Elisabeth Walton Allen was a 29-year-old, American, First Class passenger who survived the sinking of the RMS Titanic.
Elisabeth Allen was born on Sunday 1st of October in 1882, in St. Louis, Missouri. She was the daughter of George Allen, a judge from St. Louis, and Lydia McMillan. Her paternal grandfather, Thomas Allen (1813-1882) was a railroad builder and later a member of the United States House of Representatives from Missouri's 2nd District.
She became engaged to a British doctor, Dr James Beaver Mennell. She presumably met him while spending the winter in the UK with her aunt and cousin.
Miss Elisabeth Walton Allen was returning home to St. Louis with her aunt Elisabeth Walton McMillan, her cousin Georgette Alexandra Madill, and her aunt's maid, Emilie Kreuchen. They boarded Titanic in First Class, at Southampton and her destination was Missouri, USA. She and her cousin Georgette Madill shared cabin B-5. The reason for the trip on the Titanic was to collect her belongings from her home in St. Louis to move to England with her future husband, James Beaver Mennell.
At the night of April 14, she was awake, talking to her cousin in their cabin. They must have not felt the iceberg collision. When her aunts maid, Emilie Kreuchen came to the cabin to inform her that the “baggage room is full of water” she told the maid not to worry, because Elisabeth knew that the ships watertight compartments would be shut. After that, she returned to her own cabin. A while later, Emilie Kreuchen came back to B-5, to inform Elisabeth that her own E deck cabin was flooding. At this point Elisabeth became more concerned. Then, the order was given to go on to the Boat Deck. Elisabeth and all of her own travelling companions boarded the port side lifeboat 2, which was launched very late. In charge of lifeboat 2 was Titanic’s Forth Officer, Joseph Boxall. Lifeboat 2 was the first lifeboat to reach the rescue ship Carpathia, and Elisabeth was the first Titanic survivor to board Carpathia.
After the Titanic sank, Elisabeth Walton Allen filed a claim for $2,427.80 against White Star Line for the loss of her personal property in the disaster. Meanwhile, Elisabeth eventually returned to Britain onboard the White Star Line ship, RMS Baltic. In July 1912. in a joint wedding with her sister, Clare Allen, Elisabeth married Dr James Beaver Mennell. She and James lived in Tunbridge Wells, Kent, UK, and they had three sons, James John and Peter.
On 15th December 1967, Elisabeth Walton Allen died at the age of 85 in Tunbridge Wells and was cremated at the Kent & Sussex Crematorium. The whereabouts of her ashes are currently unknown.