Charles Thomas Knight was born in Gosport, Hampshire, England, on the 14th March 1881, the son of William and Jane Knight (née Stagg). He was the middle child of the three boys in the family, and his father was a mariner. In 1915, he lived at 37, Romsey Road, Southampton, Hampshire.
After leaving school, he joined the Royal Navy, but apart from serving on H.M.S. Terrible, and achieving the skills and rank of an able-bodied seaman, nothing else is known of his service.
After leaving the Royal Navy, he continued his career as a professional seaman by joining the Mercantile Marine and on the 12th April 1915, he engaged at Liverpool, on board the Lusitania, as an able seaman in the Deck Department, at a monthly rate of pay of £5-15s.-0d. (£5.75p.). The sum of £1-10.-0d. (£1.50p.) was advanced to him at the time, which indicated that he was a trusted crew member and had sailed on the liner before.
Having joined her at Pier Head on the morning of the 17th April, in time for what became her last ever voyage out of the River Mersey, he completed her crossing to New York and was similarly engaged when she began her return to Liverpool on the 1st May.
When she was torpedoed and sunk by the German submarine U-20, off the southern coast of Ireland six days later, on the afternoon of the 7th May, almost half of the Deck Department seaman perished as a result. Able Seaman Knight was amongst those who managed to survive, however. At that time, the liner was only hours away from her home port.
Having been rescued from the sea, he was landed at Queenstown from where he eventually managed to get to Liverpool.
There, on the 10th May 1915, he was officially discharged from the Lusitania's last voyage and paid the balance of wages owed to him in respect of his service. This amounted to £5-14s.-6d. (£5.72½p.) and was reckoned from the day the return voyage began at Liverpool, until 24 after the liner had gone down!
Despite surviving the sinking of the Lusitania, however, he only had a further six months to live as he was killed as the result of a tragic accident on the railway line at Southampton Docks, Hampshire, on the 8th November 1915, whilst serving as Quartermaster on the S.S. Matheran. He was buried in Section L6, Plot 128 in Hollybrook Cemetery, Southampton, where he lies today although he grave is unmarked. He was aged 34 years.
Register of Births, Marriages, and Deaths, Hampshire England Church of England Baptisms 1813 – 1921, , 1881 Census of England, 1891 Census of England, 1901 Census of England, Cunard Records, Southern Daily Echo, PRO BT 100/345, PRO BT 334, Deaths at Sea 1871 – 1968, Graham Maddocks, Geoff Whitfield, Michael Poirier, Jim Kalafus, Cliff Barry, Paul Latimer, Norman Gray.
Copyright © Peter Kelly.
Revised & Updated – 11th February 2024.