ONE OF OVER 2,208 PASSENGER & CREW STORIES - LUCY, LADY DUFF GORDON (née Sutherland), BORN JUNE 13, 1863

Although a native of London, Lucy Christiana Sutherland lived in Canada as a child. An early marriage produced a child, but ended in divorce. As a result, she opened a small dress-making shop to make ends meet and support her daughter. The venture was a success and led to ever increasing opportunities in the fashion world.

In 1900, Lucy married Sir Cosmo Duff Gordon, which not only gave her a title, but furthered her financial stability and connections in the business world. At the height of her career as a designer, she owned businesses frequented by the wealthy of two continents.

In 1912, business concerns in New York caused the Duff Gordons to book first-class passage on Titanic. Lucy, Lady Duff Gordon later recalled she had not expected to travel in such luxury and remembered many details of the trip, such as pink curtains in her stateroom and daffodils adorning the dinner table where they enjoyed their last meal on the ship. On the night of April 14, she was already in bed when she heard a noise, which she described as sounding like, “It was like nothing I had ever heard before. It seemed as if some giant hand had been playing bowls, rolling the great balls along. Then the boat stopped”. With her husband and secretary, Lucy entered Lifeboat 1, wearing a coat thrown over a fine, lavender kimono. After their rescue, the Duff Gordons later testified at the British inquiry into the sinking. They were vilified in some corners for allegedly bribing Titanic crewmen to steer their lifeboat away from the doomed ship instead of returning to save those struggling in the water.

Later separated from Sir Cosmo, Lady Duff Gordon fell on hard times again in her later years and died in a Putney, London nursing home in 1935.