Edward Kyle was born in Liverpool, Lancashire, England, on the 12th April 1871, the son of Edward and Agnes Kyle (née Walker). He was the second eldest of eight known children in the family, and his father was a tailor.
After completing education, he found work as a labourer before running away to sea in 1900, without informing his family. His widowed father placed an advertisement in the Liverpool Weekly Mercury on the 5th April 1901, seeking information about him: -
Kyle – Wanted to know the whereabouts of Edward Kyle. Last in Liverpool in July, 1900. Supposed to have gone to sea. – Inquirer his father, Edward Kyle, 18. Liffey Street, Liverpool.
It is not known if his father received any information in reply.
It is very likely that he did go to sea and became an able-bodied seaman in the British Mercan tile Marine, because he signed on as an able seaman in the Deck Department for what proved to be the final voyage of the Lusitania under the name of T. Robins and was killed when she was lost. His body was not one of those recovered and identified afterwards. He was aged 44 years.
As a consequence, he is commemorated on the Mercantile Marine Memorial at Tower Hill, London.
His father was living at 31, Thames Street, Toxteth, Liverpool, when the records of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission were being compiled. Edward Kyle was unmarried.
Register of Births, Marriages and Deaths, Liverpool England Church of England Baptisms 1813 – 1919, 1881 Census of England, 1891 Census of England, 1901 Census of England, Cunard Records, Commonwealth War Graves Commission, Liverpool Weekly Mercury, 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.