Lillian “Lily” Lockwood was born in Kearny, New Jersey, in the United States of America, on the 5th March 1908, the daughter of Dick and Florence “Florrie” Lockwood. She had a brother named Clifford who was born in England in 1904.
Her parents were originally from Yorkshire and had settled in Kearny, Hudson County, New Jersey, U.S.A., before Lily was born.
In May 1911, her mother brought Lily and her brother on a two-month holiday back to Yorkshire. When they were returning, early in the month of August, they were accompanied by Mrs. Beatrice Goodall, who was a niece of his father, and Beatrice’s husband and son – William and Leonard.
In the spring of 1915, her mother decided to return for another holiday to Yorkshire, accompanied by Lily and Clifford. Consequently, they booked as third class passengers on what proved to be the Lusitania's last ever trans-Atlantic crossing, which left New York just after mid-day on 1st May 1915. Accompanying them on the voyage was Clifford’s aunt, Edith Robshaw, as well as the Goodall’s, who by now had a second child, a boy named Jack.
Six days later, when the ship was torpedoed by the German submarine U-20, within sight of the coast of southern Ireland and only hours away from her Liverpool destination, all eight of the party were killed.
Hers was the only body from the family to be recovered and identified after the sinking and after it was recovered from the sea, it was landed at Queenstown, where it was given the reference number 69 in one of the temporary mortuaries there.
On 10th May 1915, probably before it was identified, it was buried in The Old Church Cemetery, Queenstown in Mass Grave B, 1st Row, Upper Tier. It was on this day that most of the dead from the disaster were buried, after a long funeral procession which began at the Cunard Offices at Lynch's Quay.
It is likely that as Lily’s mother also perished in the sinking, her body was identified later from a photograph taken before her burial.
After the war, George Robshaw, Lily’s uncle, filed a claim for compensation for all of their deaths, on behalf of Lily’s father. George, being a naturalized citizen of the United States, felt he had a better chance of succeeding in a claim, rather than Richard Lockwood, who was still a British subject. The Mixed Claims Commission refused to make any award as George Robshaw was not dependant on the Lockwood’s or Edith Robshaw, and as Richard Lockwood was not an American citizen, he was not entitled to any compensation.
Her father re-married in 1916, and fathered twin daughters, and resided for the remainder of his life in Kearny. He died in 1963.
1910 U.S. Federal Census, New York Passenger Lists 1820 – 1957, UK Incoming Passenger Lists 1878 – 1960, Cunard Records, Mixed Claims Commission Docket No. 2198 & 2202, PRO BT 100/345, Leeds Mercury, Yorkshire Observer, Deaths at Sea 1871 – 1968, Graham Maddocks, Geoff Whitfield, Michael Poirier, Jim Kalafus, Cliff Barry, Paul Latimer, Norman Gray.
Copyright © Peter Kelly.