Cornish, Mary (c. 1899–?)

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Cornish, Mary (c. 1899–?)

British heroine. Born Mary A.C. Cornish c. 1899.

A 41-year-old London music teacher, was on board the passenger liner SS City of Benares (1927), embarking from Liverpool to Canada with 90 evacuee children (Friday, Sept 13, 1940); when the ship was sunk by a German U-boat 4 days later, risked her life protecting the girls in her charge and entertained the children in the lifeboat for 8 days; awarded the George Cross (1941).

See also Elspeth Huxley, Atlantic Ordeal: The Story of Mary Cornish (1942).