James Harold Haigh was born in Barrow, Suffolk, England, in 1884, the son of George and Elizabeth Haigh (née Osborne). His father was a congregational minister, and the family moved to The Manse, Castle Camp, Cambridgeshire, a few years after his birth.
He became a chemist and druggist by profession and then, in 1912, he had immigrated to Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, where he worked as a clerk with T. Eaton & Co., and resided at 485. Arlington Street, Winnipeg.
In the spring of 1915, however, perhaps because of the war in Europe and maybe thinking he could employ his professional skills in aid of the war effort; he booked second passage for himself on the May sailing of the
Lusitania from New York to England.
This was a fateful decision for him as it turned out, for having left Winnipeg sometime in April; he boarded the liner in New York at the Cunard berth at Pier 54 in New York port on the morning of 1st May 1915, in time for her scheduled 10 o’clock departure. This was then postponed until just after mid-day, however, because the liner had to take on board cargo, passengers and crew from the Anchor Liner the S.S.
Cameronia, which the British Admiralty had requisitioned for service as a troop ship at the end of April.
Then, six days out of New York on the afternoon of 7th May, and within sight of the coast of southern Ireland, the
Lusitania was torpedoed and sunk by the German submarine U-20. At that time, she was only about fourteen hours steaming time away from her Liverpool destination and home port.
James Haigh never saw England again, for he was killed as a result of this action and as his body was never recovered from the sea and identified afterwards, he has no known grave. He was aged 31 years at the time.
Register of Births, Marriages and Deaths, 1891 Census of England & Wales, 1901 Census of England & Wales, 1911 Census of England & Wales, Canadian Passenger Lists 1865 – 1935, Cunard Records, Winnipeg Tribune, PRO BT 100/345, Deaths at Sea 1871 – 1968, Graham Maddocks, Geoff Whitfield, Michael Poirier, Jim Kalafus, Cliff Barry, Paul Latimer, Norman Gray.
Copyright © Peter Kelly.