Lucile Stewart Brooke (née Polk, formerly Carter; October 8, 1875 – October 26, 1934) was an American socialite. Her first husband was William E. Carter, a wealthy American who inherited a fortune from his father. The couple and their two children survived the RMS Titanic disaster after the ship struck an iceberg and sank on April 15, 1912. Soon after the tragedy, their marriage fell apart, with Lucile accusing her husband of abandoning her and their children during the sinking, and of "cruel and barbarous treatment."
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Early life
Lucile Stewart Polk was born in 1875 in Baltimore, Maryland. Her father was William Stewart Polk (1828–1917) and her mother was Louisa Ellen (née Anderson). Carter's father was a partner in the very successful insurance brokerage firm Hopper Polk and Purnell of Baltimore and was fairly wealthy. Many of the newspaper reports noted that he was a descendant of President James K. Polk.
Before her marriage, Carter was mentioned often in the social pages of the Baltimore newspapers. The picture on the left is a sketch of her in the newspaper Baltimore American in 1892 when she was aged 17.