Agnes Brown Kerr was born in Shotts, Lanarkshire, Scotland in 1893, the only daughter, and eldest of three children born to Andrew and LeNore Kerr (née Stark). Her father was a coal miner.
In 1906, the Kerr family had moved to Kendall, Fraser County, Montana, in the United States of America, where Andrew Kerr became a naturalized citizen of the United States in 1912. The family resided at Abercrombie Place in Kendall.
On the 8th October 1913, Agnes married James Tulloch, who had immigrated to Kendall from Scotland in 1911. Upon that marriage, she became a British citizen. On the 14th July 1914, a daughter, Hannah, was born to them both.
In the spring of 1915, her husband decided to return to Scotland for a holiday and introduce his parents to the daughter-in-law and granddaughter that they had not yet seen. Consequently, he booked second cabin passage (Ticket No. 74959) for the three of them on the May sailing of the Lusitania, which was scheduled to sail from New York to Liverpool at 10.00 a.m. on 1st May 1915.
Having left Kendall at the end of April, the family arrived at the Abington Hotel in New York, before arriving at the liner’s berth at Pier 54 in New York harbour on that morning, in good time for the sailing. They had to wait until just after mid-day for the liner to actually leave New York harbour, however, because she had to transfer passengers, crew and cargo from the S.S. Cameronia, which had recently been requisitioned by the British Admiralty for service as a troop ship.
Six days later, on the afternoon of 7th May 1915, the Lusitania was torpedoed and sunk by the German submarine U-20, within sight of the coast of southern Ireland and only 250 miles away from her destination.
None of the Tulloch family survived the sinking and none of their bodies was ever recovered from the sea and identified. Consequently, none has a known grave. Agnes Tulloch was aged 22 years.
James Kerr filed a claim with the Mixed Claims Commission in an effort to secure compensation for the loss of his grand-daughter. He was unable to file claims for the loss of his daughter and son-in-law, as they were British citizens. His claim was unsuccessful.
Montana U.S. Birth Records 1897 – 1988, Montana U.S. County Marriages 1865 – 1987, 1901 Census of Scotland, 1910 U.S. Federal Census, Massachusetts Passenger Lists 1820 – 1963, Cunard Records, Mixed Claims Commission Docket No. 237, Falkirk Herald, Falkirk Mail, PRO BT 100/345, UniLiv D92/2/378, Deaths at Sea 1871 – 1968, Graham Maddocks, Geoff Whitfield, Michael Poirier, Jim Kalafus, Cliff Barry, Paul Latimer, Norman Gray.
Copyright © Peter Kelly.