A Titanic mystery that spanned a century was only recently put to rest when a woman who claimed to be a survivor and heiress to a considerable family fortune was exposed.

One of the last great mysteries of the Titanic was solved in 2013 thanks to a DNA test that proved a woman who claimed she was a child survivor of the tragic Titanic sinking was a fraud.

Two-year-old Loraine Allison is believed to have been the only child from first or second class who died during the sinking of the Titanic. She was traveling aboard the luxury liner with her parents, Hudson, a Canadian entrepreneur, and Bess, her seven-month-old brother Trevor, and an entourage of servants.

Reports say that when the ship struck the iceberg, Trevor was taken to a lifeboat by a maid, Alice Cleaver. Loraine, Hudson, and Bess did not survive, and only Hudson's body was ever recovered. 

Alice Cleaver with Trevor Allison, survivors of the sinking of the RMS Titanic after disembarking from the RMS Carpathia. (Public Domain / New York Herald)

However, in 1940, Helen Loraine Kramer, now styling herself Loraine Kramer, claimed to be the missing child. She told a radio show that she had been saved at the last moment when her father placed her in a lifeboat with a man whom she had always thought was her father.

She claimed the man, whom she called Mr. Hyde, raised her as his own in England before moving to the US. She claimed he only told her the ‘truth’ shortly before his death.

Kramer also claimed that Hyde disclosed his real identity as Thomas Andrews, Titanic’s designer who was thought to have died on board.

The full story may be found in an article in the Irish Central web site at: bit.ly/3VD8vEz.

My thanks to newsletter reader Yvonne Dolbec for telling me about this story.