Nothing is really known about Mr. A.J. Greenshields, not even his forenames, except that he was British and he joined the
Lusitania as a third class passenger, at Pier 54 in New York, on the morning of 1st May 1915, in time for her scheduled 10.00 a.m. departure for Liverpool.
This departure was then delayed until the afternoon as the Lusitania
had to embark passengers, crew and cargo from the Anchor Lines ship the S.S.
Cameronia, which had been requisitioned by the British Admiralty for service as a troop ship at the end of April. She finally left the 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 twelve miles off the coast of southern Ireland and only 250 miles away from her home port.
A.J. Greenshields was one of just over 240 third class passengers who lost their lives as a result of this action.
His body was recovered from the sea, however, and landed at Queenstown, where it was given the reference number 217. Then, on 18th May 1915, it was buried in The Old Church Cemetery, about two miles north of the town, in Mass Grave B, Fourth Row, Upper Tier, where it lies to this day.
No property was recovered from it, so its identification must have been visual.
Cunard representatives were unable to find any family or relatives of the unfortunate man.
Cunard Records, PRO BT 100/345, UniLiv. PR13/6, Deaths at Sea 1871 – 1968, Graham Maddocks.
Copyright © Peter Kelly.