George Henderson Turton was born in Halewood, Lancashire, England, on the 24th January 1870, the son of William and Betty Turton (née Turton). He was the youngest of twelve known children in the family, and his father was a farmer, farming 100 acres of land around the family home at Burnt Mill Farm, Halewood.
On completing his education, George became an insurance clerk and later a fire underwriter for an insurance company. In 1894, he went to Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, where he became the general manager of the Royal Insurance Company of
Liverpool for Australasia.
On the 27th September 1899, he returned to England and married Ann Mealor at All Saints Parish Church, Thornton Hough, Wirral, Cheshire. The couple took up residence at Raby House, Wellington Street, Kew, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
Their daughter, Nancy, was born in Melbourne in 1901; however, Ann Turton suffered from ill-health and, in May 1904, accompanied by her daughter, returned to her home in Raby, Cheshire, where she died on the 10th July 1904.
In 1906, George married Annie Blanche Luttrell in Melbourne. The couple had two children – Hungerford Luttrell, born in 1908, and Eleanor Berkeley, born in 1913. The family home was at Orrong Road, Elsternwick, Melbourne.
In early 1915 he had reason to return to Liverpool on company business and crossed the Pacific Ocean to Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, from where he took a train to New York City. Whilst there, he stayed in The Knickerbocker Hotel before arriving at the Cunard berth at Pier 54 in the harbour there for the scheduled 10.00 a.m. sailing of the Lusitania to Liverpool on 1st May. Once he had boarded, (with ticket number 46120), he was escorted to his accommodation in room B29 which was under the personal supervision of First Class Waiter James Holden who came from Liverpool and was acting as a first class bedroom steward on what was to become the Lusitania‘s final voyage.
The liner’s sailing was delayed until the afternoon as she had to embark passengers, crew and cargo from the Anchor Liner, which had been requisitioned by the British Admiralty for war work at the end of April. She finally left the 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 twelve miles off the coast of southern Ireland and only 250 miles away from her home port.
George Turton was able to survive the sinking - one of only about 100 saloon passengers to do this - and having been rescued from the sea, he was landed at Queenstown, from where he was eventually able to reach his destination.
In New Zealand, The Evening Star newspaper for 11th May 1915, reported: -
A NEW ZEALANDER SAVED
WELLINGTON, May 10.
Cabled advice reached Wellington today that Mr. George Turton, general manager for Australasia of the Royal Insurance Company, who was a passenger on the Lusitania, had landed safely, and was in Dublin. Mr. Turton is well known in New Zealand insurance circles.
First Class Waiter Holden who had looked after George Turton in room B29 perished in the sinking and never saw his Liverpool home again! Fellow saloon passenger Scott Turner was also looked after by James Holden and had also stayed at The Knickerbocker Hotel prior to joining the Lusitania. He, like George Turton, worked for The Royal Insurance Company and also survived the sinking, so it is highly probable
that the two knew each other.
In 1927, George Turton and his wife moved to London, England.
On the 28th October 1938, George Turton died, aged 68 years. He was residing with his wife at 7. Dryburgh Mansions, Putney, London, at the time of his death.
Register of Births, Marriages and Deaths, Lancashire England Church of England Births and Baptisms 1813 – 1911, Cheshire Marriage Licence Bonds and Allegations 1606 – 1905, Victoria Australia Marriage Index 1837 – 1950, 1871 Census of England & Wales, 1881 Census of England & Wales, 1891 Census of England & Wales, Victoria Australia Passenger Lists 1839 – 1923, Canadian Passenger Lists 1820 – 1957, Cunard Records, 1937 London Electoral Register, Evening Star, The Argus, PRO 22/71, Graham Maddocks, Geoff Whitfield, Michael Poirier, Jim Kalafus, Cliff Barry, Paul Latimer, Norman Gray.
Copyright © Peter Kelly.