Charles Chamiere ‘Charlie’ Neville was born in 1902, in Berkhamstead, Hertfordshire, England, the only son of Albert Charles and Mabel Frances Neville (née Smith). He had two sisters, Evelyn, born in 1901 and Muriel, born in 1909.
His father had originally run a fish and poultry business in Berkhamstead, but in 1913 had taken the family to Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. From there, in August 1914, they moved to Toronto, Ontario where Charles Neville’s aunt, his mother’s sister lived. There, his father worked in the insurance business.
In the spring of 1915, the family decided to return to Hertfordshire, and the family home, which was at 133, High Street, Berkhamstead. As a result they booked as second cabin passengers on the Lusitania, which was due to leave New York on the morning of 1st May.
Having left Toronto at the end of April, they boarded the liner at the Cunard berth in New York harbour in time for her delayed sailing which actually commenced at 12.27 p.m. after a delayed start, to take on board passengers, cargo and some of the crew from the Anchor Liner Cameronia which the British Admiralty had requisitioned as a troop ship. Just six days later, on the afternoon of 7th May, the Lusitania was torpedoed within sight of The Old Head of Kinsale in southern Ireland by the German submarine U-20.
On the voyage over, the Neville family was befriended by one second cabin passenger Herbert Ehrhardt, an 18 year old also travelling home from Toronto. In later life,
Ehrhardt was to write about Charlie Neville and the time just after the liner was struck, although he erroneously referred to him as Robert: -
I went to my cabin and found that somebody had taken my life jacket ..... so I went up onto the boat deck. Here I found the Neville family very much concerned that the boy Robert was missing. I went to look for him and found that taking advantage of the general confusion he had gone to look at the passenger lists in the first class section of the boat. I brought him back to his family.
This act of kindness on the part of Herbert Ehrhardt did not help to save Charlie Neville’s life, however, for when the ship eventually sank, only his mother Mabel survived out of the whole family and as none of their remains was ever found and identified, she was not able to bury any of them! Charlie Neville was aged twelve years.
After Mabel Neville had been rescued from the sea, she was landed at Queenstown, where she was met by a brother, who later related his sister’s experiences in a letter to another sister, a Mrs. Chilton, who lived in Watford. He wrote that: -
It appears that they were altogether (sic) on deck when the torpedo struck the vessel. Albert ran and got lifebelts ..... .
There was not one for baby so Mabel took her in her arms and Albert stood at the back of her with his arms round the other two. Mabel looked round just after, and he was missing. Then the vessel stood right up on end and there was a terrific explosion, which shot Mabel right clear of the vessel, and she went right down. .....
She held the baby in her arms for three hours and she saw two boats, and asked them to take her, but they wouldn’t, and just after they had passed, the baby died in her arms. After that, she lost consciousness. When she was taken out of the water the child was missing.
Baby, of course, was Muriel Neville, who although five years old, was obviously regarded as the baby of the family.
Register of Births, Marriages and Deaths, 1911 Census of England & Wales, Canadian Passenger Lists 1865 – 1935, Cunard Records, Brotherton Library UniLeeds, West Hertfordshire & Watford Observer, Probate Records, PRO BT 100/345, Deaths at Sea 1871 – 1968, Graham Maddocks, Lawrence Evans, Geoff Whitfield, Michael Poirier, Jim Kalafus, Cliff Barry, Paul Latimer, Norman Gray.
Copyright © Peter Kelly.