Ezekiel Edgar ‘Ed’ Gorer was born in Paddington, London, England, on the 2nd April 1872, the son of Solomon Lewis and Helen Gorer (née Van Goor). His father was a tobacconist and silversmith, and the family resided at 32. Delamere Crescent, Paddington, London. Edgar was the youngest of three children, having a brother, Lewis, and a sister, Annie.
In late 1902, he married Rachel Alice Cohen in London, and the couple lived at 45, Nether Hall Gardens, Hampstead, London. The couple had four children – Helen, born in 1903, Geoffrey Edgar Solomon, born in 1905, Peter Alfred Isaac, born in 1907, and Richard Benjamin, born in 1913. Unfortunately Helen died a short time after her birth.
He was an art expert and businessman and was owner of Gorer of London, which dealt in Chinese porcelain. Its premises in London was at 170, Bond Street, and in New York, it was 500, Fifth Avenue. In 1911, he co-wrote, with J.F. Blacker,
Chinese Porcelain and Hard Stones, one of the definitive publications on Chinese porcelain and artwork. It was published in two volumes.
From at least 1909, Edgar Gorer travelled to New York City, in the United States of America, every second year to conduct business. He usually sailed on the
Lusitania or her sister ship, the Mauritania, and although he stayed in the Plaza Hotel in 1909, thereafter he preferred to stay in the Ritz Carlton hotel, which had opened in New York City in 1911.
In January 1915, Edgar Gorer had been on business in New York, along with Herbert Ellis, who was one of his employees, and also acted as his valet. Before he left England, he had booked return passage from London as a saloon passenger for himself and as a second cabin passenger for Herbert Ellis, on the Lusitania, which was scheduled to leave New York on the morning of 1st May 1915 at 10.00 am. Before joining the liner, he stayed, as usual, at the Ritz Carlton Hotel, and once on board, (with ticket number 46057) he was allocated room B73, which was the personal responsibility of First Class Bedroom Steward Walter Wood, who came from Seaforth, Lancashire, not far from Liverpool. His travelling companion on the voyage was fellow British saloon passenger and art dealer Frank Partridge, who occupied room A31. Herbert Ellis was accommodated in the second cabin section.
The liner’s sailing was then delayed until the afternoon as she had to embark passengers, some of the crew and cargo from the Anchor Lines ship the S.S.
Cameronia, which had been requisitioned by the British Admiralty for war service as a troop ship, at the end of April. The
Lusitania finally left port at 12.27 p.m., and just six days later, on the afternoon of 7th May, she was torpedoed and sunk by the German submarine
U-20. At that point, she was off The Old Head of Kinsale in southern Ireland and only about twelve to fourteen hours away from her Liverpool home port and destination
Ed Gorer lost his life as a result of this action and his body was never recovered and identified afterwards, he has no known grave. He was aged 43 years. His employee, Herbert Ellis, also perished but his remains were later recovered and identified.
On 29th May 1915, administration of his estate was granted at London to his widow, Charles Arthur Cohen, solicitor, and John Ernest Cohen, engineer who were probably relatives. His effects amounted to £53,272-15s-7d, (£53,272.78p).
His travelling companion Frank Partridge survived the sinking, and finally made it to his London home as did Bedroom Steward Wood, who had looked after Mr. Partridge in room B73 and who made it back to Seaforth.
Edgar’s son, Peter, became a renowned immunologist, pathologist, and geneticist, and the Peter Gorer Department of Immunobiology at Kings College, London, is named in his honour.
Complete two-volume sets of Chinese Porcelain and Hard Stones are still highly valued in the art world today, and have been known to realise over £10,000 at auction!
Register of Births, Marriages and Deaths, 1881 Census of England & Wales, 1901 Census of England & Wales, 1911 Census of England & Wales, New York Passenger Lists 1820 – 1957, Cunard Records, New York Times, Probate Records, PRO 22/71, 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.