Arthur Webster Newell purchased Titanic ticket #35273 at a cost of £ 113 5s for two cabins in First Class for himself and his two daughters Marjorie and Madeleine Newell, departing from Cherbourg France to New York on April 10, 1912.
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| Marjorie Anne Newell |
Marjorie Anne Newell
First Class Cabin D36
Born: February 12, 1889 in Lexington Massachusetts
Rescued: Lifeboat #6
Died: June 11, 1992, age 103 in Cambridge, Massachusetts
Rescued: Lifeboat #6
Died: June 11, 1992, age 103 in Cambridge, Massachusetts
Madeleine NewellFirst Class Cabin D36Born: October 10, 1880Rescued: Lifeboat #6Died: April 25, 1969, age 88
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| Arthur Webster Newell, 1854-1912 |
Arthur Webster Newell
First Class Passenger, Cabin D48
Born: January 30, 1854
Died: April 15, 1912
Body Recovered: #122 by the MacKay-Bennett
Buried: Mount Auburn Cemetery, Cambridge MA
The Newell family of three were returning from the Middle East and boarded at Cherbourg France. Arthur was 58 years old, Marjorie was 23 years old , Madeleine was 31 years old at the time they sailed on the Titanic.
Arthur married Mary Greeley on October 11, 1877 and they had three daughters: Alice, Madeleine and Marjorie. In 1879, Arthur was promoted from bookkeeper to chief cashier at the Fourth National Bank of Boston. He was a leader in his church. As he became prosperous, he moved his family to a larger home in Lexington, Massachusetts. Despite the fact that he was distant with most people, he was well liked and respected. He and his wife Mary were accomplished violinists and taught their daughters to play. Although the family practiced every day, the sessions amounted to impromptu concerts.
In 1896, Arthur was elected Chairman of the bank and bought a modern estate in Lexington, Massachusetts. Two daughters attended Smith College in Northampton but Marjorie was not a good student and turned down the education. In 1909, the Newell family traveled abroad for the first time to Europe on the RMS Romanic, of the White Star Line. The days of their three month Grand Tour took in the sites in England, France, Germany, Italy and Switzerland and the family of five enjoyed their evenings playing their violins. Madeleine also played the piano. Marjorie started a postcard collection in 1909 to document their travels which came in handy years later when she became the spokesperson for their family, giving lectures and attending events about Titanic.
In 1912, Mr. Newell wanted to travel to the Middle East to explore the holy lands of Egypt, Israel and Palestine. This time, his wife and daughter Alice decided not to go and only Marjorie and Madeleine went with him on the three month journey. They sailed to Marseilles France to tour the Paris, then the chateau country in the South of France. No matter how busy their days, Marjorie and Madeleine enjoyed playing their violins in the evenings with their father. In Cherbourg France, Arthur Newell booked their return trip home on board the RMS Titanic on its maiden voyage.
The evenings were spent on deck playing their violins and people-watching as their father pointed out some of the wealthiest people in the world. A woman who was sitting next to Marjorie voiced a worry that the ship was going too fast because they were in the iceberg area and she mentioned she thought the ship should slow down. Marjorie didn't notice where they were because she was enamored with looking at the famous people.
The Newells retired to their cabins about 10:30pm. Marjorie recalled being awakened by a sudden vibration that seemed to have shaken the whole ship. Within minutes, Arthur Newell came to their cabin and told the two sisters to get dressed in their warmest clothes and follow him up to the deck.
In the corridor, other first-class passengers were also making their way to the lifeboats on the Boat Deck. Arthur asked questions as they moved along to see what was being done. The ship was listing slightly as they navigated the gangways to the steps. When they got up on deck, Arthur watched one lifeboat being loaded and lowered safely, then felt comfortable placing his two daughters in Lifeboat #6.
Even though the Captain's ambiguous order was "Women and children first," most of the officers took it to mean "Women and children only." The officer in charge of the lifeboat station told Mr. Newell that they were only loading women and children, that he was not permitted to go with them. Arthur told his two daughters that they would have to row around in the lifeboat until the ship could be repaired because it was more dangerous to remain on the ship. They kept searching the lifeboats looking for their father but Arthur Newell was still aboard when the ship went down.
Marjorie said years later:
"I often wondered what Father did after he said goodbye to us. I would like to think that he went to help other women and children. He would have never taken a place in a lifeboat knowing there were others still aboard. I am sure he thought about my mother and sister and perhaps wished he had never taken us on this trip."
