Martha Waites
Mount Pleasant Cemetery, Toronto
When the giant Cunard liner Lusitania was sunk by a German submarine off the coast of Ireland on May 7, 1915, out of a passenger and crew manifest consisting of 1959 individuals, only 764 survived. In total, 1195 men, women, and children died in the wartime tragedy. Among the dead was 39-year-old Martha Waites of 53½ Olive Avenue, one of 82 passengers from Toronto who perished in the cold waters of the Atlantic Ocean. Her fellow passenger A. R. Clarke survived the sinking only to die a few weeks later from complications arising from pneumonia that he contracted while in the cold water. While Clarke’s body was returned to Toronto for burial in Mount Pleasant Cemetery (Plot 1, Lot 3) as was George Copping, the president of the Reliance Knitting Company, Martha Waites’ body was never found. Her sad fate is recorded on the Waites family memorial column.
Mike FileyMount Pleasant Cemetery: An Illustrated Guide
Second Edition Revised and Expanded