James Molden was born in Liverpool, Lancashire, England, on the 10th January 1890,
one of seventeen children of William and Ann Ellen Molden (née Parker). The family home for many years was at 52A. Latimer Street, Liverpool, and his father was a carter.
After completing his schooling, James worked as a labourer in an oil cake mill before he joined the British Mercantile Marine as a fireman on steam ships operating out of the port of Liverpool.
He engaged as a fireman in the Engineering Department on board the Lusitania, at Liverpool, on the 12th April 1915, at a monthly rate of pay of £6-10s.-0d. (£6.50p.). He was killed when she was sunk of the southern coast of Ireland on the 7th May.
His body was not recovered and identified afterwards and as a result he is commemorated on the Mercantile Marine Memorial at Tower Hill, London. He was aged 25 years.
By the time the records of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission were compiled in the 1920’s, his family had moved to 70, Blenheim Street, Everton, Liverpool, Lancashire.
Register of Births, Marriages and Deaths, Liverpool England Catholic Baptisms 1741 – 1919, 1891 Census of England, 1901 Census of England, 1911 Census of England, Cunard Records, Commonwealth War Graves Commission, PRO BT 100/345, 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 – 10th January 2025.