Campbell Ballantyne McKechan was born on the 24th July 1914, in Gillespie, Illinois, in the United States of America, the son of Robert Lawson and Elizabeth McKechan, (née Campbell), who originally came from Stevenston, Ayrshire, Scotland. He had two sisters, Martha, born in 1903, and Anna, born in 1906, and a brother named James who was born in 1909. His parents had immigrated to America in 1907, and whereas his father was a coal miner in Scotland, he worked as the secretary of a co-operative society in Gillespie.
In the spring of 1915, his mother decided to return to Scotland, for a holiday, and take her two boys with her. As a consequence, she booked second cabin passage for the three of them on the Lusitania which was due to leave New York on 1st May 1915. Thus, leaving Campbell’s father behind with his two older sisters, they left Gillespie at the end of April 1915 and arrived at the Cunard berth in New York harbour on the morning of 1st May. They were probably accompanied by Campbell’s second cousin, Mrs Catherine Gill, a 41 year old widow, who was also born in Stevenston, Ayrshire.
When the liner was torpedoed and sunk, six days later, on the afternoon of 7th May, both Catherine Gill and his brother James were killed. Only his mother and himself from the immediate family, survived.
Mother and infant were rescued from the sea and eventually landed at Queenstown, where Elizabeth was able to identify the body of her cousin in the temporary mortuary set up beside the Cunard office at Lynch’s Quay. It became evident to her, when she saw her corpse, that Mrs. Gill had suffered some major injury, during or after the sinking. She found no sign of her son James, however, and no sign of him was ever discovered by anyone else.
Campbell and his mother boarded the Tuscania at Glasgow on the 13th August to return to their home in Gillespie. Both he and his mother suffered injuries during their ordeal, and Campbell finally succumbed to his injuries when he died on 15th September 1915.
On 9th June 1916, Elizabeth gave birth to her fifth child, a daughter named Elizabeth, followed by two more sons, Robert junior, and John, born in 1919 and 1924, none of whom would ever know their older brothers.
Robert and Elizabeth filed a claim with the authorities, on behalf of themselves and their children for injury and loss sustained in the sinking of the Lusitania. On 21st February 1924, the Commission awarded Robert McKechan the sum of $5,000.00, and Elizabeth a total sum of $13,200.00. No award was made in respect of the surviving children.
U.S. Consular Registration Certificates 1907 – 1918, UK Outward Passenger Lists 1890 – 1960, New York Passenger Lists 1820 – 1957, Cunard Records, Mixed Claims Commission Docket No. 430, 431, & 432, Ardrossan & Saltcoats Herald, Ayr Advertiser, PRO BT 100/345, Deaths at Sea 1871 – 1968, Graham Maddocks, Geoff Whitfield, Michael Poirier, Jim Kalafus, Cliff Barry, Paul Latimer, Norman Gray.
Copyright © Peter Kelly.