Jasper Norman was born Selborne, Hampshire, England, in 1889, the son of Henry and Esther Norman (née Newton). His father was a bricklayer, and Jasper was the tenth of twelve known children.
In April 1909, with his parents and two of his brothers – James and Benjamin, he had boarded the White Star Lines vessel Teutonic at Southampton, Hampshire, bound for
New York, where he landed on 14th April. The family then settled in Rochester, New York, where Jasper had a married sister, and he obtained work as a labourer, and later as camera maker with the Eastman Kodak Company.
On the 9th December 1910, his brother, Benjamin, died in Rochester, aged 19 years.
By 1911, his parents, and his brother, James, had returned to England and were living in the village of Empshott, Hampshire. On the 13th January 1914, his brother, James, died in Empshott, aged 30 years.
On the 24th February 1915, his brother, 5833 Private Harry Norman, 12th (Prince of Wales Royal) Lancers, died of wounds while serving in Belgium, and was interred in Poperinghe Old Military Cemetery in Belgium. Around this time, Jasper’s mother became ill, and whether or not Harry’s death was the cause, or a contributory cause, of her illness is not known, Jasper decided to return to England to visit her.
Consequently, he booked as a third class passenger on the May sailing of the Lusitania from New York to Liverpool, and on the morning of 1st May, 1915, he boarded the liner at Pier 54, in New York harbour, with ticket number 31187, in time for her scheduled 10.00 a.m. departure across the Atlantic. Her sailing was then delayed because she had to embark passengers, crew and cargo from the liner Cameronia which the British Admiralty had requisitioned for war service as a troop ship, at the end of April.
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 250 miles away from her destination. Jasper Norman was killed as a result of this action. He was aged 27 years. No trace of his body was ever found again and as a result, he has no known grave.
There were two passenger victims of the sinking with the surname Norman, however, Jasper Norman and second cabin passenger Robert Norman, both British and both travelling from New York. There was also a crew member named A.W. Norman, who was a fireman on board, who survived.
When the list of survivors was first published in the press, the family of one of these must have clung onto the hope that Fireman A.W. Norman's name on this list was a misprint, for on 28th May 1915 a cable was received at the Cunard Head Office, from New York, which asked: -
"A.W. NORMAN SURVIVOR IS THIS ROBERT NORMAN SECOND CABIN OR JASPER NORMAN STEERAGE"
All hope must have been dashed, however, with the reply which was sent the following day: -
"YOURS TWENTY EIGHTH. A.W. NORMAN CORRECT. MEMBER OF CREW"
His mother, Esther, died on the 16th July 1915, aged 62 years, and another one of his brothers, 2346 Sapper Thomas Norman, 2nd/2nd Fortress Company, Royal Engineers,
died of pneumonia on the 17th November 1915, aged 28 years, at his home in Selborne.
Register of Births, Marriages and Deaths, 1891 Census of England & Wales, 1901 Census of England & Wales, 1910 U.S. Federal Census, 1911 Census of England & Wales, New York Passenger Lists 1820 – 1957, Cunard Records, Commonwealth War Graves Commission, Democrat and Chronicle, PRO BT 100/345, Uniliv.PR13/6, Deaths at Sea 1871 – 1968, Graham Maddocks, Geoff Whitfield, Michael Poirier, Jim Kalafus, Cliff Barry, Paul Latimer, Norman Gray.
Copyright © Peter Kelly.