Christopher ‘Christ’ Garry was born in Lower Fennor, Oldcastle, County Meath, Ireland, on the 5th October 1865, the son of Christopher and Mary Garry (née McDonnell). His family were farmers, and Christ was one of thirteen children, only eight of whom were still alive in 1911.
In 1888, Christ emigrated to the United States of America, settling in Cleveland, Ohio, where he resided with his married brother, John C., and his family. He found employment as a clerk with the Trenkamp Stove and Manufacturing Company, and became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 1903. He made several trips back to Ireland over the years to visit his widowed mother – his father having died in 1894.
In the spring of 1915, he had been diagnosed as suffering from tuberculosis, and decided to return home, because he wanted to die in Ireland, and also his mother, who was aged 83 years, wanted to see him before she passed away. He consequently booked second class passage on the May sailing of the Lusitania, purchasing his ticket from Collver and Miller, Taylor Arcade, Cleveland. Some time prior to May 1915, John C. Garry died, leaving a widow, Mary, and a son and three daughters.
He left Cleveland at the end of April 1915 and boarded the liner on the morning of 1st May, in time for her scheduled 10.00 a.m. sailing. This was then delayed until 12.27 p.m. as she had to embark passengers, crew and cargo from the Anchor Liner
Cameronia, which had been requisitioned by the British Admiralty for war service as a troop ship, at the end of April.
He was killed six days later, on the afternoon of 7th May, within sight of his native land, after the liner was torpedoed and sunk by the German submarine
U-20, only 250 miles away from her Liverpool home port and destination. As his body was never recovered from the sea and identified afterwards, he has no known grave. He was aged 49 years.
After his death his mother and sister, who were stated that they were totally dependent on him for financial support, applied to The Lusitania Relief Fund, for help. The fund had been set up not long after the sinking by the Lord Mayor of Liverpool and other local businessmen, to help second and third class passengers’ survivors who had encountered resultant financial difficulties or relatives of those who had been killed. It was considered that saloon passengers and their relatives would not need any help.
Mrs. and Miss Garry must have enjoyed a supplementary means of income, however, for the awards committee only granted them a once and for all payment of £8-0s-0d..
Christopher Garry’s nieces and nephew filed a claim for compensation for the loss of his life and his personal belongings as a result of the sinking of the
Lusitania. The Mixed Claims Commission ruled that none of the claimants, Mrs. May Garry Kindy, Mrs. Lauretta Garry Munroe, Miss Marguerite Garry, and Mr. John C. Garry, were dependant on their uncle, and therefore were not entitled to any compensation for the loss of his life, however, the Commission did award them the sum of $1,000.00 in compensation for the loss of his personal belongings.
Christopher Garry’s sister-in-law, Mrs. Mary A. Garry died in Cleveland in 1919, and his mother died at her home in Oldcastle in 1924, aged 92 years.
Ireland Civil Registration Births Index 1664 – 1958, 1900 U.S. Federal Census, 1910 U.S. Federal Census, 1911 Census of Ireland, New York Passenger Lists 1820 – 1957, UK and Ireland Incoming Passenger Lists 1878 – 1960, Cunard Records, Mixed Claims Commission Docket No. 2192, Liverpool Record Office, Cork Examiner, PRO BT 100/345, Deaths at Sea 1871 – 1968, Graham Maddocks, Geoff Whitfield, Stuart Williamson, Michael Poirier, Jim Kalafus, Cliff Barry, Paul Latimer, Norman Gray.
Copyright © Peter Kelly.