Mrs. Margaret Rice (Norton)

Margaret Rice was born in Athlone on the 6th of October 1872. She moved to Canada at an early age with her family. When Margaret was 19 she married William Rice. He was a shipping clerk with Grand Trunk Railway in Montreal, Canada. They moved to Ireland and married there. However when their firstborn died, he tragically choked on a child's dummy, they decided to move back to Canada and Montreal.

They settled in Montreal for a while. Two of their children were born there - George (30th November 1909) and Frederick Thomas (19th January 1908). In 1909 they moved again . This time they moved to Spokane Washington. While in Spokane William worked for Great Northern Railway as a machinist.

The Rice Family. Move your mouse over each person to identify them. Kindly provided by Carmel Connolly.

Their son Eugene was born in Washington on the 13th October 1909. Just when it seemed like Margaret was getting her life back together after the death of her son her life took another major turn. Her husband William was killed in a rail accident at his place of work. Margaret got an insurance settlement of 300 pounds from the incident.

She used this money to begin a new life in back in Ireland. She moved back to Athlone with her sons in 1910. While in Athlone they rented rooms from Bernard Finnerty. These were located at No. 9, Castle Street, on the Connaught side of Athlone. During her time in Athlone she signed the Census of 1911 . In 1912 Margaret Rice decided to move again and go back to Spokane in Washington. She booked her passage on Titanic in Athlone. Her ticket number was 382652 and cost 29 pounds.

She boarded Titanic at Queenstown with her five sons Eugene, George Hugh, Albert, Eric and Arthur. Frederick Thomas's name did not appear on the passenger list. Margaret was on her own on Titanic and was given no help after the collision. During the panic onboard after the iceberg was hit Margaret was seen by Bertha Mulvihill in the third class area. She was sitting down holding on to her son Eugene while the rest of the children were clutching at her skirt. The entire family died onboard the Titanic that night.

Her body was recovered by the Cable ship the Mackay and Bennett and was entered as recovery No.12. She was estimated to be around forty years of age. She was wearing her wedding ring and had a total of 14 pounds in her pockets and had 3 pounds in gold She was identified as being Catholic because of her rosary beads.

The most important item on her that was used to identify her was a box of pills. She had these prescribed to her on April the 9th 1912. The pills were purchased at Flemming's pharmacist in Church Street, Athlone.

Another item used for her identificationy was her shoes which said “Parson’s of Athlone” on them. She was fully identified on September the 25th 1912. She is buried at Mount Olivet Catholic Cemetery.

The ship the Mackay and Bennett also picked up a two year old child's body. The body was firstly, and maybe wrongly, identified as Gosta Leonard Palsson who was lost by his Mother Alma. Their whole family was also wiped out by the tragedy. Now the bodies of both Alma and the "unknown child" are buried together in Halifax. The "unknown child" could be Margaret's son Eugene. This is being looked into by Titanic researcher Alan Ruffman.

Eugene Daly | Margaret Daly | Delia Henry | Bertha Mulvihill | Margaret Rice