Titanic Relief Fund Case Study: The Transformation of Susan May Woodford
When the Titanic Relief Fund was launched in 1912, it was to help families shattered by a tragedy few could comprehend. Almost half of the 1,500 victims were crew: 687 of the ship’s 900 workers died, leaving hundreds of widows and children without their breadwinner – most in the seafaring city of Southampton, from where the ship had drawn most of the crew before she embarked on her infamous maiden voyage in April 1912.
Life in Southampton Before the Titanic Relief Fund
Bereaved families had already endured hardship following the 1912 coal strike, which severely curtailed steamship employment because ships was tied up in port – unable to go anywhere without any coal. The chance for employment on the largest ship in the world was seen in Southampton as winning a golden ticket.
But when the ship then hit an iceberg and sank on the night of 14-15 April 1912, all crew entitlement to wages immediately stopped – in accordance with Merchant Service rules – and their devastated bereaved families were left facing extreme poverty.
The Creation of the Titanic Relief Fund
There was a glimmer of hope as multiple Titanic charity appeals were combined to form the Titanic Relief Fund (TRF), founded by the Lord Mayor of London in 1912. Donations flooded in to raise £414,000 – that’s an astonishing £50m in today’s terms using the retail price index. 1310 widows, children, dependant elderly parents and dependant siblings were placed on the scheme. It was later combined with the charity set up to support the Empress of Ireland sinking of 1914 and the Lusitania torpedo disaster of 1915, and ran until being wound up in 1959.
Payments were stratified by the deceased’s salary: officers’ widows received the highest allowances, stokers’ widows the lowest.
A Titanic Relief Fund Success Story: Susan May Woodford
One of the recipients was Susan May Woodford, daughter of Frederick Woodford, a Titanic stoker from Southampton. Before the disaster, tragedy had already touched the family: two of the Woodford infants had died in early childhood. When Frederick went down with the ship in April 1912, he left behind his widow and two surviving daughters, Susan and three-year-old Annie.
Grief was quickly compounded by illness. Annie succumbed to diphtheria not long after the disaster, and Frederick’s widow died soon afterwards from tuberculosis. So within two years of Titanic’s sinking, poor eight-year-old Susan was the only member of her family of six still alive.
Recognising the exceptional hardship of her case, the Titanic Relief Fund doubled Susan’s weekly allowance. She was taken in by her maternal aunt in Totton, near Southampton, and the TRF extended its support far beyond the usual age limits. While most girls’ assistance stopped at 18, Susan’s continued until she was in her mid-twenties.
The TRF records at Southampton Archives show how her guardians used the allowance not merely to sustain her, but to improve her prospects. Part of the money was spent on piano lessons, and Susan’s aptitude soon became clear. She went on to qualify as a Licentiate of the Royal College of Music, later establishing herself as a professional piano teacher.
Legacy of the Titanic Relief Fund
Susan’s story stands out as one of hope amid widespread loss. Her transformation from orphaned child to professional musician shows how targeted, consistent support could open doors that poverty and stigma would otherwise have kept firmly shut. Yet for every Susan Woodford, there were dozens more whose lives never recovered from the blow of the disaster, their futures constrained by circumstance, charity policy, or simple misfortune. The Titanic Relief Fund could change lives, but it could not mend them all.
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If your ancestors worked at sea or you suspect a connection to Titanic’s crew, get in touch. I specialise in tracing maritime and Titanic families, reconstructing their lives through crew records, census data, and the Titanic Relief Fund.