Madeleine had always been reluctant about putting personal or family information in qriting because she didn't want to dwell on the disaster and have it encompass her whole reason for living. But according to a letter Madeleine sent to a friend Marjorie Gray in November 1957 she did discuss their time on Titanic:
"After my father put us in the lifeboat, we told him "Come along too, there's plenty of room." But he told us "No, I'll come later" because he was honoring the "Women and Cchildren first" rule. I remember that the Titanic lifeboat went down only half-full and that Marjoire and a college student helped to row it. A short time after getting into the lifeboat, we saw a light in the horizon and expected to be picked up at once but none came. "
Madeleine's letter went on to say that she had read her father's diary and it stated that "the Captain of Titanic was drunk and refused to do anything to help the passengers. He lost his command and the officers took over getting passengers into the lifeboats."
In another letter, Madeleine described Titanic's final moments:
"From about a mile away we saw the Titanic sink. From the time we left her, she was sinking slowly at the head but began to sink faster. The water got into the engine room for we heard a terrific explosion. The stern lifted way up out of the water and the ship's keel showed. The tipping of the vessel threw everyone still on board toward the bow and the ship went to the bottom."
Marjorie said:
"It was cold and dark. The great ship made a tremendous groan and there was suddenly a great rush of water before she went down. I'll never forget that enormous awful roar."
A few hours later they were rescued by the RMS Carpathia. The first thing they did was search among the survivors, looking for their father but he was not there. When rumors that more survivors had been picked up by other ships, they held out hope that he would still be found.
The White Star Line commissioned several rescue ships to look for survivors, but by day two, they were now recovery ships. The MacKay Bennett was equipped with undertakers and embalming equipment to prepare the bodies that would be returned to their families. Arthur Newell's body was recovered, tagged with #122 and embalmed. He was 58 years old.
The two sisters were met in New York at Pier 54 by a friend of the family; their mother and sister Alice were at a nearby hotel. When Mrs. Newell saw her two daughters were not accompanied by her husband, she realized he had died in the disaster. Two weeks after they returned home, the family received word that Arthur Newell's body had been recovered. He was identified by his business card and his engraved pocket watch which were returned with the body along with some clothing and his wallet, still intact with money.
When his body was returned, a huge funeral was held on May 4, 1912. The closing hymn was "Nearer, My God, To Thee," the same song they heard the band playing when Titanic sank.
After Titanic
All their violins were lost on the Titanic. Their mother, Mary Newell, spent the rest of her life in mourning, sleeping with her husband's watch under her pillow. She died on November 9, 1957, at the age of 103.
Daughter Madeleine never married and died on April 25, 1969 at the age of 88.
Daughter Alice who did not go on the fateful trip, never married and she died on July 7, 1972 at age 89.
In 1917, daughter Marjorie Newell married Floyd Newton Robb, an executive at a communications company that later became AT & T. He was the seventh of nine children. They settled in Chicago but moved to South Orange New Jersey in 1925 and lived there until 1950. They raised three daughters: Rosalind, Marjorie and Madeleine, and one son, Newell Robb named after her father. Marjorie became a music instructor at Wells College in Aurora, N.Y. teaching violin and piano. She was one of the founders of the New Jersey Symphony in Newark New Jersey.
Her husband Floyd Newton Robb died on January 21, 1957 at age 69.
Marjorie moved to Westport Point, Massachusetts then to Fall River in 1990.
In her final years, after her mother and sisters had passed away, Marjorie began to speak of her experience on the Titanic. She was interviewed more often after the 1985 discovery of the Titanic wreck. At age of 97, she was still addressing audiences and talking to Titanic researchers and historians, sharing her memories of the Titanic's final hours.
"I'll never forget the screams of the drowning. It was absolutely terrible." At the thought of it, she would often lose her composure but continued to speak about the event out of respect and honor for her father. His final moments and his bravery never left her thoughts.
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| Marjorie Anne Newell 1889-1992, age 103 |
Marjorie Anne Newell Robb gave up her cottage at age 99 and moved into Adams Nursing Home in Fall River. She died in her sleep on June 11, 1992, at the age of 103. She was buried with her family at the Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge.
Her son Newell Robb died April 24, 1995 at age 67.
Her daughter Marjorie married twice and had four children. She died August 21, 2010 at age 87.
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