Frederick Alexander ‘Fred’ Twigg was born in Clerkenwell, London, England, on the 30th July 1889, the son of Richard and Emily Georgina Twigg (née Middleton). His father, who died in 1899, was a butcher, and Fred was one of seven children. By 1915, the family home was at 3, Paradise Street, Margate, Kent.
Following the death of his father, Fred was enrolled as a boarder at the City of London Freemen’s Orphan School, Brixton, London.
In March 1910, he had sailed from Liverpool to Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada on board the Tunisian, intending to travel to Kola, Manitoba, in search of work, but by 1915, he was working and living in Winnipeg, Manitoba.
In the spring of 1915, he decided to return home - possibly because of the war - and as a result, booked second cabin passage for himself to travel from New York to Liverpool on the May sailing of the Lusitania. Having left Winnipeg some time in April, he joined the liner at the Cunard berth at Pier 54 in New York port on the morning of 1st May 1915, in time for her scheduled 10.00 a.m. sailing.
This was then delayed until the afternoon as she had to embark passengers, crew and cargo from the Anchor Liner 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 just after mid-day 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 fourteen hours steaming time away from the safety of her home port.
Unfortunately, Fred Twigg lost his life as a result of this action - one of about two thirds of all the second cabin passengers so to do. He was aged 25 years.
His body was recovered from the sea, but not until over two months after the sinking. It was washed up in Clew Bay on the west coast of Ireland, on the evening of 12th July 1915, at Bunlough Pier, near Louisberg, County Mayo, about 250 miles from where the Lusitania had gone down.
A police report of the finding sent to Cunard on 14th July 1915 stated: -
Decomposed body of man washed ashore on Bunbough Coast of Mayo last
night. On person were ticket of the Cunard Company with the name of J.A. Twigg and card with W.T. Smith, Murphy and Co., Winnipeg.
It was given the reference number 10, for corpses recovered from that area and because of its poor state, it was buried in the cemetery at Doughmore Churchyard, Louisburgh, County Mayo, not long afterwards.
Property recovered from it was sent to Fred Twigg’s mother at the Margate address, on 23rd July 1915. This consisted of a silver cigarette case with the initials F.A.T., a gun metal watch, a fountain pen, a bunch of keys, a leather waist belt a small note book bearing the name PRUDENTIAL INSURANCE CO OF AMERICA, cards bearing the name SMITH, MURPHY & Co., GRAIN COMMISSION AGENTS, WINNIPEG, a Cunard rail coupon from Liverpool to London, 3rd Class, in favour of F.A. Twigg and a handkerchief.
Mrs. Twigg had already applied to The Lusitania Relief Fund for financial aid to help her over her loss. This fund had been set up in Liverpool just after the sinking by The Lord Mayor of Liverpool and other worthy members of the city business houses to give financial aid to second and third class passengers and their relatives, who had suffered loss as a result of the sinking. They were of the opinion that saloon class passengers would not be in need of any monetary help.
The Relief Fund did consider her case but it is not known whether or not they made her an award.
Register of Births, Marriages and Deaths, London England Church of England Births and Baptisms 1813 – 1920, 1891 Census of England & Wales, 1901 Census of England & Wales, Canadian Passenger Lists 1865 – 1935, Cunard Records, Liverpool Records Office, PRO BT 100/345, UniLiv.D92/1/5, UniLiv D92/2/231, Deaths at Sea 1871 – 1968, Graham Maddocks, Geoff Whitfield, Michael Poirier, Jim Kalafus, Cliff Barry, Paul Latimer, Norman Gray.
Copyright © Peter Kelly.