Frederick William Burgess ‘Fred‘ Gorst was born at Seacombe, Wallasey, Cheshire, England, on the 21st June 1886, the son of William and Lucretia Lavinia Gorst (née Payne), of 16, Hartismere Road, Wallasey. His father was a mariner and Fred was the eldest of three children.
As a teenager, Fred Gorst became an apprentice house painter but then joined the Mercantile Marine as a waiter on passenger ships.
He married Annie May ‘May’ Parsons in Birkenhead in early 1914, and they lived at 10, Bishop Road, Poulton, Wallasey.
He first served on ships of The Cunard Steam Ship Company in 1907 and made his first voyage on the Lusitania in September 1914, employed as a first class waiter and lounge steward in the Stewards' Department. He engaged in the same capacity at Liverpool for what became her final voyage on the 12th April 1915 at a monthly rate of £4-5s.-0d. (£4.25p.) and joined the ship on the morning of the 17th April before she left Liverpool landing stage for the very last time.
He was killed, three weeks later, when the ship foundered, within sight of the southern Irish coast and only hours away from her home port, having been torpedoed by the German submarine U-20.
He was last seen by First Class Waiter Noel Finucane as the ship was about to sink.
Finucane described his experiences of the sinking to a reporter of his local newspaper, The Wallasey News, and these were published in the edition of Saturday, the 15th May 1915. He told how he had been about to dive over the side of the ship into the sea when he saw Fred Gorst and exhorted him to do the same. Gorst may or may not have heeded his friend's advice, but either way he did not survive the subsequent sinking or immersion in the water. He was aged 28 years.
His body was never recovered and identified after the sinking and as a consequence, he is commemorated on the Mercantile Marine Memorial at Tower Hill, London. He is also mentioned on the family grave in Rake Lane Cemetery, in Wallasey. The pertinent inscription on the headstone states: -
ALSO OUR DEAR FRED,
THE BELOVED HUSBAND OF MAY GORST,
WHO LOST HIS LIFE ON THE "LUSITANIA" 7TH MAY 1915,
AGED 28 YEARS
In August 1915, Fred Gorst was officially discharged from the last voyage of the Lusitania and his widow was paid the balance of wages owed to him, in respect of his service on board the Lusitania from the 30th April 1915, until the 8th May, 24 hours after the vessel had gone down! In addition, The Liverpool and London War Risks Insurance Association Limited granted an annual pension to May Gorst to compensate her for the loss of her husband which amounted to £45-4s.-8d. (£45.23½p.), payable at the rate of £3-15s.-5d. (£3.77p.) per month.
On the 4th July 1915, Fred and May Gorst’s only child, a daughter named Freda, was born in Birkenhead. She never knew her father.
Fred Gorst's father died in March 1940 aged 80 years and his mother died in February 1937 aged 78 years.
Register of Births, Marriages, and Deaths, Cheshire Diocese of Chester Parish Baptisms 1538 – 1911, 1891 Census of England, 1901 Census of England, 1911 Census of England, Cunard Records, Commonwealth War Graves Commission, Liverpool Echo, Wallasey News, (Photo 15/05/1915), Wallasey & Wirral Chronicle, UniLiv. PR 13/24, PRO BT 100/345, PRO BT 334, PRO BT 351/1/52696, Graham Maddocks, Denise Deighton, Geoff Whitfield, Michael Poirier, Jim Kalafus, Cliff Barry, Paul Latimer, Norman Gray.
Copyright © Peter Kelly.
Revised & Updated – 8th December 2023.