Treasured Shoe Added to Athenia Display on 80th Anniversary of The Sinking

A display at Riverside Museum marking the 80th anniversary of the sinking of the SS Athenia, featuring a treasured child's shoe donated by the last British survivor.

Riverside Museum's display tells the story of the SS Athenia, a Glasgow-built liner sunk by a German submarine on the day World War 2 was declared in September 1939, with the loss of 122 lives. The display now includes a tiny canvas shoe made for three-year-old Rosemary Cass Beggs, the last British survivor, by fellow passengers after she was put into a lifeboat. She donated the memento to the museum in 2019, and the display marks the 80th anniversary of the sinking.