Ashley Allan was born in Bootle, Lancashire, England on the 28th June 1886, the son of William and Mary Ann Allan (née Gliddon). The family home was at 99, Berry Street, Bootle. He was one of ten children, and like his father, worked for the Cunard Steam Ship Company. The family had previously resided at 27. St. John’s Road, Bootle.
Ashley engaged as a third class waiter in the Stewards Department on board the Lusitania at Liverpool, at a monthly rate of pay of £4-5s.-0d., (£4.25p.). He is known to have served as a steward on previous voyages of the ship. He then reported for duty on the early morning of 17th April 1915 before she left Liverpool Pierhead for the very last time and one week later, he arrived safely at her New York destination.
He was still serving in the same capacity when the liner began the return leg of her voyage to Liverpool on the early afternoon of 1st May 1915 and he was killed when she was torpedoed and sunk just three weeks later on the afternoon of 7th May, off the Old Head of Kinsale in southern Ireland, by the German submarine U-20. His body was never found and identified.
As a consequence, he is commemorated on the Mercantile Marine Memorial at Tower Hill, London. Ashley Allan was aged 29 years when he was killed.
Register of Births, Marriages and Deaths, Liverpool England Church of England Baptisms 1813 – 1919, 1891 Census of England, 1901 Census of England, 1911 Census of England, Cunard Records, Commonwealth War Graves Commission, PRO BT 334, Deaths at Sea 1871 – 1968, Graham Maddocks, Michael Poirier, Jim Kalafus, Cliff Barry, Paul Latimer, Norman Gray.
Copyright © Peter Kelly
Revised & Updated – 1st December 2022.