Elizabeth Nye

May 27th, 1882 - November 22nd, 1963

She is a Gemini.

Elizabeth Nye was born in Folkestone, Kent, England as the 3rd of 7 and eldest surviving children of Thomas Ingram Ramell (1854 - 1915) and Elizabeth Ann Griffins (1854 - 1947); her father was born in Lambeth, London and had come to Folkestone in the early 1870's where he began a career as a coach painter and also served as a Salvation Army bandsman. He married local girl Ann in 1877. Elizabeth's siblings were: Frederick Thomas Ingram (1878 - 1879), Amy Elizabeth (1879 - 1881), Edith Any (born 1885), Beatrice May (born 1888), Florence Alma (born 1891), and Winfred Rose (born 1894). Her parents and Amy were recorded on the 1881 census residing at Folly Cottages, Folkestone.

By the time of the 1891 census, 8-year-old schoolgirl Elizabeth was living with her family at St John's Street in the same town. At the same address by the time of the following census in 1901, 18-year-old Elizabeth was by then a dressmaker. Elizabeth went on to have a series of misfortunes; an attack of appendicitis nearly ended her life and then, her first sweetheart, an unidentified man, was killed when he was washed off the Folkestone Harbour Pier and drowned. She was married in December 26th, 1904 to Edward Ernest Nye (born 1880), a railway labourer originally from the village of Stone in Oxney, near Folkestone; he was the son of Shepard William Dunsler Nye and his wife Ann Luckhurst. Edward and Elizabeth only child, Maisie Elizabeth, was born in early 1906 but died less than a year of life. Elizabeth and Edward later left Britain and settled in New York around 1907, they appeared on the show 1910 census as borders at Perry Street, Manhattan and Edward is described as a janitor and Elizabeth still as a dressmaker. She worked in the uniform department of New York's Salvation Army.

Aboard Titanic/April 14th-15th, 1912:
Edward, who by then worked as a night watchman, died at the age of 30 on May 22nd, 1911; he was buried in Kensisco Cemetery. The young widow returned to her family in England to mourn, the family home then being Dover Road, Folkestone. For her return to New York, Elizabeth had originally been scheduled to travel aboard Philadelphia but the ongoing coal strike altered those arrangements and her passage was changed instead to Titanic's maiden voyage. She boarded the ship at Southampton on April 10th, 1912 and shared a cabin (F-33) with 3 other English women, Amelia Lemore, Amelia Brown, and Selina Cook.

Elizabeth recalled the events of the 14th and 15th of April in a letter to her parents which was reprinted in the Folkestone Herald on May 4th, 1912:

"We were all in bed on Sunday night at about 11.30, when we felt an awful jerk, and the boat grazed something along its side, and the sea seemed to splash right over the deck. The men in the next cabin slipped on their coats and ran up to see what it was, and came and told us the ship had run into an iceberg nearly as large as herself. ''Most of the people went back to bed again, but then came an order 'get up and put something warm on, put on a lifebelt and come on deck.' So I got one underskirt on and a skirt, and stockings, and shoes and coat, and ran up to find a lifebelt, because there were only three in our berth for four of us. A boy from the next cabin stole one from ours, but he went down with it poor boy. We did not have time to go back to our cabins again to get anything, and we did not dream it was serious. I thought I should get back to get more clothes on and get a few other things, but we were put into the lifeboats, and pushed off at once."

Elizabeth escaped in lifeboat 11 and spoke of the scene once the boat had been powered:

"When we got away from the ship we could understand the hurry and the order to get half a mile away as soon as possible. For the Titanic was half in the water. We watched the port holes go under until half the ship, only the back half, stuck up. Then the lights went out, and the boilers burst and blew up. There was a sickening roar like hundreds of lions, and we heard no more but THE MOANING AND SHOUTING for help from the hundreds of men and a few women who went down with her. There were not enough boats for so many people."

She went on to describe the lack of provisions in the lifeboat and crewmen burning the ropes to attract other boats; she attributed the safety of the survivors to the clear night and calm sea and, of course the arrival of Carpathia:

"They lowered bags for the babies to pull them up, and we sat on a kind of swing and were drawn up by a rope to safety. They have been most kind to us. Led us one by one to the dining room, and gave us brandy. I drank half a glass of brandy down without water. We were all perished, and it put life into us. The ship is, of course, filled with its own passengers, But they found places for us all to sleep, but none of us slept well after going through such A HORRIBLE NIGHTMARE This ship stood right over the place where the Titanic went down, and picked us up."

Elizabeth recalled the heartbreaking scene, of dozens of widows boarded the rescue ship:

"We are told that the SS Baltic picked up about fifty men, and the poor women here are hoping their husbands are among the fifty. It is supposed there are 160 more widows through this wreck, and most of them have children. It was so heart breaking to see and hear them crying for their husbands. We were all gathered together, and our names taken for the newspapers. Of course, they cannot tell how many are dead, but we have on this ship only two hundred crew out of 910 and 500 passengers out of 2,000. I am amongst the fortunate, for God has spared my life when I was so near death again. I have lost everything I had on board. The only thing I saved was my watch Dad gave me eleven years ago. But all my treasures and clothes and some money have gone. I have only the scanty clothes that I stand up in, including my big coat, which has been a blessing."

After The Sinking/Later Life/Death:
Elizabeth was met in New York by members of the Salvation Army who took care of her and fellow Salvationist Rhoda Abbott; the latter was reportedly travelling in uniform and was hospitalized for the effects of her exposure. Elizabeth was also affected by exposure, requiring an operation, and she was later rewarded $200 by the American Cross. Elizabeth remained in New York and was remarried to Englishman George Darby (September 23rd, 1883), a native of Cannock, Staffordshire and a fellow Salvationist. They had a son, George Ray, who was born March 30th, 1915.

They made their home in the Bronx, appearing on the 1920 - 1940 census records as residents of Health Avenue in that borough and they continued to serve with the Salvation Army, she attaining the rank of Colonel. In May of 1920, Elizabeth returned home to visit her family, sailing aboard the Lapland and made at least one more tip back to Britain. Her 1920 as sport described her as standing at 5'9 and a half, with dark brown hair, hazel eyes, and a medium fair complexion, a plump face with a high and broad forehead. Elizabeth died in Asbury Park, Monmouth, New Jersey on November 22nd, 1963 at the age of 81 and was buried in Kensisco Cemetery, Westchester, New York. George Darby outlived her by 5 years and died in May 7th, 1968. George Ray died in Bergen, New Jersey on November 7th, 1979.

Sources:
www.encyclopedia-titanica.org

Rest In Peace Elizabeth Nye.

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