Knud Jakob Henrichsen was born in Frederickssund, Fredericksberg, Denmark, on the 22nd July 1888, the son of Charles Christian and Therese Henriette Henrichsen (née Lund). His father was a tobacco manufacturer, and Knud spent some time in a military school.
In March 1912, he boarded the Oscar II at Copenhagen, destined for Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, and by 1915, he was living in Clyde, Alberta, where he was a corporal in the Royal North Western Mounted Police.
In the spring of 1915, he decided to return to Denmark, either for a holiday, or perhaps to enlist in the Army. Consequently, for the first leg of his journey home, he booked a second cabin ticket on the
Lusitania from Edmonton, Alberta and at the end of April; he set off for New York, where he boarded the liner in time for her scheduled 10.00 a.m. sailing on 1st May.
He would then have had to have waited, like all the other passengers and crew until just after mid-day before the liner actually left her berth at Pier 54 in New York port, as she had to take on board cargo, and embark passengers and crew from Anchor Liner the S.S. 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, the Lusitania
was torpedoed by the German submarine U-20 twelve miles off The Old Head of Kinsale in southern Ireland, and sank within 18 minutes. At that stage of her voyage, she was only about fourteen hours steaming time away from her home port and ultimate destination.
Knud Henrichsen was killed as a result of this assault and as no trace of his body was ever found and identified afterwards, he has no known grave. He was aged 26 years.
In April 1919, his parents in Copenhagen approached The Cunard Steam Ship Company via the Consul General of Denmark, of Great Tower Street, London, to learn if and how they could seek compensation for his loss. Cunard replied with the standard answer that all claims for compensation would have to be made through The Under Secretary of State for War, at the Claims Department, in London.
The Edmonton Journal for 15th May 1915 gives his initials and surname as
R.J., Henricksen, and Cunard sources, published in March 1916, spell the Mounted Policeman’s surname Hendricksen, all other sources omit the ‘d’. However, the Danish Consul General in his letter to Cunard in 1919 spelled it Henrichsen, which is obviously most likely to be the correct spelling.
Denmark Church Records 1812 – 1918, New York Passenger Lists 1820 – 1957, U.S. Border Crossings from Canada to U.S. 1895 – 1960, Cunard Records, Edmonton Journal, PRO BT 100/345, UnilivD92/1/1, UniLiv D92/2/337, Deaths at Sea 1871 – 1968, Graham Maddocks, Geoff Whitfield, Michael Poirier, Jim Kalafus, Cliff Barry, Paul Latimer, Norman Gray.
Copyright © Peter Kelly.