Violet was born in October 1887 in Argentina and was the first of nine children to Irish immigrants.  When she was 16 her father died and the family moved to England where she attended a convent school while her mother worked as a Stewardess.  When she was 21 her mother died and she followed in her footsteps and applied to be a stewardess.  It is said that she had to dress down to make herself look less attractive in order to be hired.

 

Lady Duff Gordon (another Titanic survivor) once described Violet as a “Merry Irish stewardess with her soft Irish brogue and tales of timid ladies she had attended during hundreds of Atlantic crossings.”

 

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Link to the Titanic

 

On April 10, 1912 she boarded the Titanic at the age of 24 (4 days before it sank).  Violet was one of 17 stewardesses on board that voyage.  They were not allowed to wait on tables, but were confined to the cabin areas of the ship.  They were expected to do all the cleaning for the cabins, bring any room service meals requested, arrange flowers, put away clothes, do general errands, and look after those with seasickness

 

In the beginning of that fateful night, people didn’t believe the ship would actually go down and were very reluctant to enter the lifeboats.  Violet, along with a few other stewardesses, were ordered by officers to get into lifeboats to show passengers they were safe and to inspire other women to get on board.  She was loaded onto Lifeboat #16 and was handed a baby as they lowered the boat.  She watched over the baby all night until the baby’s mother found them on board of the Carpathia shortly after they were rescued.  She never found out who the baby, or the mother, was.

 

Violet became widely known as the possibly the only person to survive disasters to all three sister ships.  In 1911 the first of the 3 sisters, the Olympic, suffered major damage in a collision with the HMS Hawke.  In 1912 the Titanic struck an iceburg, and in 1916 she was serving as a nurse on the Britannic when it struck a mine and also sunk.  Surprisingly, in an interview she gave in 1970 with John Graham she mentions that she doesn’t know how to swim!

 

During that interview she told an amusing story… She was always fastidious about brushing her teeth.  After the Titanic sinking she was rescued and brought on board of the Carpathian.  She searched desperately for a toothbrush but was unable to find one.  For years her brother teased her about that being one of the things she stressed about that day.  And 4 years later when the Britannic was sinking, one of the things she grabbed as she rushed out to the lifeboats was a toothbrush.   

 

In her later years she wrote a book “Titanic Survivor: The Memoirs of Violet Jessop Stewardess”.  In the book she tells of a “In Memory of Titanic” pin and necklace that the White Star Line gave to the crew members that survived.  Among her many mementos of her 42+ years at sea, she considered these items as one of her most prized possessions. 

 

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Description of Outfit​

 

Violet Jessop is being portrayed by Isabella.  Her outfit is inspired by her most famous picture when he was serving as a nurse on the Britannic soon after going back to sea after the tragedy of the Titanic. 

 

She is wearing;

• White cotton split drawers with ribbon and lace trim at the bottom of each leg

• Leather button up Victorian boots

• White cotton chemist with drawstring ribbon at neck and lace around the bottom hem

• 1912 style white cotton twill corset trimmed with lace at top and bound in green cotton

• White cotton combination slip with 3 lace insertion bands in the top and 2 bands towards the bottom of the skirt

• Medium weight grey cotton shirt waist with slightly puffed upper sleeves

• Heavy cotton ankle length grey skirt – to allow for easy walking

• Detachable stiffened white cotton collar pined onto shirt collar with small brass pins

• White cotton sleeve covers pinned up to the back of the shirt sleeve with attached buttoned stiffened wrist cuffs.  These sleeve covers helped protect the shirt sleeves and were easy to change out when they got dirty

• White cotton apron buttons on the waistband of the full pleated skirt and bib pinned to tabs on the shoulder of the skirt

•  All topped off with a stiffly starched white nurses cap pinned onto her hair