Harold Chantry was born in Airmyn, (near Goole), Yorkshire, England, in 1892, the son of Thomas Edward and Ellen Chantry (née Baxter). The family resided at Dutch River Side Farm in Airmyn, and Harold was the third youngest of ten children, and the youngest of five sons.
On completion of his education, he became a bank clerk in Stokesley, Yorkshire, and it was while working here that he met a local girl named Mina Hugill. In the latter half of 1914, the couple married in Seamer, a little village in Yorkshire North Riding.
On the 21st November 1914, the couple boarded the Lusitania as second cabin passengers at Liverpool and travelled across the Atlantic Ocean to New York City, arriving on the 28th November. From there, they travelled to Nelson, British Columbia, Canada, to spend a holiday with relatives or friends. In late 1914 or early 1915, whilst still in Canada, Mina Chantry gave birth to a daughter, named Elizabeth Ellen.
In the spring of 1915, the family decided to return home to England and they again booked second cabin passage on the
Lusitania which was scheduled to leave the Cunard berth at Pier 54 in New York at 10.00 a.m. on 1st May 1915. They left Nelson, British Columbia, in late April, and travelled overland to New York City.
Having boarded the liner in time for their sailing, the family had to wait until the early afternoon before she left as she had to embark passengers, crew and cargo from the Anchor Liner, which had been requisitioned by the British Admiralty for war service as a troop ship, at the end of April. Just six days later, on the afternoon of 7th May, the
Lusitania was torpedoed and sunk by the German submarine U-20
off The Old Head of Kinsale in southern Ireland and only 250 miles away from her Liverpool destination.
None of the Chantry family survived this action, nor were any of their bodies recovered and identified afterwards. As a result, none has a known grave. Harold Chantry was aged 24 years.
Almost a year after his death, on 8th April 1916, administration of his estate was granted to Mrs. Ellen Chantry, who was his mother, at London. His effects amounted to £742-3s-8d., (£742.18p.).
The Chantry family are commemorated on the gravestone of Harold’s parents in St. James’ Churchyard, Rawcliffe, in the East Riding of Yorkshire. The inscription relating to them on the headstone states: -
In Loving Memory of
HAROLD, FIFTH SON OF THE ABOVE
AGED 23 YEARS
ALSO MINA, HIS WIFE.
AGED 22 YEARS.
AND INFANT DAUGHTER WHO
WERE LOST WITH THE
S.S. LUSITANIA, MAY
7TH 1915
Register of Births, Marriages and Deaths, 1901 Census of England & Wales, 1911 Census of England & Wales, New York Passenger Lists 1820 – 1957, Canadian Passenger Lists 1865 – 1935, U.S. Border Crossings from Canada to U.S. 1895 – 1960, Cunard Records, Probate Records, PRO BT 100/345, Deaths at Sea 1871 – 1968, Graham Maddocks, Reverend Philip Ball, Geoff Whitfield, Michael Poirier, Jim Kalafus, Cliff Barry, Paul Latimer, Norman Gray.
Copyright © Peter Kelly.