Henry Jordan Salt was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in the United States of America, on the 22nd December 1878, the son of William Benjamin and Margaretta Salt (née Jordan). His father was a steel worker.
On completing his education, he became a book keeper and moved to New York City, and later to Boston, Massachussetts, where he worked as a salesman.
On the 17th June 1904, he married Frances “Fannie” Ella Legg, who was five years his senior, and the family home was at 190. South Street, Boston, Massachusetts. The couple had two children, a daughter named Blanche Frances, born in 1905, and a son, Charles Henry, born in late 1912.
Henry Salt worked as a salesman for a leather company based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and his annual salary in 1910 was $1,000.00, but by 1915, this had risen to $3,500.00, an indication of how hard working he was.
In February 1915, he had gone to England on behalf of his employers, returning to Boston at the end of March, and almost immediately was sent again to England. It is likely that his employers were seeking military contracts with the British Army for their leather goods.
As a consequence, Henry Salt booked second cabin passage on the May sailing of the Lusitania from New York to Liverpool and having left his home town at the end of April, he arrived at the Cunard wharf at Pier 54 in New York on the morning of 1st May 1915, in time for the liner’s 10 o’clock departure.
This was then delayed until the afternoon as she had to embark passengers, crew and cargo from the Anchor Liner Cameronia, which had been requisitioned by the British Admiralty for war service as a troop ship. 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. At that point, she was within sight of the coast of southern Ireland and only about fourteen hours sailing from her home port and safety!
Henry Salt was a victim of this action, however.
On May 11th 1915, a cable was sent from Cunard’s Boston office to its office in Queenstown, no doubt at the instigation of his relatives, giving a brief description of the missing man, which stated: -
Salt Second Cabin Blue Eyes Light Hair 5 feet 11 inches 170 pounds Age 37 Wedding Ring from FEL Clothes made Angus McLean Gold Caps on Teeth Letter Credit issued Phila National Bank.
However, this description did not match any of the unidentified corpses which Cunard had photographed and buried, and Henry Salt’s body remained at worst, not recovered, and at best, unidentified. As such, to this day he has no known grave.
Following his death, his widow collected on his accident and life insurance policies, for
which she benefited to the amount of $21,000.00. However, she died in November 1921, leaving their two children orphans, and they were subsequently separated from one another.
Blanche Frances Salt was taken in by family friends who maintained, supported, and were responsible for her education, while the younger Charles Henry Salt went to live with his paternal grandparents.
On 21st February 1921, the Mixed Claims Commission awarded Blanche and Charles Salt the sum of $15,000.00 each, as compensation for the loss of their father in the Lusitania disaster.
Massachussetts U.S. Marriage Records 1840 – 1915, 1880 U.S. Federal Census, 1900 U.S. Federal Census, 1910 U.S. Federal Census, UK Incoming Passenger Lists 1878 – 1960, New York Passenger Lists 1840 – 1957, Cunard Records, Mixed Claims Commission Docket No. 277, The Pittsburgh Press, NGMM D/Lus/4/3, PRO BT 100/345, UniLiv. PR13/6, Deaths at Sea 1871 – 1968, Graham Maddocks, Geoff Whitfield, Michael Poirier, Jim Kalafus, Cliff Barry, Paul Latimer, Norman Gray.
Copyright © Peter Kelly.