The Allison family was a Canadian family of first-class passengers on board the RMS ''Titanic'', which struck an iceberg and sank on 15 April 1912. The family consisted of Hudson Joshua Creighton Allison (9 December 1881 – 15 April 1912); his wife, Bess Waldo Allison (''née'' Daniels; 14 November 1886 – 15 April 1912); their daughter, Helen Loraine Allison (5 June 1909 – 15 April 1912); and son, Hudson Trevor Allison (7 May 1911 – 7 August 1929). Of the family, only Trevor survived.

History

The Allison family, bound for

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

, booked first-class passage on the ''Titanic''. They boarded the ship in

Southampton Southampton is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. It is located approximately southwest of London, west of Portsmouth, and southeast of Salisbury. Southampton had a population of 253, ...

along with four servants: a maid, Sarah Daniels (no relation to Bess); a nurse, Alice Cleaver; a cook, Amelia Mary "Mildred" Brown; and a butler, George Swane. Hudson and Bess occupied cabin C-22, Sarah and Loraine occupied C-24, and Alice and Trevor occupied C-26. Two second-class cabins were booked for George and Mildred. Hudson and Bess were dining companions with Major Arthur Godfrey Peuchen. At dinner on 14 April, they brought Loraine to the dining room with them so she could see how pretty it was. After the ship struck the iceberg, Hudson left to find out what was going on. While he was gone, Alice took Trevor and went to collect the rest of the servants in second class. Hudson returned to find them gone. He delivered Bess and Loraine to Lifeboat Boat 6 and apparently left before it was launched. Major Peuchen recalled how they were almost rescued: George saw Alice, Mildred and Trevor safely into Boat 11, which left the ship at around 1:45 am, nearly an hour after Boat 6 had. Sarah had gone up on deck early to investigate the commotion and was hurriedly placed into a boat by a steward who promised to inform the Allisons of her whereabouts. Varying stories claim that Alice panicked and grabbed Trevor, without informing Bess that she was leaving, and that Bess refused to leave the ship without him, though it is possible that the entire group went up on deck together, and that Alice and Trevor were simply lost in the crowd. Hudson, Bess, Loraine, and George were lost in the sinking. Whether or not George found the Allisons and informed them that Trevor was safely off the ship is unknown, but if he did, it is likely the information came too late for any of them to leave the ship. Bess was one of only four first-class women (including Ida Straus, Edith Corse Evans, and Ann Elizabeth Isham) who perished, while Loraine was the only child of first and second class to do so. Hudson's body was the 135th recovered by the '' Mackay-Bennett''; George's was the 294th. Hudson's body was transported to Chesterville, Ontario, to be buried in the family plot in Maple Ridge Cemetery. Alice and Trevor were met in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

by Hudson's brother, George, who, along with his wife, Lillian, took custody of the now orphaned Trevor. He died on 7 August 1929, at age 18 of

food poisoning Foodborne illness (also known as foodborne disease and food poisoning) is any illness resulting from the contamination of food by pathogenic bacteria, viruses, or parasites, as well as prions (the agents of mad cow disease), and toxins such ...

. He was buried beside Hudson.

Claim by Helen Loraine Kramer to be Loraine Allison

In 1940, a woman named Helen Loraine Kramer claimed that she was Loraine Allison and that, at the last minute, her parents gave her up to a man calling himself Hyde (whose identity she said to be that of the shipbuilder

Thomas Andrews Thomas Andrews Jr. (7 February 1873 – 15 April 1912) was a British businessman and shipbuilder, who was managing director and head of the drafting department of the shipbuilding company Harland and Wolff in Belfast, Ireland. He was the naval ...

), who raised her on a farm in the

American Midwest The Midwestern United States (also referred to as the Midwest, the Heartland or the American Midwest) is one of the four List of regions of the United States, census regions defined by the United States Census Bureau. It occupies the northern c ...

. Her claim, however, was not accepted by the Allisons. Eventually, she moved away, dying in 1992, and they never heard from her again. In December 2013, the Loraine Allison Identification Project announced results of mitochondrial DNA testing performed on a sample donated by a female-line descendant of Kramer and descendants of the Allisons. The test was performed by DNA Diagnostics Center, a facility accredited by the American Society of Crime Laboratory Directors. The results were negative, demonstrating that no genetic relationship existed between Kramer and the Allisons.
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The Allisons in film

A 1912 German silent film about the disaster, '' In Nacht und Eis'' (''In Night and Ice''), includes the Allison family story, but not by name. The Allisons were major characters in the 1996 miniseries ''

Titanic RMS ''Titanic'' was a British ocean liner that sank in the early hours of 15 April 1912 as a result of striking an iceberg on her maiden voyage from Southampton, England, to New York City, United States. Of the estimated 2,224 passengers a ...

''. The subplot regarding them was highly fictionalized and filled with historical inaccuracies: for example, it added the story of the long-standing myth that Alice (portrayed by Felicity Waterman) was a child murderess who stole Trevor in a fit of panic, thus forcing the rest of the family to remain on the ship looking for him until it was too late. Their other servants (Sarah, Mildred and George) were not featured in it; the only one shown travelling with them was Alice. The Allisons are also featured in the 2012 miniseries ''

''.

Portrayals

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Allison family Canadian families People from Montreal People from the United Counties of Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry Deaths on the RMS Titanic 20th-century Canadian people