George Percival Hilton was born in Liverpool, Lancashire, England, on the 11th January 1887, the son of Joseph and Emma Jane Hilton (née Keller). He was the second eldest of six children, and his father was a book keeper.
He was a professional sailor in the Mercantile Marine and had served with The Cunard Steam Ship Company since 1908. He had been on one Cunarder, the Slavonia, when she had been wrecked off the Azores.
He was married to Lucy Emma Henrietta Garnett in 1911, and they lived at 7, Ashburton Road, Liscard, Wallasey, Cheshire.
He engaged as a first class waiter in the Stewards’ Department on the Lusitania, at Liverpool, on the 12th April 1915 at a monthly rate of £4-5s.-0d. (£4.25p.) and joined the vessel on the morning of the 17th April before she left Liverpool for the last time ever.
When she was sunk, just three weeks later, within hours of her home port and within sight of the southern Irish coast, he was not fortunate enough to be counted amongst the survivors. He was aged 28 years, although at the time he engaged, he gave his age as 29.
His body was never found and identified and as a consequence, he is commemorated on the Mercantile Marine Memorial at Tower Hill, London.
When his will was proven on the 6th July 1915, administration was granted to his widow Lucy and his effects amounted to £91-4s.-0d. (£91.20p). The following month, she was paid the balance of wages owing to him for the Lusitania’s final voyage, which was reckoned from the 17th April to the 8th May 1915, 24 hours after the liner had foundered.
The Liverpool and London War Risks Insurance Association Limited granted a yearly pension to Lucy Hilton to compensate her for the loss of her husband which amounted to £32-11s.-8d. (£32.58½p.) which was payable at the rate of £2-14s.-4d. (£2.71½p.) per month.
Register of Births, Marriages, and Deaths, England and Wales Non-Conformist Baptisms, 1891 Census of England, 1911 Census of England, Cunard Records, Commonwealth War Graves Commission, Wallasey & Wirral Chronicle, Probate Records, UniLiv. PR 13/24, PRO BT 100/345, PRO BT 334, Deaths at Sea 1871 – 1968, Graham Maddocks, Geoff Whitfield, Michael Poirier, Jim Kalafus, Cliff Barry, Paul Latimer, Norman Gray.
Copyright © Peter Kelly.
Revised & Updated – 10th January 2024.