James Tulloch was born in Maryhill, Dunbartonshire, Scotland, in 1887, the son of Robert Ness and Janet Tulloch (née Steel). His father was a coal miner, and he was the youngest of two known children in the family, his older sister being named Margaret.
On completing his education, he followed his father and became an apprentice coal miner.
In May 1911, he had emigrated to the United States of America, and settled in Kendall, Montana, where, on the 8th October 1913, he married Agnes Brown Kerr, who had also been born in Scotland. On 14th June 1914, a daughter Hannah was born to them.
In the spring of 1915, he decided to return home to Scotland for a holiday and, no doubt, to introduce his wife and daughter to his family. Wishing his visit to be a surprise for them, however, he did not let them known when he booked second cabin passage for the three of them on the May sailing of the Lusitania from New York to Liverpool, purchasing ticket No. 74959.
Having left Kendall at the end of April, the Tulloch family stayed at the Abington Hotel in New York before going to the Cunard berth at Pier 54 in New York harbour on the morning of 1st May 1915, in time for the liner’s scheduled 10.00 a.m. departure. This was then delayed until the early afternoon as she had to embark passengers, crew and cargo from the Cameronia, which had been requisitioned by the British Admiralty for war service at the end of April. Six days later, on the afternoon of 7th May, the Lusitania was torpedoed and sunk by the German submarine U-20, twelve miles off the coast of southern Ireland and only 250 miles away from her destination.
All three family members lost their lived in the sinking and as none of their bodies was ever recovered and identified afterwards, none has a known grave. James Tulloch was aged 27 years.
The Scottish newspaper The Falkirk Mail sadly reported on 15th May 1915: -
He had kept the fact that he had taken passage on the Lusitania a secret from his parents as he wanted to give them a surprise, and it was only on receipt of cablegram from his mother-in-law in America that the sad news was made known,
James Kerr, Agnes’ father, filed a claim with the Mixed Claims Commission in an effort to secure compensation for the loss of his grand-daughter. He was unable to file claims for the loss of his daughter and son-in-law, as they were British citizens. His claim was unsuccessful.
Montana U.S. Birth Records 1897 – 1988, Montana U.S. County Marriages 1865 – 1987, 1891 Census of Scotland, 1901 Census of Scotland, New York Passenger Lists 1820 – 1957, Cunard Records, Mixed Claims Commission Docket No. 237, Falkirk Herald, Falkirk Mail, PRO BT 100/345, UniLiv D92/2/378, Deaths at Sea 1871 – 1968, Graham Maddocks, Geoff Whitfield, Michael Poirier, Jim Kalafus, Cliff Barry, Paul Latimer, Norman Gray.
Copyright © Peter Kelly.