Mary Jane Mills was born in Melbourne, Derbyshire, England, in 1861, the daughter of William and Mary A. Mills (née Mumford). Her father was an agricultural labourer, and the family resided at South Street, Melbourne.
She was a silk glove maker, and in 1882, she married Samuel Sharp in Melbourne. The couple had two sons, Harry, born in 1889, and George, who was born in 1899, and the family lived at South Street, Melbourne, the street she had grown up on. Residing with them for many years was John Bird, who was a nephew of Mary Jane Sharp, and who might have been adopted by the family.
In late 1914, Samuel Sharp, who was a wheelwright and joiner, had been employed at Donington Hall, near Derby, preparing it for use as a prisoner of war camp for captured Germans, and on completing his work, in February 1915, the entire family decided on a holiday. They boarded the Lusitania at Liverpool, and travelled to New York City, from where they made their way to Crooksville, Ohio, where John Bird had settled a number of years previously.
Whereas the family travelled for a holiday, the eldest son, Harry, decided to stay in Crooksville with John Bird, and thus, Mary Jane, her husband, and youngest son, set out to return to their home in England. Consequently, they booked third class passage on the Lusitania, for the trans-Atlantic crossing which was scheduled to begin at 10.00 a.m. on 1st May 1915.
The Lusitania had been scheduled to leave New York at 10.00 a.m. but her sailing was postponed until the early afternoon of that day because she had to load 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.
Then, six days out of New York, in the early afternoon of 7th May, the Lusitania was torpedoed within sight of the coast of southern Ireland, by the German submarine U-20 and sank within 20 minutes. At that stage of her voyage, she was only about 250 miles
away from the safety of her Liverpool home port.
All three family members survived this action and having been rescued from the sea, were landed at Queenstown from where they eventually made it back to their home in Melbourne.
Cunard records state that the family name was Sharpe, but all other records pertaining to the family spell their name as Sharp!
Once there, they approached The Lusitania Relief Fund for help in replacing property lost. This fund was administered by The Lord Mayor of Liverpool and the address to which correspondence with the Sharp family was sent, was shown as 244, Belvedere Road, Burton-on-Trent, Staffordshire, so it is likely that this was the home of relatives or friends.
Mary Jane Sharp died in Burton upon Trent, Staffordshire, on the 10th May 1934, aged 72 years. Her husband, Samuel, died in 1925, and their son George, died in 1978. The eldest son in the family, Harry, remained in Crooksville, Ohio, for the remainder of his life, dying there in 1963.
Register of Births, Marriages and Deaths, 1871 Census of England & Wales, 1881 Census of England & Wales, 1891 Census of England & Wales, 1901 Census of England & Wales, 1911 Census of England & Wales, New York Passenger Lists 1820 – 1957, Cunard Records, Derbyshire Advertiser and Journal, Derbyshire Daily Telegraph, Liverpool Record Office, Probate Records, PRO BT 100/345, Graham Maddocks, Geoff Whitfield, Michael Poirier, Jim Kalafus, Cliff Barry, Paul Latimer, Norman Gray.
Copyright © Peter Kelly.