The Fortune Family on the Titanic

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Mark Fortune. 1847-1912.

Mary (McDougald) Fortune. 1851-1929.

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Blog Created: 2-17-2026

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Mark Fortune was the father of the Fortune family who traveled as First Class passengers aboard Titanic.

Mark Fortune was born in Carluke, Canada on November 2, 1847 and was the third of ten children born to farmer Robert Fortune and Elizabeth Bell Johnston.

During his adolescence he spent several years in San Francisco, California. In 1871, he moved to the new Canadian province of Manitoba, where he married Mary McDougald on November 10, 1876. They had 6 children:

Robert W. H. Fortune (1877-1965)

Clara Alma Fortune (1879-1964)

Ethel Flora Fortune (1883-1961)

Alice Elizabeth Fortune (1887-1961)

Mabel Helen Fortune (1888-1968)

Charles Alexander Fortune (1892-1912)

Mark made his money investing in real estate and buying properties along the Assiniboine River. He served as a Winnipeg City Councilman and was administrator of Knox Presbyterian Church. Around this time, Mark met Hudson Joshua Creighton Allison, who would later travel with him on the Titanic. In 1911, Mr. Fortune built a major 36-room Tudor-style mansion at 393 Wellington Crescent.

The Fortune home.

Mark and his family toured Europe in 1912. They met people that would later sail on Titanic, like William T. Sloper, Thomson Beattie, John Hugo Ross and Thomas McCaffry. The latter three and Mark were photographed feeding pigeons in Italy during their holidays.

On April 10, 1912, the Fortune family boarded the Titanic in Southampton as First Class passengers bound for Manitoba, Canada, where they lived. Mark and his wife had taken cabin C-27, their daughters were staying in cabin C-25 and Charles occupied C-23.

Unfortunately, on the night of April 14, Titanic had collided with an iceberg and the ship started sinking.

His wife Mary and his daughters Alice, Mabel and Ethel were all saved in lifeboat 10.

Mark Fortune died along with his youngest son, Charles after the ship foundered at 2:20 A.M. on April 15. Their bodies have never been recovered. According to Mary Fortune's statement, neither her husband nor son were allowed to board the lifeboat with her and her daughters because the lives of other women and children prevailed.

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From:

December 14, 2025

Mary Fortune and her daughters survived the sinking of the titanic but the cost was immeasurable. During a walk through the mausoleum at Mount Pleasant Cemetery in Toronto, I visited the crypt of Mary Fortune, a survivor of the sinking of the Titanic in 1912

Mary, née McDougald, married Mark Fortune, a prominent Manitoban who amassed his wealth through land speculation. Together, they had four children. In 1912, the family embarked on a whirlwind vacation to Europe and were returning home to Manitoba when they boarded the Titanic as First Class passengers in Southampton, England on April 10, 1912.

Four days later, disaster struck. The supposedly unsinkable Titanic collided with an iceberg, sustaining fatal damage. In the early hours of April 15, evacuation orders were given. Mary and her three daughters were able to secure places on Lifeboat 10. Mary later recounted that one of the occupants of her lifeboat was a man disguised in women’s clothing, a desperate attempt to escape as women and children were given priority.

Before departing, Mary and her daughters left their money and jewelry with Mark and their nineteen-year-old son, Charles, believing they would reunite once the crisis had passed. Tragically, that reunion never occurred. At 2:20 a.m., the Titanic sank beneath the Atlantic, claiming the lives of both Mark Fortune and Charles.

Mary and her daughters eventually returned to Winnipeg, but life was forever altered by their profound loss. Mary never remarried. In later years, she moved to Toronto to be near her daughter Ethel, where she spent the remainder of her life.