Martin Casey was born in Douglas, Isle of Man, on the 8th December 1864, the son of Martin and Jessie Casey (née Gardiner). His father was an umbrella maker, who died in 1875, and Martin was one of eight known children in the family.
At some stage he left his home on the Isle of Man and travelled to mainland Britain where he settled in Liverpool, Lancashire, and found work as a dock labourer.
On the 14th March 1892, he married Georgina Dennett at St. Anne’s Catholic Church, Ormskirk, Liverpool, and by 1915, the couple were living with their six children at 13, Walker Street, Liverpool, Lancashire. Their seventh child had died in infancy.
Martin Casey became a professional sailor in the British Mercantile Marine, serving as a ship’s steward. On the 12th April 1915, he engaged as a second cabin bedroom steward in the Stewards' Department on board the Lusitania at Liverpool, at a monthly wage of £4-5s-0d., (£4.25p.) and he reported for duty on board the vessel five days later, on the morning of the 17th April, before she left the city for New York. It was not the first time that he had served on the liner.
Having reached New York without mishap he was on board when the vessel left New York on the early afternoon of the 1st May 1915 for her return voyage to her home port. This was never completed; however, for six days out, on the afternoon of the 7th May, she was torpedoed by the German submarine, U-20, under the command of Kapitänleutnant Walther Schwieger, twelve miles off the coast of southern Ireland. She sank within 18 minutes taking two thirds of her passengers and crew with her. At that stage of her voyage, she was only about fourteen hours steaming time away from Liverpool.
Martin Casey was killed as a result of this action, and as his body was not found and identified afterwards, his name is embossed on the Mercantile Marine Memorial to the Missing of the Great War, at Tower Hill, London. He was aged 50 years.
He is also commemorated on the family grave in St. Malew Churchyard extension
near the village of Ballasalla on the Isle of Man, the inscription on the headstone reading: -
IN
LOVING MEMORY OF
MARTIN CASEY,
TORPEDOED S.S. LUSITANIA
MAY 7. 1915 AGE 48.
In August 1915, his widow Georgina was paid the residue of wages owed to him in respect of his service on the Lusitania, from the 17th April 1915 until the 8th May - 24 hours after the ship had foundered. In addition, The Liverpool and London War Risks Insurance Association Limited also granted a yearly pension to Georgina Casey to compensate her for the loss of her husband which amounted to £32-16s-10d. (£32.84p.), which was payable at the rate of £4-8s-1d. (£4.40½p.) per month.
His wife died in June 1954, aged 86 years.
Register of Births, Marriages and Deaths, Liverpool England Catholic Marriages 1754 – 1933, 1871 Isle of Man Census, 1901 Census of England, 1911 Census of England, Cunard Records, Commonwealth War Graves Commission, PRO BT 100/345, PRO BT 334, UniLiv. PR 13/24, Deaths at Sea 1871 – 1968, Graham Maddocks, Barry Bridson, Geoff Whitfield, Michael Poirier, Jim Kalafus, Cliff Barry, Paul Latimer, Norman Gray.
Copyright © Peter Kelly.
Revised & Updated – 3rd January 2023.