Kenneth John Morrison was born in Tatamagouche, Nova Scotia, Canada, on the 10th November 1866, the son of James Alexander and Margaret Morrison (née Nicholson). His father was a merchant, and Kenneth was the ninth of twelve known children in the family.
On the 9th January 1894, he married to Jeanette Mackay in Westville, Nova Scotia, and the couple had three children – Albert Henry, born in November 1894, Donald Mckay, born in 1897, and Margaret Grant, born in 1905.
By 1910, Kenneth Morrison was the owner and manager of a factory in Vancouver, British Columbia, that manufactured nails and wire products. The business was very successful, and for the five years prior to 1915, he was earning an average salary of $25,000 per year.
In early 1915 he decided to make a visit to England. He must have been on business in Chicago, Illinois, U.S.A., at the time, for he booked as a saloon passenger on the Lusitania from there, and joined her at New York before she sailed, on 1st May 1915.
Once on board, he was allocated room, B103, which he shared with Oliver Bernard from London. The room was the personal responsibility of First Class Bedroom Steward Thomas George Dawes, who came from Walton, Liverpool.
When the liner was sunk, six days later, Kenneth Morrison was killed and no trace of his body was ever found and identified afterwards. He was aged 49 years.
Both saloon passenger Oliver Bernard and Bedroom Steward Dawes survived the sinking.
The Great War was to claim another member of the Morrison family in 1917. On 5th July 1917, 304592, Driver Albert Henry Morrison of the 9th Brigade, Canadian Field Artillery, and the son of Kenneth and Jeanette Morrison, was killed in action near Vimy Village in France. He is buried in Ecoivres Military Cemetery and apart from his own personal details, the register there records: -
Father lost his life as passenger on the Lusitania, torpedoed May 7th 1915.
One can only imagine the effect this double loss must have had on Jeanette Morrison.
Jeanette Morrison filed a claim with the Canadian Commission seeking compensation for the loss of Kenneth Morrison’s life on behalf of herself and their three children. By the time her case was decided in May 1926, over eleven years after the sinking of the Lusitania, her eldest son had been killed in France. The Commission awarded Jeanette Morrison the sum of $25,000, Donald McKay Morrison the sum of $5,000, and Margaret Grant Morrison the sum of $10,000.
1871 Census of Canada, 1881 Census of Canada, 1911 Census of Canada, California Passenger Lists 1882 – 1959, Cunard Records, Commonwealth War Graves Commission, Canadian Claims Case No. 820, PRO 22/71, PRO BT 100/345, Graham Maddocks, Joe Devereux, Geoff Whitfield, Michael Poirier, Jim Kalafus, Cliff Barry, Paul Latimer, Norman Gray.
Copyright © Peter Kelly.