John Newby was listed as having served as a fireman on the final voyage of the Lusitania; however, tracing him proved to be very difficult.
He was the illegitimate son of Charlotte Hayes, a charwoman, aged 27 years, and when he was born in the workhouse at Clattenbridge, Wirral, Cheshire, on the 1st August 1881, his name was registered as John Hayes, which was also the name he was baptized under.
At the time of his birth, his mother was residing with her sister, Mrs. Mary Newby, and her family, at Mill Brow, Bebington, Cheshire. It appears that his mother felt it was in her son’s best interests to be raised with her sister’s family, and it appears that he began to be known as John Newby as he grew up.
After leaving school, he became a bricklayer, and served time in prison, but for what crimes or offences is not known. By 1914, he had become a professional seaman in the British Mercantile Marine as a ship’s trimmer and fireman.
In September 1914, he enlisted in the British Army, and as 13701 Private John Newby, he was assigned to the 9th Battalion of the Cheshire Regiment. He was court martialled in January 1915 for being absent without leave, loss of military equipment, and bad conduct, and after 31 days of detention by the military authorities, he was discharged from the service on the 12th February 1915.
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.).
Having completed an uneventful voyage to New York, he was again on board on the 1st May, as the great liner left Pier 54 in New York harbour for the return voyage to Liverpool. Six days out of New York, on the afternoon of the 7th May, the Lusitania was torpedoed and sunk by the German submarine U-20, within sight of the coast of southern Ireland and at best fourteen hours steaming time away from the safety of her home port!
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at Queenstown, from where he eventually made it back to Liverpool, having been treated for injuries at Queenstown Infirmary. Once there, he was officially discharged from the last voyage of the Lusitania and was paid the balance of wages owing to him. This sum was in respect of his service on board from the 17th April 1915, until the 8th May, 24 hours after the vessel had gone down!
He joined the Royal Naval Reserve in October 1915, serving on HMS Vivid until February 1916.
According to his family, in 1916, John Newby was serving on the ss Victoria, and while docked in Spain, he was arrested and accused of murdering a Spanish policeman. He was in prison, awaiting trial, when a man confessed to the murder which resulted in John Newby being absolved of any involvement in the crime and being released from custody.
He boarded the ss Borg, a merchant cargo ship, in Bilbao, Spain, as a “Distressed British Seaman” in late May or early June 1918 to return to England. On the 10th June, while off the coast of Cornwall, on route to Jarrow, County Durham, the Borg was torpedoed and sunk by the German submarine, UB-103, and 24 of the 123 passengers and crew on board were killed.
Unfortunately, John Newby was one of those killed and his remains were never recovered. He was aged 36 years. As he was listed as a passenger on the voyage, he is not commemorated, as other merchant seamen who lost their lives during the Great War are, on the Mercantile Marine Memorial at Tower Hill, London.
Register of Births, Marriages and Deaths, Cheshire Diocese of Cheshire Parish Baptisms 1538 – 1911, 1881 Census of England, 1891 Census of England, 1901 Census of England, 1911 Census of England, Cunard Records, UK British Army World War I Service Records 1914 – 1920, PRO BT 100/345, PRO BT 351/1/103912, PRO BT 377/7/100088, Deaths at Sea 1871 – 1968, Graham Maddocks, Janet Golding, Geoff Whitfield, Michael Poirier, Jim Kalafus, Cliff Barry, Paul Latimer, Norman Gray.
Copyright © Peter Kelly.
Revised & Updated – 24th January 2025.