Harold Smethurst was born in Middleton, Rochdale, Lancashire, England, on the 12th June 1888, the son of John and Matilda Smethurst (née Wild). Both of his parents were involved in the local textile industry, and in the early years of their marriage, they lived with John Smethurst’s widowed father.
On completion of his education, Harold found work in a local cotton mill, and then, in 1912, he married Alice Schofield, who was also a local cotton mill worker.
On the 14th January 1914, the couple boarded the Merion at Liverpool, and disembarked in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, five days later. Their destination was New Philadelphia, Ohio, where Alice had a married sister. Presumably, Harold intended to find work in the area, however; in the spring of 1915, Alice was pregnant, and the couple decided to return to Middleton. Consequently, they booked third class passage on the Lusitania, from New York to Liverpool. They left New Philadelphia at the end of April 1915 and arrived in New York in enough time to board the vessel before she sailed just after mid-day, on what was to become her last ever voyage.
Six days out of New York on the afternoon of 7th May, when the liner was torpedoed and sunk, both Alice and Thomas Smethurst were counted amongst the survivors. After seeing his wife safely got away in one of the lifeboats that was successfully launched, he jumped into the sea and was rescued by another. Having been rescued from the sea they were both landed at Queenstown, after which they eventually got back to Rochdale.
Whilst still in Queenstown, they were interviewed by a reporter from local newspaper The Cork Examiner about their experiences of the sinking and these were published in the edition of Monday 10th May and stated: -
Mr. H. Smethurst together with his wife were passengers on board, and he did not notice anything wrong until the vessel was struck and she began to settle. After three minutes, she had listed so much that some of the passengers thought she was going to capsize. Yet some of the people did not appear to realise that the Lusitania could be sunk.
He got his wife into one of the lifeboats and waited on deck himself. Mrs. Smethurst appealed to him as she was going away to come with her, but he said the women and children should go first. He remained on board and got a lifebelt, and later slipped into the water and was picked up by one of the boats. They were rowing about for, he thought, between two and three hours, and then they saw the different steamers which came to their assistance. They were then taken on board one of the steamers and treated very kindly.
In The Merseyside Maritime Museum in Liverpool, there is a transcript of a letter written by Harold Smethurst to an unknown person which gives an account of his experiences on the Lusitania. It states: -
Saturday 1st May 1915
It was a glorious day, and New York harbour was crowded with people, relations, friends, and sightseers, to watch passengers embark aboard the S.S. Lusitania on what proved to be her last voyage. I had booked a berth for myself and wife. The band commenced to play and amidst a great amount of cheering and flag waving we had started on our voyage. The passengers commenced to settle down, and got acquainted with each other. The topic of conversation was war, and submarines. We had been afloat a few days and we decided to have a sports for the children, the winners to receive prizes, which we purchased on the boat. Little did we think, that for some of them it was to be their last days enjoyment. Friday morning arrived (7th May) it was very hazy and we were all looking forward to seeing the coast of Ireland. About 10.30am we caught a glimpse of the Irish coast. The gong rang for dinner, and everybody began to feel more contented, after dinner I took my wife up on deck, the Old Head of Kinsale was now quite clear. I left my wife with some friends, telling her I was going to our cabin for a shave, we were now about 8 miles from Old Kinsale. I was almost finishing shaving (time about 2-5pm when suddenly I heard deadening thud and felt the ship give a lurch. I grabbed my coat & vest and rushed up on deck to see what was wrong, everybody was in a state of panic, women and children screaming and crying, men were rushing about to find their loved ones, prayers were being said aloud, and the cry of “Hail Mary” was heard quite clearly, after a great struggle I found my wife, she had made her way to the staircase that led to our cabin, she was crying bitterly. I called out A – the next moment she was in my arms. I told her we had been torpedoed, and we must hurry to get to the boat decks. The ship had now got a terrible list, we had several staircases to mount and in that great rush men, women, and even children were left behind. In this great rush very few passengers had got their lifebelts, these were kept in the cabins and it would have been folly for anyone to have attempted to go down for them, we eventually reached the boat station, but you can imagine what we felt like, when we saw the same thing happening there as we had experienced in our rush from below. Everybody was fighting to reach the boats and some of the crew were calling out for assistance to lower the boats. Leaving my wife in a safe place I went forward with several other men to give the crew a helping hand. The first boat we attempted to lower was staved in owing to the list of the ship and, our inexperience, and those poor souls were all thrown into the water and I say, hear (sic.) without fear of contradiction that lots of lives were lost by our crude methods. Readers might think this a strange remark to make, but when one realizes the bulk of
seamen had joined up, it will be quite easy to understand, we would lower a boat about 20 or 30 feet, then one side or the other would release more rope than the other consequently one end of the boat would be a lot higher than the other and some of the passengers never had a chance. After lowering several boats, I decided to get my wife into one, I went for her and taking her in my arms I told her to keep her spirits up, and that she would have to leave me now. After a lot of persuasion she decided to leave me. I got her into a boat and I was very pleased to see that boat arrive safely in the water, when to my horror I saw one of the ropes had fouled and they could not get away, but one of the crew had the presence of mind to cut it with his knife and they got away. The ship was now sinking rapidly you could see her propellers quite clearly, they looked like bars of gold as the suns rays glittered on them. I then decided to look after myself I had become quite friendly with a ships steward, he asked me if I could swim I told him yes, come along then he said I will show you the best way to get clear. He gave me a serviette, he took me to a rope at the stern of the ship that was hanging over the side of the ship we took off our boots and went down the rope like a couple of monkeys.
