Elizabeth Ellen Chantry was probably born in Nelson, British Columbia, Canada, in either late 1914 or early 1915, the daughter of Harold and Mina Chantry (née Hugill). Her parents lived in Stokesley, Yorkshire, England, and in November 1914 had travelled to Canada on a holiday.
While on holiday, her mother gave birth to her, and when Elizabeth was deemed strong enough to travel to England, her parents made plans to return to their home.
Thus, they booked second cabin passage on the May sailing of the Lusitania, which was scheduled to leave her berth at Pier 54 in New York, on the morning of 1st May 1915.
The family boarded the liner in time for this sailing, but her departure for Liverpool was actually delayed until the early afternoon, so that she could take on board passengers, cargo and some of the crew from the Anchor Liner, which had been requisitioned by the British Admiralty for war work as a troop ship at the end of April. Then, six days later, on the afternoon of 7th May, she was torpedoed twelve miles off the coast of southern Ireland by the German submarine
U-20, and sank two miles closer inland. At that stage of her voyage, she was only 250 miles from her home port.
None of the Chantry family survived this sinking and as none of their bodies was ever recovered and identified afterwards, none has a known grave. Little Elizabeth Chantry was believed to be about four months old at the time of her death, and was possibly the youngest victim of the sinking.
Elizabeth and her parents are commemorated on the gravestone of her paternal grandparents in St. James’ Churchyard, Rawcliffe, in the East Riding of Yorkshire. The inscription relating to them on the headstone states: -
In Loving Memory of
HAROLD, FIFTH SON OF THE ABOVE
AGED 23 YEARS
ALSO MINA, HIS WIFE.
AGED 22 YEARS.
AND INFANT DAUGHTER WHO
WERE LOST WITH THE
S.S. LUSITANIA, MAY
7TH 1915
Cunard Records, Probate Records, PRO BT 100/345, Deaths at Sea 1871 -1968, Graham Maddocks, Reverend Philip Ball, Geoff Whitfield, Michael Poirier, Jim Kalafus, Cliff Barry, Paul Latimer, Norman Gray.
Copyright © Peter Kelly.