October 8th, 1875 - October 26th, 1934
She is a Libra
Lucile Stewart Carter Brooke (née Polk) was an American socialite and a survivor of the sinking of the RMS Titanic. She was said to be one of the heroines of the tragedy as she, with some of the other socially elite women, assisted in the rowing of one of the Titanic's lifeboats. She was born in Baltimore, Maryland as the daughter of William Stewart Polk (1827 - 1917) and Louisa Ellen Anderson (1844 - 1933) who were married in Montgomery, Tennessee on June 22nd, 1869. One of her paternal ancestors was the 11th US president, James Knox Polk (1795 - 1849). Lucile had two brothers: Anderson (March 17th, 1870 - 1949) and David Peale (May 9th, 1880 - 1959).
Her Washington, D.C, born father had come to Baltimore and his family as an adolescent and began his career as a clerk with a shipping company until entering naval service in 1853 as a paymaster before receiving an appointment to the Virginia Military Institute. With the outbreak of the Civil War he was commissioned a Captain of Engineers for the Confederate Army served in that capacity for the duration, later returning to Baltimore where he became involved with the insurance business, entering the underwriting field in 1866 as a member of the firm of John S. Selby & Co., later becoming sole partner of the agency. He later married Lou Ellen Anderson, a native of Kentucky, in 1869.
Lucile's father was a partner in the very successful insurance brokerage firm Hopper Polk and Purnell of Baltimore and was fairly wealthy. Coming from wealth and pedigree, Lucile was universally described as one of the most beautiful young women in Baltimore social circles. Her engagement to Philadelphia-born mining heir William Ernest Carter was announced in 1895. They married at Franklin Street Presbyterian Church in Baltimore on January 29th, 1896. Lucile and William had 2 children: Lucile Polk (1898 - 1962) and William Thornton (1900 - 1985).
The family travelled extensively in Europe, especially in England where they remained for protracted periods. Passenger lists furnish proof of their voyages in 1902, 1904 - 1906, 1907, 1908 - 1910. On February 20th, 1906, at the first Royal levee of the season, Whitelaw Reid, United States Ambassador to the United Kingdom, presented William Ernest Carter to King Edward VII. Lucile after appears in gossip pages, noted her athletic prowess (she was reportedly the first woman to play polo riding astride) and her beauty. Her glamorous and often audacious fashions were also frequently noted, one example coming from the Times Dispatch on May 16th, 1911.
In May of 1911, The Carter Family sailed aboard the RMS Lusitania for England once again. They participated in the Coronation ceremony of Their Majesty King George V and Queen Mary and the London season. In winter, William rented Rotherby Manor in Melton-Mowbray district, Leicestership to attend the hunting season.
Onboard The Titanic:
In March of 1912, the family decided to return to America and made reservations on the RMS Olympic, departing from Southampton on April 3rd. At the last minute, they changed their plans and booked cabins on Titanic. The family boarded the Titanic at Southampton as first class passengers, they occupied B-96 and 98. Also traveling was Lucile's maid, Augusta Serreplaá, William's manservant Alexander Cairns, and traveling in second class, William's chauffeur Augustus Aldworth. Two family pets were also making the crossing, an Airedale terrier and Lucile's Pekinese spaniel, probably named Me Too.
Resting in the forward hold of the Titanic and resting on the cargo manifest, was William's 25th horsepower Renault automobile. It is listed as a case so maybe the car was not fully assembled. William was a car enthusiast and in 1907, he possessed a 45 horsepower Mercedes limousine and a large Mercedes touring car. He would later claim $5,00 for the car and $100 and $200 for the family pets who were also lost.
April 14th-15th, 1912:
On the night of April 14th, the Carters joined an elusive dinner party held in honour of Captain Smith in the á la carte restaurant. The host was George Widener and the party was attended by many notable first class passengers. Later, after the ladies had retired and Smith had departed for the bridge, the men chatted and played cards in the smoking room. Lucile was awakened by William, advising her to get dressed and head up top; she claimed she never saw William again after that and she eventually left in lifeboat 4 with their children. A slightly different sequence of events was given in a tale related through her mother.
