Frederick ‘Fred’ George Frankum was born in London, Middlesex, Ontario, Canada, on the 10th July 1910, the son of Joseph William and Annie Maria Booth Frankum (née Watson). His parents had emigrated from England, and had first settled in London, Ontario, Canada, before going to Detroit, Michigan, in the United States of America, and then returning to London, Ontario, again! His father was a carpenter.
Fred had one brother Francis born in 1908 in Detroit, and a sister Winifred, also born in Detroit, in 1914.
Perhaps because the war had seriously depressed the manufacturing industries in America - initially at least - the family decided to return to Aston in early 1915, and consequently booked as third class passengers on what became the
Lusitania's final voyage.
Perhaps because the war had seriously depressed the manufacturing industries in America, at least in 1914, the family decided to return to Aston in early 1915, and as a result booked as third class passengers on what became the
Lusitania's final voyage, which began at 12.27 p.m. on 1st May 1915. The family was accommodated in room H17.
Six days later, on the afternoon of 7th May, the liner was torpedoed by the German submarine
U-20, twelve miles off The Old Head of Kinsale in southern Ireland and sank within eighteen minutes. At that stage of her voyage, she was a mere twelve or fourteen hours away from her Liverpool destination.
Fred Frankum and his mother and sister were all killed, only his father and brother Francis survived.
His father later told of the loss of his family members in an interview with a reporter of
The Birmingham Daily Post published on 10th May 1915. In it he said: -
At the time of the disaster, we were sitting down forward having a cup of tea. As soon as the explosion occurred I gripped my two boys while my wife took charge of the little girl. We made our way along the deck. In the hurry I dropped my little boy who dropped about 6ft., but I picked him up again, and we made our way towards one of the lifeboats. Then leaving my wife and children alongside a boat, I went downstairs to get lifebelts. When I got on deck, I found that my wife and children had not got places.
We clung to one another as the ship went down. I stuck to my wife and children as long as I could but as we sank, we were separated. After a great struggle I came to the surface. I could find no traces of my wife nor any of my children. Seeing an overturned lifeboat nearby, I struck out, and climbed on the keel. .....
We were picked up and brought to Queenstown. I thought I had lost all my family, but judge of my surprise when I came across my eldest boy, seven years of age, in the hotel this morning. He and my wife and the other children had got into a boat which turned turtle. However, the boy clung to the boat and was rescued.
Like those of his mother and sister, Fred's body was never found and identified afterwards and as a result, he has no known grave. He was aged five years.
His father later filed a claim for compensation which was considered after the war by the Mixed Claims Commission. The compensation was sought for the loss of Fred’s mother. As Joseph Frankum was a citizen of Great Britain, and therefore no American citizen suffered loss, injury, or damage, as a result of Annie’s death, no award was made.
Detroit Border Crossings and Passenger and Crew Lists 1905 – 1963, Cunard Records, Mixed Claims Commission Docket No. 2188, Birmingham Daily Gazette, Birmingham Daily Post, 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.