Frederick Sydney ‘Fred’ Hammond was born in Ontario, Canada, on the 17th August 1885, the son of Herbert Carlyle and Frances “Fannie” Maria Hammond (née Burbridge). His father was a broker, and the family home was in Toronto. When his parents had married on the 1st January 1885, his mother was a widow with three children. Her first husband, Edward Crombie, had died in 1875.
Fred became a stock broker, like his father, and also graduated from the Royal Military College at Kingston, Frontenac County, Ontario.
On the 30th September 1909, he married Kathleen Saunders McParland in Kingston, and it is likely that they met when he attended the college in the city. Three days before their wedding, Fred had been baptised into the Roman Catholic faith, having been brought up in the Church of England faith. The couple established their home at 70. Lowther Avenue, Toronto, and on the 18th November 1910, they welcomed their only child, a son they named Paul Carlyle Hammond. Unfortunately, he suffered an injury at birth due to a difficult delivery, and died the following day.
Fred Hammond had business interests in England, and in 1911, 1913, and 1914, he travelled there with his wife in pursuit of these interests.
Then, in the spring of 1915, Fred Hammond decided to travel to England and obtain a commission in the British Army. He had used his social contacts to this end, and had obtained a letter of introduction from the Duke of Connaught, who was acting as an aide-de-camp to the Lieutenant Governor of Canada, to assist him in obtaining a commission. His desire was to obtain a commission in a cavalry regiment; however, he was also considering the Grenadier Guards or the Rifle Brigade.
Having made his preparations to enlist in the British Army, Fred booked saloon passage through agents A. F. Webster & Son, of Toronto, for himself and his wife to sail from New York to Liverpool on the
Lusitania on the morning of 1st May 1915.
Travelling from Toronto at the end of April, the couple arrived at the Cunard berth at Pier 54 in New York harbour on May Day morning and with ticket number 46128, they boarded the liner. They were then escorted to their accommodation in room B89, which was looked after by First Class Bedroom Steward James Collins, who came from Formby in Lancashire, not far from Liverpool.
The liner’s sailing was then delayed until the afternoon as she had to take on board passengers, crew and cargo from the Anchor Lines vessel the
Cameronia, which had been requisitioned by the British Admiralty for war work at the end of April. The
Lusitania finally left the port just after mid-day and just six days later, on the afternoon of 7th May; she was torpedoed and sunk twelve miles off the coast of southern Ireland and only 250 miles away from her Liverpool destination.
Although Kathleen Hammond survived the sinking, her husband was killed as a result of the action and as his body was never recovered and identified, he has no known grave.
Bedroom Steward James Collins, who had looked after Mr. and Mrs. Hammond in room B89, did survive the sinking, however and eventually made it back to his Formby home.
On 23rd May 1916, just over a year after he had been killed, administration of Frederick Hammond’s estate in England was granted to his widow Kathleen at London. His effects amounted to £2,000-0s-0d.
Ontario Canada Roman Catholic Baptisms, Marriages and Burials 1760 – 1923, Ontario Canada Marriages 1826 – 1937, Ontario Canada Deaths and Overseas Deaths 1869 – 1947, 1891 Census of Canada, 1901 Census of Canada, 1911 Census of Canada, 1911 Census of England & Wales, New York Passenger Lists 1820 – 1957, Cunard Records, Probate Records, PRO 22/71, PRO BT 100/345, UniLiv.D92/1/8-10, Deaths at Sea 1871 – 1968, Graham Maddocks, Geoff Whitfield, Michael Poirier, Jim Kalafus, Cliff Barry, Paul Latimer, Norman Gray.
Copyright © Peter Kelly.