James Alexander McCubbin was born in Liverpool, Lancashire, England, in 1852, the son of Alexander and Ann Elizabeth McCubbin (née McWilliams). Little is known about his early life; however, it appears his family moved to Melbourne, Australia, while he was still a child. His father was a baker, and James was the second eldest of seven known children in the family.
It is not known when he returned to Liverpool, but he married Annie McCubbin in Liverpool in 1876. Annie was his first cousin, as her father, Peter McCubbin, was the older brother of James’ father! There is no evidence that James and Annie had any children.
James McCubbin was a ‘corn factor’ – a name given to a person who was a wholesale agent or ‘trafficker’ in grain, but sometime in the early 1880’s, he joined the Mercantile Marine and initially was employed as a storekeeper and barkeeper on passenger vessels operating out of the port of Liverpool. After his wife’s death in December 1885, he rose through the ranks of the Mercantile Marine until he became a Purser with the Cunard Steam Ship Co. Ltd.
When ashore, he is known to have resided at 2, Queen's Road, and St. Alban's Road, Bootle, near Liverpool and also stayed at hotels in Liverpool, notably the Midland Adelphi Hotel and the North Western Hotel, which were both situated in Lime Street, in the centre of the city.
He engaged as Purser on board the Lusitania at Liverpool on the 12th April 1915 for what would become her final voyage, at a monthly rate of pay of £17-0s.-0d., and he joined ship on the morning of the 17th April, before she left the River Mersey for the first leg of her voyage to the United States of America. On his engagement, he gave his home address as 8, Water Street, Liverpool, which was the official address of the Cunard Steam Ship Company.
It was not the first time that he had served on the vessel and having reached New York without mishap, he was performing his duties when the liner left the Cunard berth at Pier 54 there, on the early afternoon of the 1st May 1915, for her return home. The other members of his staff were Second Purser Percy Draper, Assistant Purser George Beesley, Assistant Purser Arthur Burden, Assistant Purser William Harkness and Junior Assistant Purser Alfred Harrod.
Six days later, on the afternoon of the 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 about 250 miles away from the safety of her home port.
In an account of the sinking published in The Maidenhead Advertiser of the 12th May 1915, Mr. George A. Kessler, an American wine merchant, living in Maidenhead who had travelled as a saloon passenger on board, told of a conversation with Purser
McCubbin: -
On Wednesday I saw the crew taking the tarpaulins from the boats and I went up to the purser and said: “It's all right drilling your crew, but why don't you drill your passengers?” The purser said he thought it was a good idea and added “Why not tell Captain Turner, sir?”.
In a further account of the sinking printed in The New York Times on the 2nd June 1915, a Mr. Isaac Lehman from New York, also travelling as a saloon passenger on board the ship stated: -
I walked up to B deck and met my steward - by the name of Barnes - on the way, and told him to get me a life preserver. I waited for him to get this and he put it on for me, saying that it would come in handy. I walked out on B deck and met the ship's doctor and the ship's purser, who told me there was not a chance for the boat to go down, that I should remain calm, and I was foolish to have my life preserver on. However, I did not take very much notice of this outside of the fact I laughed at them and said it was better to be prepared if anything did happen. This was the last that I saw of these men. I understand they have been drowned.
Purser McCubbin was indeed drowned, or at least he was killed when the ship went down, but his body was recovered from the sea. At first it was not identified and was given the reference number 91 in one of Queenstown's makeshift and temporary mortuaries. Cunard staff there described his body as very stout! Upon eventual identification, however, it was sent to Messrs. R. McDougall and Co. Ltd., of St. Anne Street, Liverpool, for burial in his wife’s family grave in Toxteth Park Cemetery, in Smithdown Road, Liverpool.
His funeral took place there on the 14th May 1915. The coffin, which was draped with the union flag, was carried by six quartermasters from the Cunard Steamship Company and was met at the cemetery gates by a number of boys from the Seamen's Orphanage, an institution supported by Purser McCubbin, and they led the cortege to the graveside, where The Reverend C.W.R. Higham conducted the funeral service. Purser McCubbin was aged 62 years, although he had given his age on engagement as 60!
Amongst the many mourners present there, were the chairman of the Cunard Line, Mr. A.A. Booth, and its general manager, Mr. A.D. Mearns, and survivors from the disaster, including Chief Steward F.V. Jones. At the end of the service, the boys from the orphanage sang the hymn Star of Peace. From his staff of pursers, only Draper and Harkness survived the action, all the others were also killed!
Purser McCubbin's remains still lie there today, along with those of his wife’s family, in Church of England Section A, Grave 5. The pertinent inscription on the headstone states: -
ALSO JAMES ALEXANDER MCCUBBIN,
DROWNED BY THE SINKING OF THE R.M.S. "LUSITANIA,"
MAY 7TH 1915, AGED 62 YEARS.
On 3rd June 1915, his property was handed over to Mr. R. Mills, Solicitor, of Harrington Street, Liverpool, who was the executor of his will. It consisted of £2-12s.-6d. (£2.62½p.), in gold and silver British coinage, some American coinage, a gold watch and chain, two pairs of spectacles, a fountain pen, a gold pencil, a knife, a bunch
of keys and a pair of cuff links.
When his will was proven on the 22nd March 1916, his money and effects amounted to £3,336-18s.-10d. (£3,336.94p.), which was a considerable sum for those days. His next of kin had already been sent the balance of wages owed to him for the Lusitania's last voyage, in August 1915!
In the book The Tragedy of the Lusitania, published in 1915, actress Hilda Spong who knew the purser very well, reported: -
He had spent all his life at sea working hard, and this was to have been his last voyage. Two days before the Lusitania sailed, he told me, with great joy, that he had purchased a small farm near Golders Green, about twenty miles from London. There he intended to spend the remainder of his days.
Purser McCubbin is also remembered on his family’s grave in Melbourne General Cemetery, Parkville, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. The inscription is on the right-hand side of the plinth at the base of the headstone, and states: -
JAMES MCCUBBIN
DIED WHEN “SS "LUSITANIA" SANK ON
07.05.1915. BURIED AT TOXTETH CEMETERY
LIVERPOOL, U.K. AGED 62 YEARS
Register of Births, Marriages and Deaths, Liverpool England Church of England Baptisms 1813 – 1919, Toxteth Park Cemetery Burial Records, 1881 Census of England, 1891 Census, of England, Liverpool England Crew Lists 1861 – 1919, Cunard Records, Commonwealth War Graves Commission, Bootle Times, Maidenhead Advertiser, New York Times, The Tragedy of the Lusitania, Probate Records, UniLiv.D92/1/8-10, UniLiv D92/2/406, PRO BT 334, Deaths at Sea 1871 – 1968, Graham Maddocks, Geoff Whitfield, Michael Poirier, Jim Kalafus, Cliff Barry, Paul Latimer, Norman Gray.
Copyright © Peter Kelly.
Revised & Updated – 3rd December 2024.