When the Titanic sank, there was both an outpouring of grief and a great public fascination with the passengers.
Only a third of those on board the great ship were rescued. Fifteen hundred people died in the shipwreck.
In Winnipeg, as in other major cities, the stories dominated the headlines for days after the sinking, with reporters scrambling to tell stories of every local connection they could find.
So it was that Winnipeg readers had great interest in a Montreal family, the Allisons. Hudson Allison had lived in Winnipeg for two years.
He lived at the corner of Sherbrook and Westminster and had been friends with fellow Winnipeg Titanic passengers, Mark Fortune, and Thompson Beattie. Hudson Allison was well known and highly regarded in Winnipeg. He had worked as a financier, and was a great supporter of the Broadway Methodist Church
When he married, Hudson Allison and his wife, Bess Waldo Daniels, made their home in Montreal. Prior to traveling on the Titanic they were on an extended holiday in Europe. They were traveling with their two children, Lorraine, and baby Trevor, and were returning to their home on Rosyln Avenue in Westmount, Quebec.
Trevor, survived the sinking. He was in the arms of his newly hired nanny, Alice Cleaver. They were first class passengers and had been ushered to the lifeboats in plenty of time for Bess and her daughter to make their escape.
But, Bess had apparently panicked when she couldn’t find her baby son. She dragged her young daughter Lorraine out of the lifeboat and together with her husband, went in search of Trevor. By this time, the nanny was already away from the ship with the baby.
The following story about the family appeared in the Winnipeg Telegram on April 19, 1912, and is transcribed below.
Among the passengers of the Titanic are Mr. and Mrs. Hudson J. Allison and child. Mr. Allison and his family were residents of Winnipeg for a year, leaving here a little over two years ago to reside in Montreal. Mr. Allison and his wife and two children were returning from England and are among the list of missing. He is one junior member of the firm of Johns, McConnell and Allison, of Montreal, financial agents and was in Winnipeg in the interests of the firm.
While living here he resided on the corner of Sherbrook and Westminster Street. He was a prominent member of the Broadway Methodist Church and was one of the original contributors to the building fund, always taking an active interest in church affairs.
He is a nephew of G.F. Johnston of Montreal, senior member of the firm, and Mrs. Daniel, whose name appears in the list of those saved was his mother-in-law and lived with them in Winnipeg for several months previous to their http://www.encyclopedia-titanica.org/ to Montreal.
Mr. Allison is well-known in the city and has a large number of personal friends. His interests in the west are great, he personally holding a lot of property. The firm also holds large timber limits and farm properties.
For more information about passengers on the Titanic, please see the Encyclopedia Titanica website. For stories about Canadians on the Titanic, see Alan Hustak’s excellent book.
Dr. Robert Ballard, the man who 
99 years ago tonight, the Titanic scraped past an iceberg, slicing open the hull. The ship that was believed to be unsinkable, was doomed. This short animation offers a concise view of how this happened and why.
It was 99 years ago that the Titanic was racing across the North Atlantic to break speed records for crossing from Britain to New York. Titanic’s maiden voyage ended in disaster with more than 1,500 people on board perishing in the shipwreck of the world’s grandest steamship. Only 705 made it to the lifeboats and safety on the rescue ship, the Carpathia. It was on April 14th, just before midnight that the Titanic smashed into an iceberg.
Eva Hart was a seven-year-old child when she was traveling on the Titanic with her parents, Benjamin and Esther Hart. They were a Jewish family from Ilford, England, and were on their way to a future in Winnipeg, Canada. Her father, Benjamin, had a trusted friend who had returned to Ilford on vacation in 1911. He was full of stories of his wonderful life in Winnipeg. In this interview, Eva recalls that her father immediately seized upon the plan to move to Canada. He sold his business in construction, and set the path for their future in Winnipeg.
Less than three hours after striking the iceberg, the Titanic sank, and took with her the lives of over 1500 people. Just 705 were rescued.
On this day, 99 years ago, the Titanic sailed out of Southampton, England, on her maiden voyage en route to New York. Joyous celebrations accompanied her departure as people shouted and sang. Well-wishers hugged their families and friends and bade them farewell as they boarded the ship. Passengers and onlookers alike marveled at the most luxurious and fastest steamship ever built as cameras rolled for the newsreels to carry the images to a public clamoring for details of the historic crossing. It was a glorious Wednesday.
The shocking news of the Titanic striking an iceberg late at night on Sunday, April 14, 1912, hit the telegraph wires and fed newspaper offices throughout the world. A jumble of facts, speculation, and outright falsehoods moved steadily along the wires. It was a tragedy of unimaginable proportions. The world’s largest ship, termed “unsinkable” by the press, was reported to be going down by the head, with nearby ships speeding to the rescue to take the passengers off.
Residents argued in the street about who was at fault, and gossiped about what they knew of the local people known to be on the ship. Everyone had a story to repeat or an opinion to express. It was horrifying and fascinating all at the same time. There were several Winnipeg passengers on Titanic with names that were widely known. Hence, a great deal of attention was paid in the newspapers to “prominent people”, as in this excerpt from an article in the Manitoba Free Press on April 17, 1912.
Sandi Krawchenko Altner 
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