
T Sharp, Canada

References:
Jim Kalafus, Michael Poirier, Cliff Barry and Peter Kelly (2013) “Lest We Forget : The Lusitania.” Gare Maritime. (ref: #10962, accessed 27th April 2015 03:24:39 PM)
URL : http://www.encyclopedia-titanica.org/lest-we-forget-the-lusitania.html

Mixed Claims Commission, Case 836.