George Noble Bartley was born in Gorton, south of Manchester, Lancashire, England, in 1877, the son and one of seven children of John and Mary Bartley (née Gebson). His father was a silk twister, and his mother a silk weaver. The family home was at 9. Ward Street, Gorton, near Manchester, Lancashire.
In 1907, he married Ellen Beard in Prestwich, Lancashire, and they had a son George Arthur, known as Arthur, born in 1910.
In February 1911, George travelled to Canada in search of work and settled in Welland, Ontario. In June of the same year, Ellen and their son, Arthur joined him.
In early 1915, their second son, John Gordon, was born.
In the spring of 1915, however, George Bartley decided to return to England with his family - perhaps because of the war - and consequently booked third class passage for them all on the May sailing of the
Lusitania from New York to Liverpool. Leaving Welland in April they arrived at the Cunard berth at Pier 54 in New York on the morning of 1st May 1915, in time to catch the liner’s scheduled 10.00 a.m. sailing.
Her departure was then actually delayed until the early afternoon, to give her time to take on board passengers, cargo and crew from the Anchor Liner
Cameronia, which had been taken up by the British Admiralty for war work as a troop ship at the end of April. Then, on the afternoon of 7th May, the
Lusitania was torpedoed and sunk by the German submarine U-20, twelve miles off the coast of southern Ireland and only 250 miles from her home port.
The whole of the Bartley family perished as a result of this action and not one of their bodies was ever recovered from the sea later and identified. George Bartley was aged 38 years.
Although the family have no final resting place but the sea, their names are remembered on the gravestone of the Bartley family in Philips Park Cemetery, Manchester.
His mother, Mrs. Mary Bartley, had immigrated to Canada in 1911, and was partially dependant on her son. She lodged a claim with the Canadian Commission for compensation for his loss and the loss of the family possession. On the 15th June 1926, she was awarded the sum of $2,000.00 for the loss of her son, with interest of 5% per annum from the 10th January 1920, and $1,450.00 for the loss of the family possessions with interest of 5% per annum from the 7th May 1915 to the date of the settlement.
Register of Births, Marriages and Deaths, 1881 Census of England & Wales, 1891 Census of England & Wales, 1901 Census of England & Wales, U.S. Atlantic Ports Passenger Lists 1893 – 1959, Canadian Passenger Lists 1865 – 1935, Canadian Claims Case No. 805, Cunard Records, Deaths at Sea 1871 – 1968, PRO BT 100/345, UniLiv D92/2/228, Graham Maddocks, Geoff Whitfield, Michael Poirier, Jim Kalafus, Cliff Barry, Paul Latimer, Norman Gray.
Copyright © Peter Kelly.