Ernest Hallam was born in Hale, Cheshire, England, on the 2nd July 1877, the son and youngest of three children of Alfred and Jane Hallam (née Aldcroft). His father was a pattern designer and postmaster.
On completing his education, Ernest became a telegraphist, and then a stationer’s assistant, before becoming a steward on board ocean-going liners in the Mercantile Marine.
On the 17th July 1901, he married Matilda “Lillie” Harris Rood at St. James’s Church, Higher Broughton, Salford, Manchester, and the couple had three children: Gladys, born in 1903, Ida Kathleen, born in 1905, and Thomas Alfred, born in 1912. In 1915, the family home was at 87, Buchanan Road, Seacombe, Wallasey, Cheshire.
As a professional seaman in the Mercantile Marine, he had served on the Lusitania since 1910.
He engaged for her last voyage as a second cabin bedroom steward in the Stewards' Department at Liverpool on the 12th April 1915 at a monthly rate of pay of £4-5s.-0d. (£4.25p) and reported for duty five days later, before the liner left the River Mersey for the last time.
Three weeks later, as the liner was nearing her home port, six days out of New York, he was one of the lucky survivors after she was torpedoed and sunk. Having been rescued from the sea, and landed at Queenstown, he eventually made it back to his Seacombe home.
Shortly afterwards, he was officially discharged from the Lusitania’s final voyage, at the Cunard offices at Liverpool and paid the balance of wages owing to him, which amounted to £4-9s.-6d. (£4.47½p). This was in respect of his sea service from the 17th April 1915 until 24 hours after the liner had gone down!
On the 1st April 1916, Lillie Hallam died at home, aged 40 years, and was interred in
Hale Cemetery.
On the 19th October 1916, Ernest was called up to serve in the army. He was placed on the reserve, perhaps because of his family circumstances, but in May 1917, he was called up and for the Army Veterinary Corps, as 28295 Private Ernest Hallam. He remained in England for the duration of his service, which ended in March 1919.
Ernest Hallam returned to the Mercantile Marine, continuing to serve as a steward for many years. In the Spring of 1923, he married Ethel M. Harling, and they lived at 10. Ruskin Avenue, Wallasey, Cheshire.
Ernest Hallam died in Wallasey, Cheshire, England, on the 31st January 1940, aged 62 years.
Register of Births, Marriages, and Deaths, Manchester England Non-Conformist Births and Baptisms 1758 – 1912, 1881 Census of England, 1891 Census of England, 1901 Census of England, 1911 Census of England, 1939 Register, Liverpool England Crew Lists 1861 – 1919, Cunard Records, UK British Army World War I Service Records 1914 – 1920, Liverpool Echo, Wallasey News, Wallasey & Wirral Chronicle, PRO BT 349, PRO BT 350, Graham Maddocks, Geoff Whitfield, Michael Poirier, Jim Kalafus, Cliff Barry, Paul Latimer, Norman Gray.
Copyright © Peter Kelly.
Revised & Updated – 29th December 2023.