Encyclopedia Titanica

Mabel Helen Fortune

Mabel Helen Fortune
Mabel Helen Fortune

Miss Mabel Helen Fortune, 23, was born 3 November 1888, in Winnipeg, Manitoba, the daughter of Mark and Mary Fortune.

Mabel was described as blithe, unselfconscious and highly strung, she was attractive but spoiled. Much to her parents chagrin, she had fallen in love with a jazz musician from Minnesota, Harrison Driscoll. By inviting her to come to Europe with the family, Mark and Mary Fortune had hoped to stifle the romance by taking Mabel away for several months.

She boarded the Titanic at Southampton as a first class passenger. She travelled with her parents, her two sisters, Alice Elizabeth and Ethel Flora, and her brother, Charles Alexander Fortune. They occupied cabins C-23-25-27.

Her father and brother were lost in the sinking but the women were rescued, probably in lifeboat 10.

After the disaster she married Driscoll in 1913 and they had a son, Robert. But the marriage didn't last long. Shortly afterwards, Mabel left her husband to live with another woman she had met in Ottawa, Charlotte Armstrong. She put her son in boarding school, and for the rest of her life lived with Armstrong in Victoria, British Columbia.

Mabel Fortune
Mabel Fortune photographed in 1931
Courtesy: Alan Hustak, Canada

Mabel Driscoll (née Fortune), died in Victoria, British Columbia on February 19, 1968 at the age of 79.

References and Sources

Alan Hustak (1999) Titanic: The Canadian Story Vehicule Press, ISBN-1-55065-113-7
Unidentified Newspaper (Victoria, B.C.) February 21, 1968, Obituary
Province of British Columbia Registration of Death

Newspaper Articles

The Globe (16 April 1912) Many Canadians On Fated Steamer
Manitoba Free Press (20 April 1912) Fortune Family Parted In Boat In Good Cheer
Women Had No Idea of Serious Condition of the Titanic
New York Times (20 April 1912) Women Revealed As Heroines By Wreck (2)
Washington Times (22 April 1912) Dressed In Skirts Man Left Titanic
Unidentified Newspaper (21 February 1968) Driscoll

Documents and Certificates

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Titanic Passenger Summary

Name: Miss Mabel Helen Fortune
Age: 23 years 5 months and 12 days (Female)
Nationality: Canadian
Last Residence: in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
Embarked: Southampton on Wednesday 10th April 1912
Ticket No. 19950, £263
Cabin No. C23/25/27
Rescued (boat 10)  
Disembarked Carpathia: New York City on Thursday 18th April 1912
Died: Monday 19th February 1968 aged 79 years
Cause of Death:
Buried: Royal Oak Burial Park, Victoria, British Colombia, Canada

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