Florence Stancliffe was born at Sutton, Macclesfield, Cheshire, England, on the 26th April 1866, the eldest daughter of Colonel William Waltham and Susannah Stancliffe (née Adshead) of Sutton. She had two brothers, Percy and Richard and two sisters, Esther and Carolina.
Her father was a brewer and an officer in the 8th Corps of Cheshire Rifle Volunteers,
which later became the 7th Bn. The Cheshire Regiment, which was a part-time territorial force.
In December 1887, Florence married William Wallace Watson, known as Wallace Watson, at St. George’ Church, Macclesfield. Her husband had been born in Scotland, but in 1870, he had immigrated to Montreal, Quebec, Canada, where he became the secretary of the Canada Sugar Refining Company. Following their wedding, Florence accompanied her husband to Montreal, arriving on New Year’s Eve.
The couple had four children, Agnes Wallace, Stancliffe Wallace, Florence Wallace and William Wallace. Then, on the 21st November 1903, her husband died following cancer surgery at the General Hospital, Montreal, aged 58 years.
She returned for a holiday to England in 1906, and then, in the spring of 1915, she decided to return to Sutton for another holiday and consequently booked saloon passage (through agents W. H. Henry, of Montreal) on the May sailing of the Lusitania, from New York to Liverpool.
Having 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, she boarded with ticket number 13163 and was escorted to her accommodation, which was in room D17. This was the personal responsibility of First Class Bedroom Steward William McLeod who came from Birkenhead, on the opposite bank of the River Mersey from Liverpool. McLeod was an experienced employee of Cunard and had achieved the rank of Chief First Class Bedroom Steward, but was serving as an ordinary first class bedroom steward on what was to become the liner’s final voyage.
The liner’s departure was delayed until the early afternoon as she had to take on board passengers, crew and cargo from the recently requisitioned liner Cameronia and Mrs. Watson would have had her last glimpse of America then, as the liner left the port and sailed out into the Atlantic Ocean. Six days later, on the afternoon of 7th May, she was torpedoed and sunk by the German submarine U-20, within sight of the coast of southern Ireland, and only hours away from her home port. Florence Watson was killed as a result of this action. She was aged 49 years.
Her body was recovered from the sea, however and after it was landed at Queenstown, it was given the reference number 132 in one of the temporary mortuaries there. It was obviously not identified immediately for it was initially buried in one of the mass graves in The Old Church Cemetery, just outside the town, probably on 10th May 1915, the day that most of the victims were buried. As it was necessary to bury all the recovered bodies as soon as possible, because they could not be hygienically stored in the increasing heat of May, they were all photographed in the temporary mortuaries in Queenstown before being buried as soon as was practicable. Anxious friends and relatives of those missing were then invited to identify their loved ones through these photographs.
However, following the disaster, Mrs. Watson's younger brother, Richard Shepley Stancliffe, journeyed to Queenstown to search for his sister or her body and probably recognising her from the photograph of victim 132, was able to claim her body. Another account in the Cunard archive in The Sidney Jones Library in Liverpool University states that the brother of Mr. Ernest Henn, a second cabin passenger victim, travelling from Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada: -
identified another victim, No. 132
in Queenstown. It is more likely, however, that this was a simple mistake and that the body he identified was really No 182, which was that of his aunt Martha Maria Lakin, who was travelling on board the Lusitania with Ernest and May Henn as Martha Maria Smith.
Whichever was the case, Mrs. Watson’s body was disinterred on 13th May 1915 and Mr. Stancliffe accompanied it back to Macclesfield. After arriving there at Hibel Road railway station, it was met by her older brother Percy and then conveyed to St. James' Church, Sutton, for burial.
By this time, it had been put in a new coffin, which was described in an article in The Macclesfield Courier and Herald published on Saturday 15th May 1915: -
The coffin, which consisted of plain English oak with heavy brass mountings bore the following inscription on the breastplate, "Florence Wallace Watson, died May 7th 1915." and was surmounted by a magnificent Gothic floral cross the full length of the coffin with the following inscription on the card. Mr. Stancliffe Wallace Watson, Mr. William Wallace Watson (Montreal), Mr. and Mrs. Archibald Edward Gryer (Montreal), and Mr. and Mrs. Cameron Macpherson Edwards (Ottawa).
Those mentioned were her children and sons-in-law, as none of them were present at her funeral and Cunard records state that property recovered from her body was handed over at Queenstown to Richard Stancliffe, on behalf of her children.
Cunard records show that Florence Watson's body was collected by a relative named Mr. Ratcliffe. This latter might be a mistake made during all the confusion that accompanied the aftermath of the sinking and had been confused with Stancliffe.
The burial actually took place on the morning of Friday 14th May, The Reverend W.R. Gough, M.A., Vicar of St. James' Church conducting the service. Many family members and other mourners were present and the body was laid to rest in a new family vault, where it lies today.
This vault, to the rear of the church consists of a raised rectangle with a large stone slab on top. On this is incised: -
SACRED TO THE MEMORY
OF
Florence wife of William Wallace Watson,
of Montreal Canada, and daughter of William Waltham Stancliffe,
of Sutton, Macclesfield, born April 26th 1866,
drowned in the sinking of the Lusitania,
May 7th 1915.
The details of other members of the family who are buried there, including her parents are also inscribed on this slab and on one of the sides. Her father died in October 1917 aged 80 years and her mother in March 1924 also aged 80.
Bedroom Steward McLeod who had had responsibility for Mrs. Wallace-Watson in room D17, also perished in the sinking and never saw his Birkenhead home again.
It was not until 19th October 1920 that administration of her estate - with limited will - was granted, at London to Florence Wallace-Watson’s brother Richard Shipley Stancliffe, (who was a company director), on behalf of her sons Stancliffe Wallace-Watson and William Wallace-Watson. Her effects amounted to £550-0s-0d..
Some records state her name was Mrs. Wallace-Watson, but this is incorrect.
Register of Births, Marriages and Deaths, 1871 Census of England & Wales, 1881 Census of England & Wales, 1891 Census of Canada, 1901 Census of Canada, Canadian Passenger Lists 1865 – 1935, Cunard Records, The Gazette, Macclesfield Courier and Herald, Probate Records, PRO 22/71, PRO BT 100/345, UniLiv.D92/1/8-10, Deaths at Sea 1871 – 1968, Graham Maddocks, Michael Poirier, Jim Kalafus, Cliff Barry, Paul Latimer, Norman Gray.
Copyright © Peter Kelly.