Katherine Elam was born in London, England, on the 2nd September 1844, the daughter of John and Maria Elam (née Stanbrough). Her father was a woollen draper and Katherine was the second eldest of seven known children in the family, all of whom were girls.
On the 28th December 1865, she married Anthony Watson in St. Mark’s Church, St. Pancras, London. Her husband was a colliery owner and ship broker. The couple moved to 9. Inverleith Place, Edinburgh, Midlothian, Scotland, where they had at least eight children. The family later moved to 21. Inverleith Place.
In November 1900, Anthony Watson died, and sometime after his death, Katherine had travelled to visit her son, Nowell Lake Watson, who was the manager of the Asiatic Petroleum Company in Hong Kong. In March 1915, she left Hong Kong to return to her home in Edinburgh and first travelled to San Francisco, California, from where she travelled by rail to New York City. While there, she stayed at Stratford House, 11, East 32nd Street, New York City.
She booked a saloon ticket, (number 14471), on the May sailing of the Lusitania from New York to Liverpool, and she arrived at the Cunard berth at Pier 54 in New York harbour on the morning of 1st May 1915 in time for the liner’s departure where she was escorted to room E54, which was the personal responsibility of First Class Bedroom Steward George Charlton who came from Waterloo, a suburb of Liverpool in
Lancashire.
However, she had to wait until just after mid-day before the liner actually left the port, because of a delay caused because the Lusitania had to load cargo and embark passengers and crew from the Anchor Liner Cameronia. This latter vessel had been requisitioned for use as a troop ship by the British Admiralty at the end of April.
Six days out of New York, the Lusitania was torpedoed and sunk by the German submarine U-20, under the command of Kapitänleutnant Walter Schwieger, only twelve miles off the coast of southern Ireland and only hours away from her Liverpool destination. One of the many saloon passenger casualties was Katherine atson. She was aged 70 years.
As her body was never recovered from the sea and identified afterwards, she has no known grave.
Bedroom Steward Charlton, who had looked after her in room E54 did survive the sinking, however and eventually returned safely to his Waterloo home.
Katherine Watson left her estate of £9,586-2s.-11d. (£9,586.14½p) to her daughter, Mrs. Florence Isabel Frances Crabbie.
Register of Births, Marriages and Deaths, London England Church of England Births and Baptisms 1813 – 1920, London England Church of England Marriages and Banns 1754 – 1936, 1851 Census of England & Wales, 1861 Census of England & Wales, 1871 Census of Scotland, 1881 Census of Scotland, 1891 Census of Scotland, 1901 Census of Scotland, California Passenger Lists 1882 – 1959, Cunard Records, Overland China Mail, Sacramento Bee, Probate Records, PRO 22/71, PRO BT 100/345, UniLiv D92/2/270, Deaths at Sea 1871 – 1968, Graham Maddocks, Nyle Monday, Michael Poirier, Jim Kalafus, Cliff Barry, Paul Latimer, Norman Gray.
Copyright © Peter Kelly.