Mary Eloise Hughes Smith (August 7, 1893 – May 3, 1940), also referred to as Eloise Smith or Mrs. Lucian P. Smith, was a survivor of the 1912
RMS ''Titanic'' disaster. Her first husband, Lucian P. Smith, scion of a wealthy
Morgantown family with vast holdings in the
Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...
coal fields died in the sinking; she later married a fellow survivor.
Lucian Philip and Eloise Hughes Smith boarded ''Titanic'' on Wednesday evening, 10 April 1912 in
Cherbourg
Cherbourg (; , , ), nrf, Chèrbourg, ) is a former commune and subprefecture located at the northern end of the Cotentin peninsula in the northwestern French department of Manche. It was merged into the commune of Cherbourg-Octeville on 28 Febr ...
on their way home from their honeymoon. The couple had considered taking the older, smaller, and slightly faster
Cunard
Cunard () is a British shipping and cruise line based at Carnival House at Southampton, England, operated by Carnival UK and owned by Carnival Corporation & plc. Since 2011, Cunard and its three ships have been registered in Hamilton, Ber ...
liner
RMS ''Lusitania'' home but ultimately decided to buy a ticket for the maiden voyage of the newest, and most luxurious ship in the
White Star fleet, ''Titanic''. Their trip had included a transatlantic crossing to
Europe
Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...
aboard ''Titanic's''
sister ship
A sister ship is a ship of the same class or of virtually identical design to another ship. Such vessels share a nearly identical hull and superstructure layout, similar size, and roughly comparable features and equipment. They often share a ...
RMS ''Olympic'' and sightseeing in
Italy
Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...
,
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
, the
Middle East
The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabian Peninsula, Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Anatolia, Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Pro ...
and
Egypt
Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning the North Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via a land bridg ...
. She survived the sinking of the ''Titanic'' to give birth to her son Lucian Philip Smith II on 29 November 1912. Two other newly married women on the ''Titanic'' later had children as well.
During the sinking, when Smith pleaded whether her husband could go with her, Captain
Edward J. Smith ignored her, shouting again though his megaphone the message of women and children first. Lucien told the captain, "Never mind, captain, about that; I will see that she gets in the boat.", before telling his wife, "I never expected to ask you to obey, but this is one time you must. It is only a matter of form to have women and children first. The ship is thoroughly equipped and everyone on her will be saved."
She later married a fellow survivor,
Robert Daniel
Robert Williams Daniel, Jr. (March 17, 1936 – February 4, 2012) was an American farmer, businessman, teacher, and politician from Virginia who served five terms in the U.S. House of Representatives as a Republican. He was first elected in ...
, a bank executive, in 1914. In 1923 Smith divorced Daniel and married Lewis H. Cort, Jr. Cort died several years later, and she married C.S. Wright in 1929. They lived in
Charleston, and soon divorced.
Smith was a member of the
Vinson political family; the daughter of United States Representative
James A. Hughes
James Anthony Hughes (February 27, 1861March 2, 1930) was a member of the United States House of Representatives from the state of West Virginia.
Hughes was born near Corunna in the Province of Canada (in what is now Ontario). He immig ...
and Belle Vinson. As children, Smith and her sister had made the acquaintance of
President Theodore Roosevelt
Theodore Roosevelt Jr. ( ; October 27, 1858 – January 6, 1919), often referred to as Teddy or by his initials, T. R., was an American politician, statesman, soldier, conservationist, naturalist, historian, and writer who served as the 26t ...
. She was a popular public speaker. She was active in
Republican Party
Republican Party is a name used by many political parties around the world, though the term most commonly refers to the United States' Republican Party.
Republican Party may also refer to:
Africa
* Republican Party (Liberia)
*Republican Party ...
politics and campaigned for
women's suffrage
Women's suffrage is the right of women to vote in elections. Beginning in the start of the 18th century, some people sought to change voting laws to allow women to vote. Liberal political parties would go on to grant women the right to vot ...
. She worked for a time at the pension bureau in
Washington D.C.
Smith died of a heart attack in 1940 at the age of 46 in a
sanitarium in Cincinnati.
Smith was quoted extensively in the 1912 best-selling book ''The Sinking of the Titanic'' by Jay Henry Mowbray. Her letters and other recollections of the sinking have been quoted in numerous documentaries about the sinking of the ship, including the documentary filmmaker
Melissa Jo Peltier
Melissa Jo Peltier is a New York-based American producer and author. She produced, wrote and directed the 1994 A&E documentary mini-series '' Titanic: Death of a Dream'' and '' Titanic: The Legend Lives On'', the show ''Dog Whisperer with Cesar ...
in the
A&E Network
A&E is an American basic cable network, the flagship television property of A&E Networks. The network was originally founded in 1984 as the Arts & Entertainment Network, initially focusing on fine arts, documentaries, dramas, and educational ent ...
documentaries ''
Titanic: Death of a Dream'' and ''
Titanic: The Legend Lives On'' to illustrate the hours between the ''Titanic''s encounter with the iceberg and the rescue of the survivors by
RMS ''Carpathia'', and in the documentary ''Titanic: Anatomy of a Disaster''. She was portrayed in the documentary television series ''
Seconds from Disaster'' by Jennifer Lee Trendowski in the episode featuring the ''Titanic''.
She and her husband were portrayed in the 1956 ''
Kraft Television Theatre
''Kraft Television Theatre'' is an American anthology drama television series running from 1947 to 1958. It began May 7, 1947 on NBC, airing at 7:30pm on Wednesday evenings until December of that year. It first promoted MacLaren's Imperial Chees ...
'' program ''
A Night to Remember'', and were the basis for the characters "Robbie Lucas and Mrs. Liz Lucas", in the
1958 film adapation portrayed by
John Merivale and
Honor Blackman
Honor Blackman (22 August 1925 – 5 April 2020) was an English actress, known for the roles of Cathy Gale in '' The Avengers''Aaker, Everett (2006). ''Encyclopedia of Early Television Crime Fighters''. McFarland & Company, Inc. . P. 58. (1962 ...
. Lucas even says the words actually spoken by Lucien Smith to his wife with some fictional elaboration due to the Lucas couple having three children.
[The Titanic on Film: Myth versus Truth](_blank)
Linda Maria Koldau
Linda Maria Koldau (born October 28, 1971) is a German musicologist and was Chair of Musicology and Cultural History (formerly Knud Jeppesen's Chair of Musicology) at Aarhus University in Denmark. Since 2013 she has been director of the Coastal A ...
; McFarland, 2012 307 pages, page 141
References
External links
"A Titanic Story," Huntington Quarterly* "Eloise Hughes Smith" i
''Titanic: Women and Children First'' , by Judith B. Geller
"Memories of the Titanic"Extract from the Huntington Herald-Dispatch, March 22, 1998.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Eloise Hughes
1893 births
1940 deaths
People from Huntington, West Virginia
RMS Titanic survivors
West Virginia Republicans
Ohio Republicans