Irene Emily Paynter was born in Liverpool, Lancashire, England, on the 1st September 1884, one of four daughters of Charles Edwin and Jane Emily Sophia Paynter (née Seager). On the outbreak of the Great War in 1914, the family home was at 17, Kingsmead Road South, Oxton, Birkenhead, Cheshire. Her father was a successful timber merchant.
In March 1915, her father needed to travel to the United States of America on business, and sailed from Liverpool, on the White Star liner Adriatic, taking Irene with him. They arrived at New York on 16th March for a six week’s stay having already booked their saloon ticket (numbered 46133), for their return. Staying at The Seville Hotel in New York, they joined the Lusitania in time for her scheduled 10.00 a.m. sailing on 1st May 1915 at the Cunard berth at Pier 54 in New York port. Miss Paynter was allocated room B105, and her father was just down the passageway in room B99. Both rooms were the personal responsibility of First Class Bedroom Steward Thomas Dawes, who came from Walton in Liverpool.
The liner’s departure for Liverpool was then delayed until the early afternoon, so that she could take on board passengers, cargo and crew from the Anchor Liner Cameronia, which had been requisitioned by the British Admiralty for war work as a troop ship at the end of April. Then, six days later, on the afternoon of 7th May, the Lusitania was torpedoed twelve miles off the coast of southern Ireland by the German submarine U-20, and sank just eighteen minutes later. At that stage of her voyage, she was only 250 miles from the safety of her home port.
Irene Paynter was lucky enough to be counted amongst the survivors, although her father was killed. She recounted her experiences of her father’s death and her own
survival, to a reporter of The Birkenhead News and Advertiser which appeared in the edition for Wednesday 12th May 1915. It stated: -
Up to the last moment Mr. Paynter was assisting the lady passengers to obtain lifebelts, of which there was a plentiful supply. He found his daughter packing, without knowledge of danger and handed her a belt. This the young lady, who is about twenty years of age, put on at once, as bidden. Fortunately, it was observed by an unknown gentleman passing, to be upside down and he assisted her with the adjustment. To this providential intervention she doubtless owed her life, as the adjusted belt acted efficiently.
Persistently refusing to leave her father, Mrs. Paynter and he went down together with the steamer. In the opinion of Miss Paynter, her father was struck as the ship foundered and rendered unconscious, for though he was a good swimmer and had told her just before she sank to cling to him, he did not rise to the surface as she did, and Miss Paynter saw no more of her father alive.
Her own experience continued to be terrible. After rising gradually to the surface, she floated against some wreckage and to this she clung instinctively. In a while consciousness failed and she believes she was in the water for about three and a half hours before being picked up by a trawler, which landed her at Queenstown.
Despite the shock and suffering, Miss Paynter soon devoted herself with the aid of Mr. Charles W. Bowring ..... to making inquiries about her missing friends and to sending messages of reassurance as were available.
Fellow saloon passenger Charles W. Bowring also came from Birkenhead and it is likely that Miss Paynter knew him before the voyage.
Having been landed in Queenstown, Miss Paynter had the unenviable and grim task of searching the temporary mortuaries set up there for any sign of her father. Accompanied by friends, one of whom was Charles Bowring, she found his corpse in the one set up in the yard of the Cunard office at Lynch’s Quay. It was probably having seen this that she formed the opinion that he was struck as the ship foundered and rendered unconscious.
The Birkenhead News and Advertiser account ended with an opinion of Miss Paynter: -
Her courage throughout a most trying ordeal impressed her friends who felt a measure of relief in that she could occupy her mind with good works when a collapse might have been imminent.
She returned to her home in Oxton on Sunday 9th May, in apparent good physical health, but had to endure the further ordeal of her father's funeral at St. Oswald's Church, Bidston, the following Tuesday.
Like Irene Paynter’s father, Bedroom Steward Dawes also perished in the sinking.
After returning to her home, Irene Paynter received a letter from Mrs. Margaret Prichard, whose son, Richard Preston Prichard, had been a second class passenger on the Lusitania, and who was presumed lost. His mother, and brother, Mostyn Prichard, wrote to all the survivors they could obtain addresses for, seeking any information about him, and enclosing a photograph of Richard Prichard with each letter. Irene Paynter replied: -
17. Kingsmead Road
Oxton
August 12th & 17th Aug.
Dear Madam,
I am very sorry I did not see your son either at the last or during the voyage.
I am sending you a cutting from the Church Family Newspaper which you might like to see & also you may like to write to him, the Rev. Simpson. The Cunard Line will I feel sure give you the names of some of the 2nd cabin survivors.
I am keeping the photo for a few days. I will show it to one of the survivors who lives here & tell her to write to you if she knows anything about your son. I can at least tell you that everyone had plenty of time to get on deck. I heard of one man who was saved & he was in bed when it happened & yet he had plenty of time to get on deck & I also although the boat listed at once it was by no means impossible to walk up or down. My father and I were in our state rooms when it happened & we both went up on deck & afterwards we went down again for a lifebelt for some one who was without one, so that we went up & down twice. A lot of people who had on lifebelts lost their lives – my father seems to have been hit on the head by some of the wreckage but he was looking perfectly peaceful when we found his body the next day at Queenstown – I believe a lot of people lost their lives in this way & I think it is the most merciful way the end could come. Also I think you can feel that your son would not suffer as at a time like that one is almost too stunned to feel anything. I know in my own case, I was standing on deck with my father when the boat sank & we were dragged down some way by the suction & although I knew I was knocking against things I had no idea I was being hurt & yet I found afterwards I was black & blue where I had been hit. Everyone seemed to realize their danger but everyone was calm.
Some people jumped over before the Lusitania sank and some of these were saved. It seems to have been just chance who were saved & who were lost, because some were saved who went down with the boat & some were lost & it was the same with those who got into the life boats & with
those who jumped over & some with out lifebelts were saved while others with belts were lost.
If I may I should like to tell you how sorry I am for you, it is so very hard for those who are left but I think you can feel quite happy about your son. I have heard of so many people who say they just thought of the most trivial everyday things. One lady I knew on board who lost her life I afterwards heard was very nervous always on the sea & yet she was as calm as possible up to the very end. I always thought that I should be the first to lose my head & get into the first boat & yet when the time came every thing was different & I believe we were all given strength. I was in the water for 3½ hours & was unconscious when I was picked up but I can remember when I was in the water one of the things that bothered me most was to try & remember what day of the week we were to have reached Liverpool. There were some Welsh singers on board who were saved, if you can get their addresses from the Cunard people perhaps they can help you.
I am sorry I cannot be of more use to you & I hope you will be able to hear something from one of the passengers that may be a comfort to you.
Yours truly,
I. Paynter.
No trace of Richard Preston Prichard was ever found.
Irene Paynter later moved to Kent, where she died at St. Augustine’s Hospital, Chartham, on the 14th February 1967, aged 82 years. She never married, and lived her days at ‘Little Patch’, Hawkinge, Folkestone, Kent, on the finances left to her by her father. She left an estate of £4,150.
Register of Births, Marriages and Deaths, Liverpool England Church of England Baptisms 1813 – 1919, 1891 Census of England & Wales, 1901 Census of England & Wales, 1911 Census of England & Wales, 1939 Register, New York Passenger Lists 1820 - 1957, Cunard Records, IWM GB62, London Gazette, Birkenhead News, Probate Records, PRO 22/71, Deaths at Sea 1871 – 1968, Graham Maddocks, Geoff Whitfield, Michael Poirier, Jim Kalafus, Cliff Barry, Paul Latimer, Norman Gray.
Copyright © Peter Kelly.