My second book about the RMS Titanic and her passengers and crew along with some movie talk. Same rules apply, no drama, trolls, and disrespecting the people on this ship
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October 13th, 1894 - March 1st, 1971
She is a Libra.
Kate Gilnagh was born in Rhyme, Cloonee, Co Longford, Ireland and hailed from a Roman Catholic family. She was the 2nd child of Hugh Gilnagh (April 24th, 1865), a farmer, and Johanna Duffy (born 1867) who had married on August 7th, 1892. She was the sister of Mary Johanna (September 7th, 1893), Ellen (January 8th, 1896), Bridget (October 16th, 1898), Thomas (June 20th, 1897), Elizabeth (February 27th, 1900), Margaret (May 8th, 1902), Johanna (March 29th, 1904), Hugh (January 10th, 1906), and Annie (March 7th, 1911).
The family appeared on the 1901 census living in Rhyme, Cloonee and on the 1911 census in the same locale. Mary "Mollie" had emigrated to the USA, leaving Ireland aboard the Laurentic on April 9th, 1911. She lived and worked in Manhattan and soon sent for Kate to join her.
Aboard Titanic/April 14th-15th, 1912: Kate joined the RMS Titanic at Queenstown on April 11th, 1912 as a 3rd class passenger. Whilst abode she roomed in cabin 161 on E-deck aft with 3 other Longford girls, Kate Mullin and the Murphy sisters, Margaret and Kate. She also became acquainted with fellow Longford passengers James Farrell, Thomas McCormack, and the Keiranan brothers, John and Philip among other Irish passengers, including possibly Eugene Daly from Co Westmeath. On the night of the sinking Kate and other 3rd class passengers had been enjoying a party in the communal third class areas. A rat scuttled across the floor, sending the party into an excited disarray.
Kate and her cabin mates later went to bed when a man with whom they were acquainted aboard rapped on their door, telling them to get up as something was amiss with the ship. The 4 girls dressed and headed out to the upper decks by crewmen blocking their way and being determined to keep the 3rd class passengers in their place. When trying to pass through one barrier a crewman halted her but the intervention of James Farrell, who threatened the offending crewman with a punch if he didn't let the women through, perhaps helped to save her life and she later referred to Farrell as her guardian angel.
Kate eventually managed to get to a higher deck with lifeboats tantalizingly close in sight, but she couldn't find her way further. A man close by offered her a lift up on his shoulders, which she gratefully accepted, and she managed to climb over the railing to the boat deck. Spying a lifeboat close by she made for it but a crewman again held her back, telling her it was full. Crying out that her sister was in the lifeboat, the crewman relented and let her pass. In years later, Kate recounted that the magnitude of the disaster unfolding at the time escaped her and she naively thought that this was the regular, I'd difficult way to make it to America.
After The Sinking/Later Life/Death: Kate eventually arrived in the USA aboard the RMS Carpathia and was described as a 17-year-old domestic and her destination address was listed as the home of a cousin Mrs. Pedell at East 55th Street, New York. She was eventually reunited with Mollie and to reassure her family back home that she was safe, Kate and Mollie had a portrait taken and posted to Ireland. Kate was eventually joined in America by another two siblings, Margaret (later Mrs. Frank Murphy) and William. William died in 1917. Mollie (later Mrs. Francis Vincent Boshell) died on October 12th, 1933. Back in Ireland Elizabeth died at a young teenager from tuberculosis on September 3rd, 1949 and her mother on October 12th, 1941.
Her father died on September 6th, 1939 and her mother on October 12th, 1941. Kate met her future husband John Joseph Manning (born 1893), a native of Co Rosecommon who worked as a chauffeur. The 2 were married in 1917 and produced 4 children: John (born 1919), Thomas (born 1923), Catherine (born 1924), and Joseph Eugene (born 1927). They appeared on the 1930 census as residents of Cedar Street, Boston and on the 1940 census as residents of Steinway Street, Queens, New York. Kate was widowed when John died on April 19th, 1955 and in the following years became a member of the "Titanic Enthusiasts of America", later the Titanic Historical Society, and she appeared on 2 television programs, To Tell The Truth and the Steve Allen Show and also recalled her experiences to Walter Lord when he was writing A Night To Remember, which told parts of her story.
Her picture also appeared in a 1953 Life magazine account of the tragedy. Kate died on March 1st, 1971 in Long Island City, New York at the age of 76 and was buried with John in Woodside Cemetery, Queens, New York. In 2026, a ballet based on the story of her rescue was premiered, choreographed by Kate's great niece.
