Charles Duncan Nicholson was born in Melbourne, Estrie, Quebec, Canada, on the 4th September 1886, the son of Gilbert and Mary Nicholson (née McLean). His father was a farmer, and later a carpenter.
Charles became a carpenter by trade and moved to Edmonton, Alberta, where he resided at 8212, 111th Avenue. His best friend John Ellis, an Englishman, was also a carpenter and lived at No. 8302, in the same avenue.
In the spring of 1915, John Ellis decided to return to England because of the war situation that existed at that time, and Charles Nicholson had decided to accompany him and offer his professional services in an armaments factory.
As a consequence, they both booked second cabin passage on the Lusitania and left Edmonton by rail, at the end of April 1915, to join that vessel at New York. They were both on board when the liner left the Cunard berth there, for the very last time, just after mid-day on 1st May. This sailing had been delayed from her scheduled 10.00 a.m. departure, because she had to take on board passengers, crew and cargo from the Anchor Liner the S.S. Cameronia which the British Admiralty had requisitioned for use as a troop ship at the end of the previous month.
Then, six days later, on the afternoon of 7th May, the Lusitania was torpedoed and sunk by the German submarine U-20 off the southern coast of Ireland and only hours away from her Liverpool destination. Although John Ellis was saved, Charles Nicholson perished.
John Ellis gave this account of his ordeal to a Bradford newspaper in the days following his rescue: -
Another survivor is Mr. John Ellis, who was coming to Bradford from Canada, after living on the other side of the Atlantic for several years. Originally he went to Edmonton in the States, but in recent years he had resided in Canada. For some months past he had been out of work and had resolved to visit the homeland in the hope of securing work, and intending later to send for his wife to follow him. A friend was accompanying him from Canada. After the vessel was struck the friend declared his conviction that the Lusitania would keep afloat for hours. Mr. Ellis thought otherwise, and he secured a lifebelt and eventually jumped into the sea when the starboard side of the vessel was about level with the water. He is not a swimmer, but his friend could swim and neglected to secure a lifebelt. They became parted on the boat, and Mr. Ellis has not since seen or heard of his friend, and fears that he must have been drowned.
As no trace of his body was ever found and identified later, Charles Nicholson has no known grave. He was aged 28 years.
His father filed a claim for compensation with the Canadian Commission, and was aged 74 years, and in failing health, when he gave evidence to the Commission in 1925. The Commission awarded his father $1,750 in compensation for the loss of Charles’ life, and a further $350 for the loss of Charles’ carpentry tools, clothes, and personal effects in the sinking.
Quebec Canada Vital and Church Records (Drouin Collection) 1621 – 1968, 1891 Census of Canada, 1901 Census of Canada, Cunard Records, Canadian Claims Case No. 867, Calgary Herald, Edmonton Journal, 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.