Results: Violet Jessop, "Miss Unsinkable" (Part 1 of 3)

Violet Jessop was born in 1887 to Irish immigrants William and Katherine Jessop, who had moved to Argentina to be sheep farmers. Violet was the first of 9 children, 6 of whom survived. Do you know any families with 6 or more children?

Violet's early years on the sheep farm were spent caring for her remaining siblings. She contracted tuberculosis, and her doctor predicted she had only months to live, but she survived. Did you have an illness or injury before 21 that was almost fatal?

When Violet was 15 years old, her father died at 41 following complications from cancer surgery. Her mother decided they should emigrate to London. Have you moved away from the country you were born in?

Violet attended a convent school and looked after her siblings while her mother supported the family by working as a ship's stewardess. When her mother became ill, Violet applied for a job as a stewardess. Only 21, she wore dowdy clothes and no make-up to look less attractive and older since most stewardesses were middle-aged; and having good looks was considered to be a distraction for the male crew . Violet's having learned Spanish in Buenos Aires, and French at the convent school was advantageous, and she was hired to be a stewardess on the Royal Mail Line's ship, Orinoco. Did you ever try to look older or younger to get a job?