Ellen Shea was born at Canrooska, Glengarriff, County Cork, Ireland, on the 2nd March 1885, the daughter of Cornelius “Con” and Mary Shea (née Sullivan). Her father was a labourer and Ellen was joint youngest of eight children, having a twn sister name Nano.
On the 31st July 1904, she boarded the Campania at Queenstown and immigrated to New York City, in the United States of America. She lived with her sister, Mary, at 300. West 106th Street, New York City, and found work as a domestic servant with the Stephens family at 142. 65th Street, Manhattan, New York City.
On the 19th March 1908, she married Charles Howard Reid in Manhattan, New York City. He husband was a Scottish immigrant, who was working as a stableman in a livery stable, and who was a former British soldier, having served in South Africa during the Boer War.
The couple had no children, and resided at 465. West 165th Street, Manhattan, New York City. In 1913, Ellen returned to her home on a holiday, and then on the outbreak of war in Europe in the summer of 1914, her husband decided to return to Scotland to re-enlist in the British Army and ‘do his bit’ for his country. He left New York City in October 1914.
In the spring of 1915, Ellen decided to return to Great Britain to visit her husband, who was in a training camp at that time, and perhaps spend time with her family in Ireland, and consequently, she booked as a third class passenger on the May sailing of the Lusitania, which was scheduled to leave New York for Liverpool on 1st May 1915. Her ticket number was 1689.
She would have arrived at the Cunard berth at Pier 54 on the west side of that city on that morning, in time to board the liner for her 10 o’clock departure, but then would have had to have waited until just after mid-day before the Lusitania actually left port. This was because she had to load cargo and embark passengers and crew from the Anchor Liner the S.S. Cameronia, which had been requisitioned by the British Admiralty for war service as a troop ship at the end of April.
Then, just six days later, on the afternoon of 7th May, the Lusitania was torpedoed and sunk by the German submarine U-20, under the command of Kapitänleutnant Walther Schwieger. At that stage of her voyage, she was steaming off The Old Head of Kinsale, in southern Ireland and was only about 250 miles away from the safety of
her home port!
Ellen Reid lost her life as a result of this action and as her body was never recovered and identified afterwards, she has no known grave. She was aged 30 years at the time, although her age on the passenger manifest was recorded as being aged 26 years!
Her husband embarked for France two months afterwards as T/2/015173 Private C.H. Reid of The Army Service Corps. He then continued to serve on the Western Front eventually achieving the rank of sergeant in the re-titled Royal Army Service Corps.
After the cessation of hostilities in 1918, he was still serving in France, when, just after Christmas, he wrote a letter to The Cunard Steam Ship Company which read: -
28th December 1918
Dear Sirs,
I received a letter from my sister-in-law yesterday to say that the Cunard Steam Ship Coy. Limited was going to give Compensation to the familys (sic) of them (sic) that perished on the Lusitania.
Well, Dear Sir, I have lost My Dear Wife + all that I owned in the world + I am about to leave the Army so I can assure you that If I can get anything that is my just rights I will be glad to send you full particulars.
Hoping to hear from you by return of post,
I remain, Dear Sir,
Your Obedient Servant
C.H. Reid
Cunard’s reply was terse and to the point, if not a little unfeeling and seems to have been a standard letter sent to all such enquirers at the time: -
January 10th 1919
Dear Sir,
In reply to your letter addressed to our Queenstown office, we beg to inform you that the Cunard Company do not pay any claim in connection with the sinking of the “Lusitania”.
The responsibility of that outrage rests entirely with the Germans and we would recommend you to place any claims which you may have with the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, War Claims Department, London.
Yours faithfully,
The Cunard Steam Ship Company
It is not known if Sergeant Reid took this advice, but had he done so, like all other claimants, he would have been unsuccessful!
Her husband, Charles, later remarried and had a family.
Register of Births, Marriages and Deaths, New York U.S. Extracted Marriage Index 1866 – 1937, 1901 Census of Ireland, 1905 New York State Census, 1910 U.S. Federal Census, 1911 Census of Ireland, New York Passenger Lists 1820 – 1957, Cunard Records, PRO BT 100/345, PRO MIC, UniLiv.D92/1/1, UniLiv D92/2/371, Deaths at Sea 1871 – 1968, Graham Maddocks, Joe Devereux, Geoff Whitfield, Michael Poirier, Jim Kalafus, Cliff Barry, Paul Latimer, Norman Gray.
Copyright © Peter Kelly.