Hannah Stark Tulloch was born in Kendall, Montana, in the United States of America on 14th June 1914, the daughter of James and Agnes Tulloch (née Kerr). Her parents
had emigrated from Scotland and her father was a coal miner.
In the spring of 1915, her father decided to return to Scotland for a holiday with his parents and introduce them to the daughter-in-law and granddaughter they had never seen! As a result, he booked all three of them on the May sailing of the Lusitania from New York to Liverpool as second cabin passengers. The family were in possession of ticket No. 74959.
Leaving Kendall at the end of April the family arrived at the Abington Hotel in New York, where they stayed until they arrived at the Cunard wharf at Pier 54 in New York harbour on the morning of 1st May 1915, in time for the liner’s scheduled 10.00 a.m. sailing. This was delayed however, because she had to wait to embark passengers, crew and cargo from Anchor Liner the S.S. Cameronia, which had been requisitioned by the British Admiralty for service as a troop ship, at the end of April.
The Lusitania finally left 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, twelve miles off the coast of southern Ireland and only hours away from her home port.
None of the family survived this action, all three losing their lives as a result - nor were any of their bodies ever recovered and identified afterwards. Hannah Tulloch was only eleven months old at the time.
James Kerr, her maternal grandfather, filed a claim with the Mixed Claims Commission in an effort to secure compensation for the loss of his grand-daughter. He was unable to file claims for the loss of his daughter and son-in-law, as they were British citizens. His claim was unsuccessful.
Montana U.S. Birth Records 1897 – 1988, Cunard Records, Mixed Claims Commission Docket No. 237, Falkirk Herald, Falkirk Mail, PRO BT 100/345, UniLiv D92/2/378, Deaths at Sea 1871 – 1968, Graham Maddocks, Geoff Whitfield, Michael Poirier, Jim Kalafus, Cliff Barry, Paul Latimer, Norman Gray.
Copyright © Peter Kelly.