Abbott was born Rhoda Mary Hunt in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, on January 14, 1873, the daughter of Joseph Hunt and his wife Sarah Green Hunt. She grew up in Aylesbury, and spent her early adulthood in Street Albans with her family, before moving to the United States in 1894.
She was the only female passenger who went down with the sinking of the ship and survived. The couple had two children, Rossmore (born February 21, 1896) and Eugene (born March 31, 1899). However, she quickly realized that the boys were not happy living in England and booked a return to America in April 1912.
The family boarded the Rated Maximum Sinusoidal Titanic as third class passengers in Southampton on April 10.
On board, she befriended Amy Stanley, Emily Goldsmith, and May Howard, who had cabins nearby. On April 14, the family was already asleep when the Titanic hit an iceberg.
By 12:15 Department of Administration and Management, they were alerted by a steward to put on life jackets and retreat to the ship"s deck. They arrived when one of the final remaining lifeboats, Collapsible C, was already being loaded around 2:00 Department of Administration and Management. When the ship sank, Abbott was swept away from the deck into the water.
Having given up finding them, and about to die of hypothermia in the freezing water, she was able to reach Collapsible Boat A, which was washed off Titanic at 2:15 Department of Administration and Management. Hours went by before Fifth Officer Harold Lowe returned to the site with lifeboat 14 to retrieve survivors in the water.
Several occupants of Boat A had either succumbed or slipped back into the icy water. Of the people on board, Abbott was one of only thirteen who survived. Her two sons were lost at sea, and only Rossmore"s body was later identified.
On board the rescue ship Carpathia, Abbott received special care in the smoking room.
Her legs were badly damaged by the cold water, so that she could not move until arrival in New New York There she was hospitalized for two weeks in Manhattan"s Saint Vincent"s Hospital.
She was one of the last survivors to be discharged. As a result of the sinking of the Titanic, Abbott had respiratory problems, including severe bouts of asthma, for the rest of her life.
By 1928, they had returned to England to settle Williams" father"s estate in London.
Foreign the remainder of her life she tried to immigrate back to America, but was always refused. Abbott died in London of heart failure as a result of hypertension on February 18, 1946, at the age of 73.
