The story of the Allison family omits several points and key people who traveled with the family.
In addition to the Allison family, and their nanny Alice Cleaver, three additional servants traveled with them. Sarah Daniels, the Allison's maid, traveled with the family and stayed in first class with them, along with Alice Cleaver. In addition the Allison's butler, George Swane, and their cook Mary Amelia Brown, nicknamed Mildred, also accompanied the family but traveled in Second Class.
On the night of the sinking Hudson and Bess Allison were convinced that nothing was wrong with the ship and thus remained in bed. This prompted a concerned Sarah Daniels to go up onto the boat deck to investigate what happened. When Daniels arrived on deck she was swiftly placed into an early lifeboat and was assured by a steward that he would inform the Allison's of her whereabouts. It's uncertain if the steward ever informed the Allison's of Daniels whereabouts. Meanwhile after several insistence's by stewards that they dress and go up onto the boat deck Hudson Allison awoke and went to see what was wrong leaving Alice Cleaver and Bess Allison with the children. Reports vary as to exactly what happened next but it seems as if, in Hudson's absence, Bess Allison became overtook with fear. It seems that, perhaps sensing the urgency of the situation, Alice Cleaver took baby Trevor and told Mrs. Allison that she was going to meet up with the other servants in Second Class. Another version of the story had Hudson returning to the room, leading a nervous Bess, Alice and the kids up to the boat deck upon which Alice and Trevor became separated from them in the crowd. Nonetheless, at some point Cleaver did meet up with George Swane and Mildred Brown who led the three safely to lifeboat 11 which departed the ship at 1:45 AM. It seems that a now desperate Bess Allison, once separated from her baby, refused to leave the ship until she knew Trevor was all right and thus in turn refused to place Lorraine into a lifeboat. It's uncertain whether Swane ever was able to meet up with the family although there is some eyewitness evidence that Hudson tried to get Lorraine and Bess into collapsible A which was one of two lifeboats that floated off the liner when it sank, providing refuge for those struggling in the water. In any case neither Hudson, Bess, Lorraine nor George Swane survived the sinking. Hudson's body was one of the ones recovered from the cable ship Mackay Bennet that was hired to retrieve victims of the disaster from the water.
For her part Cleaver never tried to pass off Trevor as her own baby once on the Carpathia. With Daniels and Brown as survivors Alice would have had no opportunity to do this and in fact very willingly handed over Trevor to relatives of the Allison's once the liner reached New York. It seems as if over the years Cleaver's tarnished name resulted from relatives of the Allison's who believed her separation from the Allison's caused the family their lives. This was complicated from the fact that Cleaver, Daniels, and Brown spoke very little of disaster in their later lives. Although little is known of Daniels later life both Brown and Cleaver lived long lives, passing in 1976 and 1984 respectively. Sadly, Trevor passed from food poisoning as a teenager in 1929.
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05/03/2025 alle ore 08:34
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