Eva Hart

Eva Miriam Hart MBE (31 January 1905 – 14 February 1996) was a survivor of the sinking of the RMS Titanic on 15 April 1912.

Biography

Early life

Hart was born on 31 January 1905 in Ilford, London, England to Benjamin Hart and Esther Bloomfield. She was their only child. Her mother had been previously married and had several children from her first marriage who died young. Eva was educated at St. Mary's Convent (Later St. Mary's Hare Park) in Gidea Park, Essex. In early 1912, Benjamin decided to take his family and emigrate to Winnipeg, Manitoba, where he planned to open a drugstore.

Aboard Titanic

Hart was seven years old when she and her parents boarded the Titanic as second-class passengers on 10 April 1912 at Southampton, England. They had originally been booked on a ship called the Philadelphia but the coal strike at Southampton that spring kept it from sailing and many of her passengers were transferred to the Titanic. Almost instantly, her mother felt uneasy about the Titanic and feared that some catastrophe would happen. To call a ship unsinkable was, in her mind, flying in the face of God. With such fear, she slept only during the day and stayed awake in their cabin at night fully dressed.