Edith Russell and Her Toy Pig
- Charlotte Zureick
- Dec 8, 2024
- 2 min read
An account of First Class survivor out of London in 1968
Picture of Edith Russell from Kensington and Chelsea News, London, England, June 21, 1968 via Newspapers.com
“A toy pig is one of the most treasured possessions of a South Kensington survivor of a sea disaster that shocked the world more than half a century ago. It was the pig mascot which, says 89-year-old Miss Edith Russell of the Embassy House Hotel in Queens Gate, saved her life when the ‘unsinkable’ Titanic struck an iceberg 56 years ago.
“Taking the black and white musical-box pig from a drawer Miss Russell explained to a Post reporter that in 1911-a year before the Titanic went down-her mother had given it to her as a present.
“‘She told me always to take it with me; she wasn’t really serious, but I promised I would,’ said Miss Russell.
“A year later, when she was a passenger on the Titanic, Miss Russell was clutching her pig mascot after the alarm had been given and passengers were taken to the boats.
“As she stood on the deck Miss Russell was told: ‘You’ll have to go over the side into the lifeboat.'
“Explained Miss Russell: ‘In those days women wore skirts right down to their ankles. I said, I’m no acrobat–I can hardly walk in this skirt, let alone get over the side.
“Then a seaman took Miss Russell’s pig mascot and threw it into a lifeboat. Miss Russell followed.
“‘I told my mother I’d always keep the pig and I went into that lifeboat after it. I found it and I spent all night sitting on the keel of the lifeboat playing my pig music box to stop the children crying. It broke that night, and it’s never played a tune since,’ said Miss Russell.
“When the Titanic struck the iceberg, she recalled, the women passengers were told that they would have to spend only that night in a lifeboat and that they could return to the Titanic the following morning.
“‘I suppose that was to stop panic. Anyway, I didn’t want to leave the Titanic. It was too comfortable and I wouldn’t have left but for the pig.’ she said.
“On the morning following the disaster Miss Russell’s lifeboat was sighted by a rescue ship and the survivors were taken on board.
“Miss Russell, who has just celebrated her 89th birthday, is writing her autobiography which will, naturally enough, include an account of her escape from the Titanic.”
Further reading:
Edith Russell's biography
Video of Edith Russell telling her Titanic story 1970 with her toy pig
Video of Edith Russell interview in 1957
Edith Russell’s 1934 account on Charles Pellegrino’s website
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