Arthur John Wood was born in Tunstall, Staffordshire, England, in 1876, the son of Herbert Henry and Mary Ann Wood (née Hall). His father was a copper engraver. He
was the eldest of eleven known children and his father was an engraver, working at a copper works.
On completing his education, Arthur became a designer and engraver in the pottery industry, and for many years worked for W.H. Grindley & Company, of Tunstall, who were one of the most prestigious earthenware and ironstone pottery manufacturers of their day.
On the 26th December 1900, he married Sarah Alice Farrell at the Parish Church at Goldenhill, Staffordshire, and the couple established their home at 59, Old Cottage Green, Goldenhill, Tunstall. They had no children.
He frequently crossed the Atlantic Ocean to conduct business on behalf of his employers and in the spring of 1915, he had been in New York City, in the United States of America, conducting business with William. S. Pitcairn, of 104. 5th Avenue, New York on behalf of his firm. At the end of April, having decided to return to Staffordshire, he booked saloon passage for himself on the May sailing of the Lusitania. He joined the vessel at the Cunard berth in New York harbour on the morning of 1st May 1915 and having boarded - with ticket number 4611 - was taken to his accommodation, room B17, which was the personal responsibility of First Class Cabin Steward Robert Morse, who came from Birkenhead, on the opposite side of the River Mersey from Liverpool.
The liner’s scheduled 10.00 a.m. sailing out of New York for the last time was delayed until just after mid-day because she had to embark passengers, crew and cargo from the Anchor Liner Cameronia, which had been requisitioned by the British Admiralty for war service as a troop ship, at the end of April. Then six days later, in the afternoon of 7th May, she was torpedoed and sunk, within sight of The Old Head of Kinsale, by the German submarine U-20. Amongst those saloon passengers who lost their lives, was Arthur Wood. He was aged 39 years.
His body was recovered from the sea, however, and landed at Queenstown, where it was taken to the temporary mortuary at the Cunard offices at Lynch‘s Quay, given the reference number 126 and described as :-
Male, 40 years, brown hair, medium build, 5’7” - 5’8”.
On 10th May, having by that time been identified by a family friend – Mr. Gullimore of Kidsgrove, it was buried in The Old Church Cemetery, Queenstown, in Mass Grave C, 4th Row, Lower Tier. It was on this day that most of the bodies of the victims were buried, following a long funeral procession which began at the Cunard Offices at Lynch's Quay. Arthur Wood’s body lies there to this day.
As it was necessary to bury all the recovered bodies as soon as possible, because they could not be hygienically stored in the increasing heat of May, they were all photographed in the temporary mortuaries in Queenstown before being buried. Anxious relatives of those missing were then invited to identify their loved ones through these photographs. This was difficult in certain cases because of injuries they had received as a consequence of the sinking or because immersion in sea water had disfigured their features.
Soon after the sinking, copies of all the photographs were posted in St. George's Hall in Liverpool and Mrs. Dinah Edgar, mother of victim Second Class Waiter William Henry
Edgar thought that the person in the photograph numbered 126 was her son. However, Cunard had to disappoint her by informing her of its true identity and that it had already been claimed.
On 11th June 1915, most of the property recovered from Arthur Wood’s body, which probably aided its identification, was sent to his brother-in-law, Mr. J.E. Roberts, of Wharfe House, Red Bull, Kidsgrove, near Stoke on Trent, Staffordshire. It consisted of a gun metal watch and a 9 carat gold double Albert chain - fetter and three ring pattern - a cigarette case engraved with the initials A.J.W., a silver match box, a gold buckle ring with a single diamond, a fountain pen, a pipe and tobacco pouch, a penknife, £7 in British gold coinage, £0-0s-9d., (£0.4p) in British silver coinage, $5 in bills and some American coinage, a neck tie bearing the name T.R. Gilman, Victoria House, Hanley, two keys, a pocket book, letters and papers and a Cunard baggage docket bearing the name Wood.
The tie, a white linen front, the cigarette case and the match box had been handed to a Mr. Gallimore also of Kidsgrove, Staffordshire, at Queenstown, and he must have been a relative or family friend.
On 23rd August 1915, administration of his estate was granted at Litchfield, Staffordshire, to his widow Sarah, his effects being valued at £5,722-9s-11d., (£5,722.49p.).
His name is inscribed on his parents’ grave at St. Margaret Churchyard, Wolstanton, Staffordshire.
Register of Births, Marriages and Deaths, England and Wales Christening Records 1530 – 1906, Staffordshire England Church of England Marriages and Banns 1754 – 1900, 1881 Census of England & Wales, 1891 Census of England & Wales, 1901 Census of England & Wales, 1911 Census of England & Wales, New York Passenger Lists 1820 – 1957, Cunard Records, Staffordshire Weekly Sentinel, Probate Records, PRO 22/71, PRO BT 100/345, UniLiv.D92/1/6-2, UniLiv D92/2/413, Deaths at Sea 1871 – 1968, Graham Maddocks, Denise Deighton, Lawrence Evans, Geoff Whitfield, Michael Poirier, Jim Kalafus, Cliff Barry, Paul Latimer, Norman Gray.
Copyright © Peter Kelly.