Allison family

Hudson Joshua Creighton Allison (December 9, 1881^[1] – April 15, 1912), his wife, Bess Waldo Allison (née Daniels) (November 14, 1886^[2] – April 15, 1912), their daughter Helen Loraine Allison (June 5, 1909^[3] – April 15, 1912) and their baby son, Hudson Trevor Allison (May 7, 1911^[4] – August 7, 1929) were 1st class passengers on board the Titanic, which struck an iceberg and sank on April 15, 1912. Only Trevor survived.

History

The Allisons, bound for Montreal, booked first-class passage on board the Titanic. Hudson, Bess, Loraine, and Trevor boarded the ship in Southampton along with four servants: a maid, Sarah Daniels (no relation to Bess); a nurse, Alice Cleaver;^[5] a cook, Mildred Brown; and a butler, George Swane. Hudson and Bess occupied cabin C-22, Sarah and Loraine occupied C-24, and Alice and Trevor occupied C-26. Two second-class cabins were also booked for Swane and Brown.

Hudson and Bess were dining companions with Major Arthur Godfrey Peuchen. At dinner on 14 April, they brought Loraine to the dining room with them so she could see how pretty it was.

After the ship struck the iceberg, Hudson left to find out what was going on. While he was gone, Cleaver took Trevor and went to get the rest of the servants in second class. Hudson returned to find them gone. He delivered Bess and Loraine to Boat 6, and apparently left before it was launched. Major Peuchen recalled how they were almost rescued:

Brave Nurse and the Babe She Saved: Alice Cleaver with Trevor Allison (1912)

Swane saw Cleaver, Brown, and Trevor safely into Boat 11, which left the ship at around 1:45 am, nearly an hour after Boat 6 had left. Daniels had also left in one of the earlier boats. She had gone up on deck early to investigate the commotion and was hurriedly placed into a boat by a steward who promised to inform the Allisons of her whereabouts. Varying stories claim that Cleaver panicked and grabbed Trevor, without informing Bess that she was leaving, and that Bess refused to leave the ship without him, though it is possible that the entire group went up on deck together, and that Cleaver and Trevor were simply lost in the crowd.^[6]

Hudson, Bess, Loraine, and Swane were lost in the sinking. Whether or not Swane found the Allisons and informed them that Trevor was safely off the ship is unknown, but if he did, it is likely the information came too late for any of them to leave the ship. Hudson, Bess, and Loraine were last seen on deck smiling; Bess was one of only four first-class women (including Ida Straus and Edith Corse Evans) who perished, while Loraine was the only child of first and second class to do so. Hudson's body was the 135th recovered by the Mackay-Bennett; Swane's was 294th. Hudson's was brought to be buried in the family plot in Maple Ridge Cemetery near Winchester, Ontario.

Cleaver and Trevor were met in New York City by Hudson's brother, George, who, along with his wife, Lillian, took custody of the now orphaned Trevor. He died on August 7, 1929, at age 18 of food poisoning. He was buried beside his father.

What really happened to Loraine?

In 1940, a woman named Helen Loraine Kramer claimed that she was Loraine Allison^[7] and that, at the last minute, her parents gave her up to a man calling himself Hyde (whose identity she said to be that of shipbuilder Thomas Andrews), who raised her on a farm in the American Midwest. Her claim, however, was not accepted by the Allisons. Eventually, she moved away and they never heard from her again.^[8]

In December 2013, the Loraine Allison Identification Project announced results of mitochondrial DNA testing performed on mitochondrial DNA donated by female-line descendants of Kramer, and descendants of the Allisons. The test was performed by DNA Diagnostics Center, a facility accredited by the American Society of Crime Laboratory Directors. The results were negative, demonstrating that no relationship existed between Kramer and the Allisons.^[9][10]

The Allisons in film

The Allisons were major characters in the 1996 miniseries Titanic. Hudson was portrayed by Kevin Conway, while Harley Jane Kozak portrayed Bess. Loraine was portrayed by Devon Hoholuk. The part of Trevor was uncredited. The subplot regarding them was highly fictionalized and filled with historical inaccuracies: for example, it added the story of the long-standing myth that Cleaver (played by Felicity Waterman) was a child murderess who stole Trevor in a fit of panic, thus forcing the Allisons to remain on the ship looking for him until it was too late. Their other servants (Daniels, Brown, and Swane) were not featured in it – the only one travelling with them was Cleaver.

The Allisons are also featured in the 2012 miniseries Titanic, with Olivia Darnley as Bess and Izabella Urbanowicz as Cleaver, this time in a more historically accurate fashion and with the servants omitted from the previous series present within the story.

References