My Fight for Life
That was the last I saw of my friend, I struck out and tried to get as far away from the ship as possible. I had not gone very far when I felt some unseen power taking me under the water. I looked around, and just caught sight of that ill-fated ship disappear out of sight. Then I knew the cause of my struggle to keep above water, it was the suction created by the ship as she disappeared. The sea then became very calm. There was plenty of wreckage floating around and this proved of valuable assistance to anyone that could swim. I saw in the distance a boat that had heeled over. I swam to this boat there were only two men clinging to it, when I arrived. In a very short time it was crowded with swimmers and several of them were dead beat, then it was a case of the fittest survive. I saw several pulled away from that boat, and disappear. I decided to leave, I had sighted some more wreckage and started off immediately. I had it all to myself and was able to get a good rest. Shortly afterwards I saw a boat about half full of people, and she appeared to me to be just drifting. So I struck out towards her, I got to within what I thought was hailing distance. I cried out Help! Help but my cry was in vain. They must have been only taking a rest, and the boat moved further away from me. I was then feeling very cold and my limbs were becoming numb. I turned over on my back, and just drifted. I had then given up all hope of being saved. I could see no signs of any ships coming to my rescue. I thought about my wife and wondered if she had been rescued and I also thought about the poor souls who had gone down. Whilst I was meditating I saw some wreckage a short distance away. This gave me fresh courage and I then made up my mind to stick to it to the end. I drifted along with the wreckage, a short time afterwards I saw a boat in the distance, and it appeared to be coming in my direction. I waited some considerable time to make sure. Yes! I was right.
I then decided to make what I knew would be final effort. I struck out towards it, and this appeared to me, to be the longest swim I had ever experienced. I got quite close to it, and cried out again for help, this time my cry was not in vain she turns towards me and in a very short time they saved me from what might have been a watery grave. I was utterly
exhausted, then I heard my name called out. I looked up and to my surprise it was my wife who called me. She was at the opposite end of the boat. The next thing I remembered was I was on a small fishing boat, and one of the sailors was holding a pint pot full of hot tea for me to drink. I learned later from some of my fellow passengers that the boat which I had put my wife in was in charge of 3 of the crew and instead of making for the coast, they had been cruising around, and they had picked up 18 survivors. There were 61 passengers including crew in the boat, and they had been baling out with all kinds of utensils all the time. I have thanked God many a time that we have men like these 3 sailors we were shortly afterwards picked by an auxiliary cruiser. I was taken to the engine room to dry my clothes. We arrived at Queenstown about 11pm. The harbour was crowded with people. We were then taken to the Rob Roy Hotel by some of the sailors, and these good Irish people did all they could to help us forget our terrible ordeal.
P.S. The serviette mentioned on page 4 was given to me by the steward to save my hands from becoming burned as we went down the rope.
H. Smethurst
8. Mount Street
Royton
Nr Oldham
Lancashire
Once back in Rochdale, the couple applied for financial assistance to The Lusitania Relief Fund. This fund had been set up after the vessel had gone down, by the Lord Mayor of Liverpool and other local businessmen, to give help to survivors or relatives of those killed who had suffered financial loss as a result of the sinking.
Alice Smethurst’s health had suffered as a result of the experiences she had suffered during and after the sinking and as a result, the awards committee granted her an initial payment of £5-0s-0d, and then followed this up with a second payment of £3-0s-0d.
Alice gave birth to a son, named Albert, in August 1915, and the couple had three more children – Jack, born in 1919, Marion, born in 1920, and Nora, born in 1926. Harold continued to work in the cotton mills, becoming the head warehouseman. The family resided at 4. Valley Road, Royton, Oldham, for many years, and it was while residing here that Harold died on the 25th August 1951, aged 63 years. He left an estate amounting to £3,903-14s.-8d. (£3,903.73½p).
Alice Smethurst died in Doncaster, Yorkshire West Riding, on the 7th October 1969, aged 78 years.
Register of Births, Marriages and Deaths, 1891 Census of England & Wales, 1901 Census of England & Wales, 1911 Census of England & Wales, 1939 Register, Probate Records, Pennsylvania Passenger and Crew Lists 1800 – 1962, Cunard Records, Cork Examiner, NGMM DX/2085 (photo), Liverpool Record Office, PRO BT 100/345, UniLiv D92/2/11, Graham Maddocks, Geoff Whitfield, Michael Poirier, Jim Kalafus, Cliff Barry, Paul Latimer, Norman Gray.
Copyright © Peter Kelly.