| Lucy Taylor Third Class Passenger Saved |
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| [No Picture Provided] | |
| Born | Lucy Haddock 1896 England, United Kingdom |
| Died | 5 April 1976 (age 80) Niagara Falls, New York, United States |
| Age on Lusitania | 19 |
| Traveling with | Harold Taylor (husband) |
| Lifeboat | 15 |
| Rescued by | Wanderer (Peel 12) |
| Citizenship | British |
| Residence | Niagara Falls, New York, United States |
| Other name(s) | Cis Haddock, Cis Taylor |
| Spouse(s) | Harold Taylor (1915 – 1960, his death) |
Lucy Taylor (1896 – 1976), 19, also nicknamed Cis, was the wife of Harold Taylor. They were from Niagara Falls, New York, United States, and were on their honeymoon aboard Lusitania. During the sinking, Harold placed Lucy in a boat and Harold stepped back. Both Lucy and Harold survived the sinking.
Lucy Taylor was born Lucy Haddock in England. Lucy had met Harold Taylor at work and they began a romance; however, Lucy’s family immigrated to the United States in 1913. Their relationship could have ended then, but their relationship continued via mail and finally Harold came over so that they could be married. Harold and Lucy Taylor were wed on 29 April 1915 at St. Peter’s Church in Niagara Falls, New York. The couple was on the Lusitania for their honeymoon and a visit to Harold’s parents in Manchester, England.
Harold said in a letter that they were told that the ship would make a dash up the coast in the cover of darkness, so they went to their cabin on Friday afternoon to begin packing. Hal was on deck when the ship was struck, and wearing only a shirt and trousers ran back to the cabin and announced to Lucy, “Well, that’s it. We’ve been hit.”
“Hit?” Lucy exclaimed.
“Yeah. We’ve been torpedoed.”
Lucy threw a coat over her shoulders and the two hurried out. It was only when they reached the stairs did she realized that she had forgotten her shoes. They had no lifebelts but Lucy was later able to retrieve one from their cabin. She claimed that as she passed through the dining room the tables were starting to overturn.
The couple went to the first class deck and Harold was able to get Lucy into lifeboat #15. Lucy refused to leave her husband and clung onto him desperately, but Harold pulled himself free and dropped her in the lifeboat. She tried to climb back out to him, but the boat had started to lower. Lucy could see Harold on deck without a lifebelt and unable to swim, waiting for the end. She guestured wildly to him, convinced that she would never see him again.
Lucy saw people in the water swimming up to her lifeboat, begging to be let on. Her boatmates were fearful that the extra weight of the people would capsize their lifeboat. She saw her boatmates pound the knuckles of those clinging onto the gunwales until hypothermia thinned out their numbers.
In Queenstown, even though Lucy did not find Harold’s body among the recovered dead, she had resigned herself to being a widow and sent her family in Niagara Falls a telegram, stating “Harold had gone.”
The afternoon the second day after the sinking, Lucy was walking outside the lobby of a Queenstown hotel when Harold rushed up to her, dressed in an sailor’s uniform. Lucy would later recall, “I think I was the happiest person alive.” The reunited couple wired their families with a new message, this one stating, “Both saved.”
Their individual claims included missing items such as her Quaker gray costume (wedding dress) , silver gravy ladle, fancy cushion covers, chinchilla great coat, and doctor’s visits.
Upon his return to England, Harold was conscripted into the British Army, where he fought on the battlefields of France. Lucy stayed in England for the duration of the war to be as close to Harold as possible. They returned to Niagara Falls in 1922, seven years after sailing aboard Lusitania. They had four children. A daughter, Marjorie, was given the middle name “Lusitania” in remembrance of that fateful voyage.
Harold Taylor worked at the local electric company for almost 40 years. He died in Niagara Falls on 10 June 1960 at age 68. Lucy continue to reside in Niagara Falls, outliving her husband by another 16 years, until 5 April 1976. She was 80 years of age.
Both Harold and Lucy are buried in the same plot at the Acacia Park and Resthaven Memorial Gardens in North Tonawanda, Niagara County, New York, United States, in the Atonement Section Plot 168D.
Links of interest
“A Honeymoon Cut Short: How One Couple Survived the Sinking of the Lusitania” at American Heritage (now offline)
Lucy Taylor at Find a Grave Memorial
Contributors:
Paul Latimer
Michael Poirier
Hildo Thiel
References:
Brownsten, Alan. “Lucy Taylor (1896 – 1976).” Find a Grave Memorial. Online. <http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GSob=c&GSmcid=46621260&GRid=26404902>.
Hickey, Des and Gus Smith. Seven Days to Disaster. G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1981.
Vogel, Charity. “A Honeymoon Cut Short: How One Couple Survived the Sinking of the Lusitania.” American Heritage. Online. <http://www.americanheritage.com/articles/web/20080616-Lusitania-Taylors-Lucy-Harold-Honeymoon-Cunard-Line-U-Boats-WWI-1915-Titanic-Liner-Disaster_print.shtml>.
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