Elizabeth Fisher ²⁸

  General Notes:

She was one of twin girls, and the fourth child of five, who grew up with the name Ellen but was nicknamed Nellie. Only when she went to register for old age pension (and applying for her birth certificate) did she learn that the twin who died at birth was actually Ellen and she was Elizabeth. Her family was very poor. Her mother was an alcoholic, and her father a sickly man who died when she was eight years old. Her mother died two years later, so she and her siblings were sent to various relatives. With her sisters, Mary and Annie, she ended up with their aunt and uncle, Ellen and Richard Groves, who had no children of their own. Her first job was collecting eggs and gardening, but at the age of 15, she was hired as a chamber maid for Sir Harold Bowden at his estate called Beaston Fields. It was there that she met Jesse Would, who worked at a nearby farm and delivered milk to the estate. She also recalled as an elderly Grandmother that she was in service for the Raleigh family (of Raleigh Bicycles), and enjoyed playing their piano for the staff when the family was out. She was horrified on one occasion when they returned unexpectedly, and there everyone was, having a lovely time in the parlour. At the age of twenty, Jesse sent for her to join him in Canada, and she went, despite a warning from her friend that "It was a terrible place". In England, a landowner was a man of wealth and prestige, and she was going to Canada to marry a landowner. In September of 1915, she set sail from Liverpool to start her new life. Her ship, the Hesperian, was torpedoed by the Germans in the North Sea. Thirty two of over 800 on board perished, but Nellie was rescued and taken back to Queenstown, Ireland (now called Cobb), and then on to Liverpool, where she was able to get passage to Canada on another ship. She had lost all her belongings except the clothes she was wearing and a money belt around her waist. She wrote this letter about the event;

Hotel European, Queenstown, Ireland
Telephone No. 39
Sept 6th , 1915
My Dear Sister,
I am staying at this Hotel with several other survivors suffering from shock.
I wired to Southwell the morning I arrived here. Cabled to Jesse I was coming on the next ship to Canada.
You must excuse this writing my hand is all of a tremble. I only just managed to get saved by a rope and broken ladder . We were lowered into the boats below. All boxes have gone to the bottom. But the company is finding us a change of clothes and all we need in that line. I hadn't got a hat and all my hair was down of course. We are getting well seen to here. I hurt one of my fingers by getting off the sinking vessel but was glad to escape with that. I went down this rope like a mad man, I felt as though I had the strength of a lion. What with the shouting of men and the crying of women and children it was something awful. I nearly fainted when lowered into the life boat. No luggage saved at all. Children were falling into the water and were drowned. We were all ordered to put on our life belts. We were picked up by a destroyer and made very comfortable provided with food and drink. Some women were in bed, when we were all alarmed at the awful thud of the torpedo, had to get of the vessel in night attire.
Well goodbye for now until I land in Canada. Your loving sister - Nelle X X X
Do not write to me but wire if you wish to. We are leaving here any minute.


She arrived safely in Montreal and then made her own way across the expanse of Ontario and miles of flat prairie to Regina, and even then she had to get herself to Herbert Would's farm where Jesse waited for her. They hadn't seen each other for four years, but were married by November 16, 1915. Canada was not what she expected and her husband had a meagre existence in Leinan, but they settled in and life was endless work and having babies. They ended up leaving Saskatchewan in the "Dirty 30's" and moved to Kelowna. Elizabeth did not fare well when Jesse died in 1969, so unable to cope on her own and after unsuccessful attempts at living in various senior's residences, she was moved to Sun Valley Rest Home in 1976. As her health began to fail, she was moved to Cottonwoods Extended Care Hospital, where she remained until her passing.

Elizabeth married Jesse Would, son of John Would Jr. and Maria Norton Brader, on 16 Nov 1915 in Swift Current, Sask., Canada.²⁶ (Jesse Would was born on 23 May 1892 in Primrose Hill, Rufford, Nottingham, England,²⁷ died on 7 Apr 1969 in Kelowna, B.C., Canada and was buried in Kelowna cemetary.). The cause of his death was stroke.