Martin Sylvester Payne was born in Lincoln, Lincolnshire, England, on the 14th June 1895, the son of Charles Arthur and Ellen Payne (née Payne). His father was a Church of England clergyman, and his uncle, The Reverend J.L.N. Pheasant, was the vicar of North Kelsey, in Lincolnshire. Martin was one of eight children in the family.
On the 10th November 1910, Martin Payne, aged 15 years, had arrived in New York City in the United States of America from Southampton, Hampshire, on board the White Star Liner Oceanic, and then travelled to Springfield, Massachusetts, to the home of an uncle. He remained there until July 1912, when he returned to his family, who were now residing at the vicarage in Gosberton, Lincolnshire. He sailed from Boston to Liverpool on board the Bohemian, and obviously had booked a return voyage, as he returned to Boston on the same vessel in September.
He was working as a clerk in Springfield, and in the spring of 1915, he decided to return home to enlist in the British Army. Consequently, he booked second cabin passage on the May sailing of the Lusitania which was scheduled to leave New York at 10.00 a.m. on 1st May.
The liner’s sailing was then delayed until the afternoon as she had to embark passengers, crew and cargo from the Anchor Liner Cameronia, which had been requisitioned by the British Admiralty for war service as a troop ship, at the end of April. The Lusitania finally left port at 12.27 p.m. and just six days later, on the afternoon of 7th May, she was torpedoed and sunk by the German submarine U-20. At that point, she was within sight of the coast of southern Ireland and only about 250 miles away from her Liverpool home port and destination.
On the journey, Martin Payne had made friends with fellow second class passenger David Todd, who also came from Lincolnshire. After the liner was struck, Martin Payne last saw Todd standing on the deck exclaiming: -
Well I can’t swim, so suppose I must go under.
David Todd did go under and was never seen again - dead or alive.
Payne’s life was saved because he was wearing a lifebelt and having been fished out of the sea, he was landed at Queenstown, from where he eventually made it to England. His story was told in several newspapers after he had been spotted amongst other survivors, carrying this lifebelt, at Euston Station in London: -
Mr. Martin S. Payne a young man, who jumped out of the train at London with a lifebelt as his only luggage, when asked for his story pointed to the lifebelt over his arm and said laconically, as he pointed to some writing on its inner side, “There you have it.” What he had indicated was this inscription on the canvas, done in bold Roman Characters
The Whole Story
R.M.S. Lusitania
Off Ireland, May 7th 1915,
Torpedoed 2.15 p.m.
I landed at Queenstown 9.30 p.m.
“I know no more about it than that,” he said, “except that I am here safe and sound. As to this lifebelt, I'm just keeping it as long as I live to remind me of an experience that I don't want repeated.” And thereupon he hastened away.
It is not known if the lifebelt actually survived as a treasured family possession.
In October 1915, Martin Payne was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant in the Lincolnshire Regiment. He served on the Western Front, was promoted to Lieutenant, and survived the War.
After the War, he returned to Springfield, where he became a merchant dealing in farm produce, and then, in 1924, he travelled to Saskatchewan, Canada, where he intended to become a farmer.
He didn’t remain in Canada for long, returning to Springfield to work in a factory
manufacturing envelopes, and later becoming a church sexton.
In 1931, he married Mary Sulley Brown in Springfield, and they had one son, Martin Kershaw Payne, born in 1936.
In 1978, his wife died in Springfield, and sometime after this, he went to live with his son and his family in Helena, Alabama, where he died on the 18th December 1991, aged 97 years. He was buried beside his wife in Springfield Cemetery, Springfield, Massachusetts.
Register of Births, Marriages and Deaths, England Select Births and Christenings 1538 – 1975, Massachusetts U.S. Marriage Index 1900 – 1955, 1901 Census of England & Wales, 1910 U.S. Federal Census, New York Passenger Lists 1820 – 1957, Massachusetts Passenger Lists 1820 – 1963, Canada Ocean Arrivals 1919 – 1924, Cunard Records, British Army WWI Medal Rolls Index Cards 1914 – 1920, U.S. World War II Draft Registration Cards 1942, Bradford Daily Telegraph, Louth & North Lincolnshire Advertiser, Tama Bay Times, Yorkshire Post, Graham Maddocks, Geoff Whitfield, Michael Poirier, Jim Kalafus, Cliff Barry, Paul Latimer, Norman Gray.
Copyright © Peter Kelly.