John Coughlan was born in Corran More, Goleen, County Cork, Ireland on the 15th April 1872, the son of James and Mary Coughlan (née Downey). His father was a farmer, and John was one of seven children.
He immigrated to Butte, Montana, in the United States of America in the late 1890’s, where he became a miner. He became an American citizen on 28th July 1900, and married Katherine O’Neil, who was from Goleen, County Cork, Ireland, on 20th July 1905. They had three children, all born in Butte. John born in 1912, Margaret born in 1913 and Jeremiah Bernard born in 1914.
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In early 1915, the family sold their property and decided to return to John’s ancestral home at Castletownbere, and as a result, John J. Coughlan booked third class passage for them all on the
Lusitania, which they joined before she left New York on the early afternoon of 1st May 1915.
Six days out of New York, the liner was torpedoed and sunk within sight of The Old Head of Kinsale by the German submarine
U-20, only hours away from her Liverpool destination. When the ship was struck, the family must have become separated, because although Catherine Coughlan and the two boys survived the sinking, John J. Coughlan and Margaret were both killed.
Although Margaret’s body was eventually found and buried, that of John J. Coughlan was never recovered and identified. He was aged 39 years.
A number of reports appeared in local newspapers about the family shortly after the disaster. The
Cork Examiner reported on the 11th may 1915: -
Wife and Two Children Saved from Lusitania
Tragic Fate of Husband and Child
Skibbereen, Wednesday
Mrs. John Coughlan, of Corranmore, Goleen, who with her husband and three children were passengers on the ill-fated Lusitania, passed her last night.
Her husband is not accounted for, and it is feared he is lost. She had with her two young children, and a third who was picked up dead at sea and conveyed to Queenstown, was brought to Goleen today for interment.
The family were coming home from America to take up the farm which was the ancestral home. A large number of bodies were seen floating off Glandore by fishermen who communicated through the Police with the Admiralty and the Cunard Co.
On the 15th May 1915, the Cork County Eagle reported: -
On Wednesday a pathetic sight was witnessed at the Railway station, Skibbereen, when the body of an infant passed through on the way to the burial ground of his ancestors at Goleen. The little coffin with the body was sent on by rail from Queenstown with a label addressed to Mrs. John Coughlan, Corran, Goleen.
The mother, with two of her children, survivors of the disaster, travelled by the 4.15p.m. train from Cork to Skibbereen on Tuesday. Of her husband who sailed with her and the three children on the Lusitania from America, there is no account.
The little coffin reached Schull at 2.30 o’clock on Wednesday and was taken by road to Goleen where interment was made.
In fact, Margaret Coughlan was not buried in Goleen, but was buried in Common Grave B, First row, Upper tier, as body number 62. She was buried with body number 68, which was that of an unidentified young boy, aged about 2½ years.
In August 1915, Catherine Coughlan approached The Mayor of New York’s Fund for The Relief of Lusitania Sufferers for financial help as the family was eligible for this fund, having lived in America. By this time she had already received a lump sum of £7-10s-0d, plus a pension of £0-14s-0d., (£0.70p.) per week, from the British Lusitania Relief Fund, administered by The Lord Mayor of Liverpool. The New York Mayor’s Committee further awarded her $200.00 in respect of herself and her two dependants. By this time, she had settled back at East Deremihan, Castletownbere.
In February 1920, she sued The Cunard Steam Ship Company in a civil court action for damages for the loss of her husband, at Liverpool Assizes. Her case, put to the court on her behalf by Serjeant Sullivan, K.C. was based on the argument that:-
..... negligence was shown in unnecessarily exposing the vessel to submarine risks by disregarding Admiralty instructions as to navigation.
The Cunard argument, put through its counsel, Mr. Rigby Swift, K.C., however stated:-
I ask you to-day that the wickedness and criminality of the Hun alone was responsible for the catastrophe which sent so many brave men and women to their doom.
However, the verdict of the court was that The Cunard Steam Ship Company was not negligent in precipitating the sinking and Kate Coughlan received nothing in compensation for her loss and probably had to pay the costs of the case as well!
It is interesting to speculate how a third class passenger who had lost her only source of income, and who in 1915 had herself received financial help, was able to afford to bring such a case to court and it is likely that she was financially supported by someone else, perhaps to test the possibility of compensation for others.
Undeterred by this setback, she lodged a case with the Mixed Claims Commission in New York, after the War, for compensation for the loss of her husband on behalf of herself and her surviving children. Her brother, Cornelius O’Neil, a resident in Massachusetts, also lodged a claim. The case was decided in January 1925, and by this time Kate and her family continued to reside in Ireland. The Commission ruled that Kate had given up her American citizenship by remaining in Ireland, and therefore dismissed her claim. It also dismissed the claim by her brother. However, as both her surviving children had been born in America, and were therefore American citizens, each was awarded $2,500.00.
Ireland Select Births and Baptisms 1620 – 1911, Irish Catholic Parish Registers 1655 – 1915, Montana County Marriage Records 1865 – 1993, Montana County Naturalization Records 1867 – 1970, 1900 U.S. Federal Census, 1901 Census of Ireland, 1911 Census of Ireland, Cunard Records, Ireland Calendar of Wills and Administrations 1858 – 1920, Mixed Claims Commission Docket No. 2489, Cork Examiner, Cork County Eagle, Southern Star, Liverpool Echo, Liverpool Record Office, PRO BT 100/345, Dave Irving,.