Lucile gave details of what happened when she and her two children boarded Lifeboat 4. Her statement was as follows:
"When I went over the side with my children and got in the boat there were no seamen in it. Then came a few men, but there were oars with no one to use them. The boat had been filled with passengers, and there was nothing else for me to do but to take an oar. We could see now that the time of the ship had come. She was sinking, and we were warned by cries from the men above to pull away from the ship quickly. Mrs. Thayer, wife of the vice-president of the Pennsylvania Railroad, was in my boat, and she, too, took an oar. It was cold and we had no time to clothe ourselves with warm overcoats. The rowing warmed me. We started to pull away from the ship. We could see the dim outlines of the decks above, but we could not recognize anybody."
William survived the sinking by escaping in Collapsable C with J. Bruce Ismay. Augusta Serrepaá survived in lifeboat 4. Alexander Cairns and Augustus Aldworth died in the sinking. Pulling up alongside the Carpathia, Lucile was shocked to see William waiting for her, hanging over the railing. From the moment their relationship took a downward spiral.
After The Sinking:
Not long after the disaster on June 5th, 1912, William was seriously injured at a polo game in Bryn Mawr when his horse threw him off me landed on top of him, with William being knocked unconscious and receiving a concussion and internal injuries. In the following months and years, he all-but disappeared from public life. With there being some suggestion that the Carters were already in an unhappy and ill-matched marriage, in January of 1914, Lucile filed for divorce, the reasons for which were initially impounded.
By early the next year, details emerged that Lucile applied for proceedings on the grounds that William had deserted her and their children aboard Titanic and that he had since shown signs of unpredictable behavior and physical and mental abusiveness. In addition, Lucile said her husband had subjected her to cruel treatment and showed the greatest ingenuity in devising ways and means to abuse her. One of which apparently includes horsewhipping. With the final divorce decree granted on May 31st, 1914, Lucile travelled to Paris where she met with her daughter, both intending to remain there for an extended period.
At a Philadelphia dinner party given by Mr. & Mrs. Edward Brooke, Lucile met the host's brother, George Brooke Jr., a bachelor in his mid-40s. It was not long before they both had to leave as soon war was declared and mobilizations began to take place. They moved to the safety of London. They were met there by George C. Brooke. In a shock to many that knew her, it was announced that on August 16th, 1914, Lucile had married Brooke in a ceremony said to have been hastened by the War. Brooke's brother and family and Lucile's daughter were in attendance. The whole group sailed almost immediately back to the United States on board the Olympic.
George Clymer Brooke (born July 5th, 1867) hailed from Birdsboro, Pennsylvania and was the heir to an iron and steel fortune. He was prominent in Philadelphia where he was a member of many clubs and a cotillion leader. He was later vice president of E & G Brooke Iron Co., one of the oldest in the country, founded by his family in 1788. The newlywed couple, with Miss Carter in tow, returned to Philadelphia before the end of the month. Lucile and Brooke's only daughter, Elizabeth Muhlenberg Brooke was born on April 25th, 1916. Lucile remained active in local society, and gossip columns report that she had several uncomfortable encounters with William over the years.
In August of 1916, she presented her daughter Lucile to society with a lavished and much publicized dinner dance their home in Newport, Rhode Island, and they were mentioned for hosting many guests at their various homes over the following years. She remained close with Eleanor Widener. In July of 1934, Lucile and Brooke introduced their daughter Betty to society with dance at their Newport villa.
Death:
Lucile didn't live to see her youngest daughter flourish as a few months later, she passed away in her country house "Almonbury" in Ithan, Pennsylvania due to a heart attack at the age of 59. She was buried in St Michael's Cemetery, Birdsboro, Pennsylvania. George C. Brooke never remarried and settled in Pennsylvania where he died on August 10th, 1959 at the age of 86. He was interred with Lucile.
Elizabeth, known as Betty and sometimes Boop, went on to become an attractive and well known socialite and art collector. She married numerous times and had four children from her different marriages. She died in Newport, Rhode Island as Betty Brooke Blake on August 8th, 2016 at the age of 100.
I don't even know what to say what's so ever about the abuse part. It's like i don't wanna call her a liar without any kind of evidence and I don't wanna shit on William without any sort of evidence and I can BAREKY find anything else about it. Yet on one hand, I have absolutely NO idea what she could possibly gain from lying about the abuse. I don't know, I'll like to know someone's thoughts on this. I honestly have absolutely no fucking clue what to even think.
That aside, she sounds like a awesome woman. Rest In Peace Lucile Carter.
The sources I used were Wikipedia and www.encyclopedia-titanica.org.