Miss Henrietta Pirrie

Image courtesy Michael Poirier.

Henrietta Pirrie, 24, was a British citizen from Glenfarg, Perthshire, Scotland, living in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. She was aboard Lusitania to be on her way to England to be married.  Henrietta was lost in the Lusitania sinking.

Henrietta was the daughter of James R. Pirrie of Perth, Scotland. She had at sisters and at least one brother, one of whom was named Robert. The elder Pirrie moved the family to Glasgow, where they lived at 74 Taylor Street, Townhead, where he worked as a coach-builder for the Caledonian Railway Company.

For five years, Henrietta was a maid with Lady Dorothy Stewart Murray, the Duke of Atholl’s eldest daughter. In 1914, Henrietta left Scotland to be a maid to the Duke and Duchess of Connaught at Government House in Ottawa.

Henrietta was engaged to a man known as Billy, who was based in London and a soldier in Princess Patricia’s Regiment. Henrietta was returning aboard Lusitania to see him in London before going to visit her parents in Glasgow. She was also known to be fond of children and doted on her father, who had been ill for some time.

Aboard Lusitania, Henrietta was roommates with Elizabeth Hampshire and Florence Whitehead in cabin E-135. Henrietta had shown her roommates her intended’s picture. Henrietta had also written postcards to her parents and Billy, telling them to expect her soon. She had written her father, “I’m not afraid of any submarine, I’m coming straight home.”

Henrietta was lost in the Lusitania disaster. Her parents received her postcard 4 days after the sinking, which was delivered with a communication from the Cunard Company, regretting that their daughter was not among the saved.

Contributors:
Simon Peter Desai
Michael Poirier, USA