Claude Roulet
Member
Hello Michael,I must say that the Spencer collection at the New York Public Library is wonderful. Volumes and volumes of nineteenth century works (which W. A. Spencer was especially interested in) line the shelves. The library also has several pictures, and a portrait of William Augustus Spencer in their special archives department. Unfortunately, there are no photos of Marie Spencer known to exist at the library.
I am a descendent of Marie Eugénie. She was my great great grand father's cousin although she was closer in age to my great grand father. All the information about her background is correct. Just to add that she was born from an unknown father. Louis Nicolas Demougeot adopted her when he married her mum when she was 9 years old. He was indeed a boilermaker. Her mother died 5 months later. We believe she moved to Paris with her adopted father who remarried a few years later and had more children. We have no idea what happened to her after this until she married William A at the age of 20 in London. We have no idea how they came about to meet. There is some belief that she was an opera singer and had sang with Caruso but that's not possible as he came about 10 years after she married. No occupation is stated on their marriage certificate. We don't know if she worked for the family and he fell madly in love with her. No-one attended the wedding in the UK on a Christmas Eve.Hello Michael,
Is it possible to see the portrait of William Augustus Spencer anywhere? The discovery of previously unknown photos of Titanic victims and survivors is always a kind of sensation for the international Titanic community.
Thank you for your message. From what I've read about the Spencer's, I assume Mr Spencer was a loving husband who took great care of his sick wife. In another thread it was speculated that Mrs Spencer was addicted to morphine and was suffering from depression. This apparently caused the Spencer's not to participate much in social life aboard Titanic, which is why they were not mentioned in any survivors account (with the exception of Steward Etche's testimony before the American inquiry).I am a descendent of Marie Eugénie. She was my great great grand father's cousin although she was closer in age to my great grand father. All the information about her background is correct. Just to add that she was born from an unknown father. Louis Nicolas Demougeot adopted her when he married her mum when she was 9 years old. He was indeed a boilermaker. Her mother died 5 months later. We believe she moved to Paris with her adopted father who remarried a few years later and had more children. We have no idea what happened to her after this until she married William A at the age of 20 in London. We have no idea how they came about to meet. There is some belief that she was an opera singer and had sang with Caruso but that's not possible as he came about 10 years after she married. No occupation is stated on their marriage certificate. We don't know if she worked for the family and he fell madly in love with her. No-one attended the wedding in the UK on a Christmas Eve.
What I heard from my grandmother (named Eugénie after her) was that she indeed was mentally unwell after coming back to France and insisted on everything around her being white, including her Rolls Royce. They never had any children.
She was due to leave my great grand father in her will but they had a massive argument and she changed her mind. We don't know what the argument was about.
Sadly we don't have any pictures of her either. It is very strange that there doesn't seem to be any of them together. There is a lot of mystery surrounding them.
While I do not know the circumstances under which Mrs Spencer was taking morphine (assuming that was true, of course) a lot of opiate addiction in those days was the result of the doctors' continued prescription of the medications for a variety of ailments rather than any fault of the patient. Some doctors did use small doses of morphine to treat depressive states, which we now know is not appropriate. But in those days there were very few alternatives and the apparent "relaxed" state that it produced resulted in continued "treatment". This was often the case with wealthy families where it was more socially awkward to have patients with symptoms of mental health problems.In another thread it was speculated that Mrs Spencer was addicted to morphine and was suffering from depression
Etches said that after he attended to Guggenheim & Giglio, he walked down the corridor and (rather infamously) banged on the door of B-78 without getting the occupants to open the door. He then walked over to the next cabin B-76 where the door was open and he saw a "lady and gentleman" standing with their life vests in their hands. That could only have been the Spencers, who were in B-76 according to the Cave List.This apparently caused the Spencer's not to participate much in social life aboard Titanic, which is why they were not mentioned in any survivors account (with the exception of Steward Etche's testimony before the American inquiry)
Officially, either B76 or B78 was paid for and occupied by the Spencer couple, not both. The maid was in B80.At the same time, b76 was more luxurious with a bathroom and bathtub and it's hard to believe they wouldn't have wanted such room, especially considering they paid substantially more than expected for a room and maid cabin.
I think a bit too much is made of her supposed "addiction" to morphine. It is possible that her doctor was prescribing it for low mood (not appropriate from today's evidence based medicine, of course) but if so, it would have been a small dose. I am a retired doctor and so know that to a regular user to get "groggy" from morphine, it would have to be quite a large dose, which I very much doubt Mrs Spencer was taking.If she was indeed deep in morphine, she could have been asleep until this time and then speaking groggily. If she suffered from anxiety, it might explain not opening the door. Mr Spencer might have been elsewhere at the time.
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