Geoffrey Thornley Coxon was born in North Shields, Northumberland, England, on the 19th May 1896, the son of John William and Florence Coxon (née Clegg). His father had previously been married, fathering ten children before being widowed, and Geoffrey’s mother was his second wife. The family home was at 28, Hunter Street, South Shields, County Durham, England. He was a chemist by profession, and had an older brother – Augustine.
His maternal grandfather was Thomas Clegg, a well known figure in Liverpool, having been a physician and co-founder of
The Liverpool Daily Post of which he was one time editor.
In 1913, Geoffrey Coxon left the north-east of England to work in America. He boarded the
Campania at Liverpool on the 3rd May, bound for New York City. Then, in April 1915, he decided to return to South Shields, to take up a professional appointment there. Consequently, on 26th April 1915, he paid $40 for a third class passage (ticket No. 1647) aboard the scheduled May sailing of the Lusitania, to return home.
He joined the liner at the Cunard berth at Pier 54 in New York in time for her 10.00a.m. departure, but had to wait until the early afternoon before she sailed, as she had to take on board passengers, crew and cargo from Anchor Liner
Cameronia which the British Admiralty had requisitioned for war work as a troop ship. Then, six days later, on the afternoon of 7th May, the
Lusitania was torpedoed and sunk off the southern coast of Ireland, by the German submarine
U-20 - only about fourteen hours sailing time from her Liverpool destination.
Geoffrey Coxon was killed as a result of this action - he was in his 19th year.
Tragically, on the afternoon of 8th May 1915, exactly 24 hours after the liner had gone down, Geoffrey Coxon's mother received a truly pathetic postcard from her son, posted in New York, which simply said: -
Just longing to see you, mother. Try to meet me at Liverpool. Otherwise I shall come right on to South Shields.
As his body was never recovered from the sea and identified afterwards, he has no known grave, but he is commemorated on the grave of his maternal grandparents in Anfield Cemetery, Liverpool.
The inscription there states: -
GEOFFREY THORNLEY COXON,
GRANDSON OF
THOMAS AND ANN CLEGG,
LOST IN THE S.S. “LUSITANIA”
MAY 7TH 1915, AGED 19 YEARS
In the summer of 1915, his mother applied for financial assistance to The Lusitania Relief Fund, which had been set up after the disaster by The Lord Mayor of Liverpool and other worthy dignitaries, to help those survivors and relatives of the dead, who found themselves in difficulties as a result of the sinking. The committee administering the fund declined to make any payment to her as they deemed that she was not in need of assistance and had not proved she was dependant on her son.
Register of Births, Marriages and Deaths, 1901 Census of England & Wales, 1911 Census of England & Wales, UK Outward Passenger Lists 1890 – 1960, New York Passenger Lists 1820 – 1957, Cunard Records, PRO BT 100/345, Deaths at Sea 1871 – 1968, UniLiv D92/2/169, Liverpool Record Office, Newcastle Daily Chronicle, Newcastle Daily Journal, Graham Maddocks, Maurice Rigby, Geoff Whitfield, Michael Poirier, Jim Kalafus, Cliff Barry, Paul Latimer, Norman Gray.
Copyright © Peter Kelly.