Edwin Twining was born in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, on the 9th October 1894, the son of Thomas and Florence Ann Twining (née Wright). The family had immigrated to Canada from England before Edwin was born. Edwin had one sister and five brothers, and his father was a waiter and butler.
On 4th July 1907, Thomas Twining died, and on 6th July 1908, Florence Ann Twining married Rev. Edmund Larke, all her children being at that time minors. The family moved to Chicago, Illinois, where Rev. Larke became a naturalized citizen of the United States in 1909, as a result of which, all his step-children also became citizens of the United States.
In 1915, Edwin, and his older brother, James E. Twining, were residing in New York City. Edwin worked as a mechanic from the age of 15 years, specialising in racing automobiles, as a result of which he was frequently absent from New York attending automobile races. He was unmarried.
In the spring of 1915, he decided to travel to Europe, either in the course of his work or perhaps out of patriotic duty and consequently booked as a third class passenger on the Lusitania's May sailing out of New York.
Not much more is known about him apart from the fact that he would have arrived at the Cunard berth at Pier 54 in New York on the morning of 1st May 1915, in time for the liner’s scheduled 10.00 a.m. sailing. This was then delayed until just after noon, because she had to embark passengers, crew and cargo from the liner Cameronia which the British Admiralty had requisitioned for war service as a troop ship, at the end of April. It would have been just after this that Edwin Twining would have had his last sight of his adopted city.
Six days out of New York on the afternoon of 7th May, and within sight of the coast of southern Ireland, the Lusitania was torpedoed and sunk by the German submarine U-20. At that time, she was only about 250 miles away from her Liverpool home port and destination.
Edwin Twining was unfortunate enough to be been numbered amongst those killed as a result of this action and as his body was never recovered from the sea later and identified, he has no known grave - like the majority of the dead. He was aged 20 years at the time of his death.
After the War, his mother, Mrs. Florence Larke filed a claim with the Mixed Claims Commission for compensation for the loss of her son, whom she claimed partially, supported her financially. The Commission awarded her the sum of $5,000.00.
Ontario Canada Births 1869 – 1913, 1901 Census of Canada, Cunard Records, Mixed Claims Commission Docket No. 278, 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.