Caroline Paul was born in Penzance, Cornwall, England, on the 4th May 1853, the daughter of William Henry and Susan Pascoe Paul (née Oliver). In 1861, her father was described as a “cordwainer (a person who makes new shoes from new leather), employing 3 men, 3 boys and 2 females”, and was also a Christian Bible preacher! Caroline was the second youngest of five children in the family, but her mother died when she was aged about 7 years. Her father remarried, and had five more children.
In September 1877, she married Thomas Trevorrow, a tin miner, in Penzance, and the couple established their home in St. Just, Cornwall. The couple had four children, although only two – Margaret and William, lived to adulthood.
In 1909, Thomas Trevorrow died, leaving Caroline a widow, residing alone in the family home at 4. Chapel Street, St. Just. Her daughter had married in 1902, and her son had immigrated to Butte, Montana, in the United States of America in 1906.
In the summer of 1914, Caroline Trevorrow decided to visit her son and his family in Butte, Montana, and consequently boarded the Oceanic in Southampton on the 24th June. On arrival in New York City on the 2nd July, she proceeded to Montana.
In the spring of 1915, she decided to return to Cornwall, and booked second cabin passage on the May sailing of the Lusitania from New York to Liverpool.
Having arrived in New York at the end of April, she boarded the vessel at her berth at
Pier 54 on the morning of 1st May, in time for her scheduled 10 o’clock departure. This was then delayed until the early afternoon, as she had to take on board passengers, cargo and some of the crew from the Anchor Liner, which had been requisitioned by the British Admiralty for war work as a troop ship.
Then, six days later, on the afternoon of 7th May, the Lusitania was torpedoed twelve miles off the coast of southern Ireland by the German submarine U-20, and sank two miles closer to land. At that stage of her voyage, she was only 250 miles from her home port.
Caroline Trevorrow was killed as a result of this action. She was aged 62 years at the time she died and as her body was never recovered from the sea and identified afterwards, she has no known grave. Her son-in-law, John Wallis, 2. Victoria Row, St. Just, wrote to the Cunard Steam Ship Company, following the sinking in an effort to trace her, dead or alive, but they were unable to give him any assistance.
Another family which had originated from Cornwall, the Richards family, also lived in Butte, Montana and was also making its way back home on the Lusitania. The head of the family, Thomas Richards, later wrote of his experiences during the sinking and must have been acquainted with Caroline Trevorrow, because he states in his account: -
The last I saw of Mrs. Trevarrow (sic) was at the table before the crowd started for the decks.
Caroline Trevorrow is remembered on the headstone over her husband’s grave in St. Just Wesleyan Cemetery, St. Just.
Cunard records spell her name as Treverrow, but the correct spelling is Trevorrow.
Register of Births, Marriages and Deaths, 1861 Census of England & Wales, 1871 Census of England & Wales, 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, Butte Miner, West Briton and Cornwall Advertiser, Cornwall Family History Society, PRO BT 100/345, UniLiv D92/2/377, Deaths at Sea 1871 – 1968, Graham Maddocks, Patti Gordon, Geoff Whitfield, Michael Poirier, Jim Kalafus, Cliff Barry, Paul Latimer, Norman Gray.
Copyright © Peter Kelly.