Lucile Carter

Lucile Stewart Carter Brooke (née Polk; October 8, 1875 – October 26, 1934) was an American socialite and the wife of William Ernest Carter, an extremely wealthy American who inherited a fortune from his father. The couple and their two children survived the RMS Titanic disaster after the ship struck an iceberg and sank on April 15, 1912. She was said to be one of the heroines of the tragedy as she, with some of the other socially elite women, assisted in the rowing of one of the Titanic lifeboats. Early life Lucile Stewart Polk was born in 1875 in Baltimore, Maryland. Her father was William Stewart Polk (1828–1917) and her mother was Louisa Ellen (née Anderson). Carter’s father was a partner in the very successful insurance brokerage firm Hopper Polk and Purnell of Baltimore and was fairly wealthy. Many of the newspaper reports noted that he was a descendant of President James K. Polk. Before her marriage, Carter was mentioned often in the social pages of the Baltimore newspapers. The picture on the left is a sketch of her in the newspaper Baltimore American in 1892 when she was aged 17. Marriage On January 29, 1896, she married William Ernest Carter. He was the son of William Thornton Carter (1827–1893) who had made a vast fortune in the coal industry and was said to be "one of the most extensive and successful coal operators in America". Carter's husband inherited much of this fortune and the couple led a very privileged lifestyle. They had two children, Lucile Polk Carter born in 1897 and William Thornton Carter II born in 1900, who were also passengers on the Titanic and survived. After their marriage, the couple was frequently mentioned in the social pages. Lucile was often noted for her striking clothes. The following is an extract from one of the newspapers.