R.M.S. Titanic Lifeboat No 6: The Story of Julia Cavendish Who Survived

Tyrell and Julia booked to travel on the Titanic with their two sons to introduce them to their American grandfather, but the children were too ill to travel. Julia persisted in going without them. The fatal and tragic decision not only led to the unnecessary loss of her husband, it was to haunt her for the next fifty years. Why was she so determined to go? In a letter written to her sons, as her death approached, she claimed the purpose of the visit was ’to gain her wealthy father’s support for his son-in-law’s ambition to stand as a Member of Parliament.’ Yet Tyrell had shown no enthusiasm for making the journey, as Julia had already made the trip alone, the previous year quite safely. From the Carpathia Julia cabled her father, Henry Siegel, to have clothes from his department stores ready for the Titanic’s survivors. In 1992 and 2002 her son and grandson learnt from chance encounters with New Yorkers of Julia’s father’s shocking fall from grace, the grandfather who owned a famous department store with a ’soda fountain meeting place’. Now can be revealed the true reason for her mission.

The grandson of Julia Cavendish, William Cavendish was educated at Eton and Trinity College, Cambridge where he read English Literature, which came in useful when he wrote His Master’s Voice about his time at EMI. Now aged 83 he delves into his family history, including its relationship with the Mountbattens: Louis, who nearly became his brother-in-law in the 1930s; and Edwina, whose scarf intended for King Edward VIII is now in his possession.