James Harrison was born at his family home, 6. Trinity Place, Dublin, County Dublin, Ireland, on the 24th January 1869, the son of John and Elizabeth Harrison (née Jeffries). His father was a printer.
James went to Lancashire, England, as a youth, to serve his time at the Vulcan Foundry at Earlestown. On the 11th April 1898, he married Alice, a local girl, whose maiden name, coincidentally was also Harrison, and whose brother 'Billy' was renowned as an outstanding local cricketer. She and James had one child, a daughter named Doris, who was born in 1899.
Suitably qualified, James Harrison later took up employment as a fitter in the moulding shop at the Horwich Railway Works near Bolton, Lancashire, where he set up home at 11, Mason Street. His wife Alice died in September 1908 at the early age of 34 years and thereafter, Doris was brought up by her uncle and aunt, Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Quillan Roberts of 56, Richmond Street, Horwich. Thomas Roberts was a Police Inspector.
Following Alice Harrison's death, James Harrison immigrated to the United States, where he had worked prior to his marriage, and took up work as a manager, presumably in the area of heavy engineering. As he was very much involved in the work of the Y.M.C.A., he made his home in the Y.M.C.A.'s headquarters at Main Street, Bridgeport, Connecticut.
He was in the habit, however, of visiting his family in Horwich at least every two years, and writing from Bridgeport to friends in Earlestown in December 1914, he said that
the Kaiser was greatly upset to find he had no friends on that side of the pond, and that he himself intended to visit England in the summer of 1915, but might have to postpone the visit, as he did not think that the war would be over by then.
He must have changed his mind; however, as he set out to visit Horwich in the spring of 1915 and booked a passage on the
Lusitania's final voyage, as a second cabin passenger. In a letter that he wrote to his daughter at Richmond Street, which she received in early May, he stated, erroneously, as it turned out for him and all the others: -
I am looking forward to the last lap home as a most exciting one, but Germany will need to go 'some' to overhaul the Lusitania travelling at the rate of 32 miles an hour.
He was killed when she was sunk, on the afternoon of 7th May, by the German submarine
U-20, within sight of the coast of southern Ireland and only hours away from her Liverpool destination. He was aged 46 years.
Three days after the sinking, on the morning of Monday 10th May 1915, the fishing vessel
Village Maid recovered several corpses from the sea off the villages of Castletownshend and Baltimore, about thirty miles south west from where the
Lusitania had gone down. It landed them at Baltimore from where the Queenstown tender
Flying Fish took them to Queenstown where they were all given reference numbers in one of the temporary mortuaries there. The one numbered 168 was later identified by a visiting card bearing the name and address
"James Harrison, Y.M.C.A., Bridgeport, Connecticut.".
Local newspaper The Cork Examiner described the body thus: -
Male, blue eyes, aquiline nose, dark hair, bald in front, brown moustache, about 45 years, and about 5ft. 10in. in height; wore blue suit, black tie, and collar, black boots and socks. He had a photograph of himself bearing the signature “James Harrison” on the back, with the names, Charles Foster and H. Porter, 2nd April 1915 and an envelope addressed to Mr. J. Harrison, c/o Y.M.C.A., Main street, Bridgeport, Conn., U.S.A..
His daughter, Doris and uncle and aunt had travelled to Liverpool so that they could meet him when the
Lusitania docked and when her sinking was reported, they lived in hope that he might be amongst the survivors, but the news of the recovery of his body finally dashed these hopes.
On 15th May, his body was sent, via Cork, to Liverpool, from where it was transported to Earlestown. It was then buried alongside the body of his wife in Newton-le-Willows Cemetery, in Section C, grave 3668. The officiating minister was The Reverend J. Ryder and many relatives and former friends and work colleagues were at the graveside. The funeral direction was carried out by Mr. H. Walton.
James Harrison lies there today in a grave surrounded by a black marble kerb and surmounted by four square tiers on which there was originally mounted a black cross. This has been broken off, however, and lies in two separate pieces on the grave itself. The top three tiers contain family inscriptions picked out in grey lettering, the one which applies to Mr. Harrison stating: -
ALSO
JAMES HARRISON,
DROWNED ON THE LUSITANIA MAY 7TH 1915,
AGED 45 YEARS.
None of the family was destined to reach old age, for daughter Doris, who had married a Mr. James Banks, herself died in June 1940, aged 41 years. She too, is buried in the family grave.
Property recovered from James Harrison’s body consisted of an envelope addressed to him in Bridgeport, five $1 bills, some silver British coinage, a tie pin, a gold watch and chain with a sovereign locket attached to it - the watch had stopped at 4 p.m. - two fountain pens, a brooch pin, a silver chain with a medal attached to it, a
Lusitania cloak room ticket numbered 383 and a photograph of the deceased man with his name written on the back.
Register of Births, Marriages and Deaths, Wigan England Marriages 1754 – 1926, 1901 Census of England & Wales, New York Passenger Lists 1820 – 1957, Cunard Records, Bolton Journal, Cork Examiner, Earlestown Guardian, PRO BT 100/345, UniLiv.D92/1/8-10, UniLiv D92/2188, UniLiv. PR13/6, Deaths at Sea 1871 – 1968, Graham Maddocks, Lawrence Evans, Geoff Whitfield, Michael Poirier, Jim Kalafus, Cliff Barry, Paul Latimer, Norman Gray.
Copyright © Peter Kelly.