R.M.S. Titanic Lifeboat No 6

Tyrell and Julia were booked to travel on the Titanic with their two sons to introduce them to their American grandfather. However, the children were too ill to travel, yet Julia persisted in going without them. This fatal and tragic decision not only led to the unnecessary loss of her husband, but it was also to haunt her for the next fifty years. Why was she so determined to go?

In a letter written to her sons as her death approached, she claimed the purpose of the visit was "to gain her wealthy father’s support for his son-in-law’s ambition to stand as a Member of Parliament." Yet Tyrell had shown no enthusiasm for making the journey, as Julia had already made the trip alone the previous year quite safely.

From the Carpathia, Julia cabled her father, Henry Siegel, to have clothes from his department stores ready for the Titanic’s survivors. In 1992 and 2002, her son and grandson learnt from chance encounters with New Yorkers of Julia’s father’s shocking fall from grace—the grandfather who owned a famous department store with a "soda fountain meeting place".

Now the true reason for her mission can be revealed.