Due to the financial failure of his play "Dante" his father was forced to sell the Lyceum Theatre, London. Irving was married to a fellow performer, actress Mabel Lucy Hackney (1872–1914). Laurence and Mabel were on a tour of first Australia and then North America from 1912 to 1914. Their biggest success on the tour was Laurence's own play "The Typhoon". At the end of the tour they were returning home when Laurence and Mabel Irving drowned in the RMS "Empress of Ireland" disaster on 29 May 1914 when in the early hours of the "Empress of Ireland" was rammed by the , a Norwegian collier, on her starboard bow. "Storstad" remained afloat, but "Empress of Ireland" was severely damaged. A gaping hole in her side caused the lower decks to flood at a rate alarming to the crew. "Empress of Ireland" lurched heavily to starboard. Most of the passengers and crew located in the lower decks drowned quickly and water entered through open portholes, some only a few feet above the water line, and inundated passageways and cabins. Those berthed in the upper decks were awakened by the collision, and immediately boarded lifeboats on the boat deck. Within a few minutes of the collision, the list was so severe that the port lifeboats could not be launched. Some passengers attempted to do so but the lifeboats just crashed into the side of the ship, spilling their occupants into the frigid water. Five starboard lifeboats were launched successfully, while a sixth capsized during lowering.