Evelyn Marsden

As a youth, she learned to row a boat against the tides and currents of the Murray River while visiting a farm at Murray Bridge, South Australia. Evelyn worked as a Probationer Nurse at the Royal Adelaide Hospital (then known as the Adelaide Hospital) between 15 January and 11 November 1907. Her salary was twelve pounds per annum and she was given apartment rations, fuel, light, and a uniform. From 8 May 1907 to 5 June 1907, Evelyn went on sick leave with full pay for about a month due to contracting gangrene of the finger whilst on duty. After the Titanic disaster she returned to that farm to thank the family for teaching her to row and handle a boat properly.^[2]

Following the Titanic tragedy she married Dr William Abel James, who had also worked for White Star Line. He studied as a medical student whilst living in two rooms at 22 Glenroy Street, Roath, Glamorgan, Wales, according to the 1901 census. On her return to Australia she was heralded as a heroine, calling first at the Semaphore, South Australia, anchorage on 2 November 1912, on board the White Star steamer Irishman, on which her husband also served as ship's doctor, and so was subsequently bound to continue on to its final destination of Sydney, arriving 14 November, before disembarking the next day following a day's quarantine.^[6] Her husband took up residence as a doctor in South Australia and they moved into a new apartment in Ruthven Mansions on Pulteney Street. Later they moved to Wallaroo, South Australia, living and working there for 15 months before finally moving to Bondi, Sydney, where her husband continued work as a doctor. Evelyn died on 30 August 1938, with her husband dying soon after and they were both buried at Waverley Cemetery, Sydney. They had no children.^[2]

Their grave was unmarked until 5 October 2000, when a headstone was finally erected on their gravesite.^[2]

Australian journalist Lisa Wilkinson published her story of Marsden, The Titanic Story of Evelyn, in 2026.^[7]