Robert Henry Cannon was born at Onchan, in the Isle of Man, on the 21st June 1861, the son of John and Jane Cannon (née Cowin), and one of twelve children in the family. His father was a farm labourer, and when Robert left school, he also worked on a farm.
By 1884, he had left the island and gone to Liverpool, Lancashire, where he joined The Liverpool City Police Force. He then served with distinction for 26 years and with the rank and number Sergeant 17’B’, he retired to pension on 23rd May 1910. At that time, he was serving at Prescot Street Police Station.
On the 4th February 1888, he married Annie Whelan at St. Augustine’s Roman Catholic Church, Great Howard Street, Liverpool. Three weeks before his wedding, Robert Cannon was baptized into the Roman Catholic Church. The couple had no children, and in 1915, they lived at 51, Hannan Road, Kensington, Liverpool.
Some time after leaving the police, he embarked on a new strand of his career and began service with the British Mercantile Marine as a kind of ship board policeman, with the job of making sure that passengers were not carrying offensive or contraband materials. In that capacity, on the 14th April 1915, he signed on for service as Inspector in the Deck Department, on the Lusitania at Liverpool, at a monthly wage of £4-10s-0d., (£4.50p). It was not his first voyage on the liner, but it is possible that his job was brought about because of the war situation. He reported for duty at 7 a.m. on the morning of the 17th April, before the liner left the River Mersey for the last time.
Having completed her last ever east to west crossing of the Atlantic Ocean, the Lusitania left New York on the early afternoon of the 1st May 1915, for her return voyage to Liverpool. She never made it; however, for on the afternoon of the 7th May, she was torpedoed and sunk by the German submarine, U-20, off the Old Head of Kinsale, only about twelve to fourteen hours away from the safety of her home port. Robert Cannon was killed as a result of this action. He was aged 53 years.
On the 10th May 1915, The New York Times carried the following item: -
Edward Cronican of 1404 Amsterdam Avenue (is seeking) news of his adopted father, an uncle by marriage, Inspector Robert Henry Cannon, 50 years old, who is in the service of the British Government and whose duty was to search transatlantic travellers in order to safeguard the liners. The inspector was six feet four inches in height and a powerful swimmer and consequently may have made shore.
His body was recovered from the sea, however, and it was landed at Queenstown with two others, on the evening of Wednesday, the 12th May, from a Royal Naval torpedo boat. As it was unidentified at that time, it was allocated the reference number 176 in one of the temporary Queenstown mortuaries.
Once a positive identification had been made, however, it was shipped back home to Liverpool, where it was buried, on Monday, the 17th May 1915 in Ford Cemetery, Litherland, in Section I, Grave 290.
There are no other 'Cannons' buried in this grave, which dates from 1882, and although there is a commemorative stone over the grave, in red marble, it has been broken at the top. The inscription which refers to Inspector Cannon is intact, however, and states: -
ALSO ROBERT H. CANNON,
WHO WAS LOST ON THE LUSITANIA, 7TH MAY 1915,
AGED 52 YEARS,
THE BELOVED HUSBAND OF ANNIE CANNON
Although Inspector Cannon was born in the Isle of Man, his name does not appear on the war memorial on the sea front at Douglas. This is almost certainly because his widow did not forward his details after the war, or possibly because Onchan, which is just on the edge of Douglas Bay, had its own memorial.
When he engaged for service on the Lusitania, on the 14th April 1915, he gave his birthplace as St. John, which, presumably is on the Isle of Man.
In August 1915, Annie Cannon received from Cunard, the balance of pay owed to her late husband in respect of his service on the Lusitania’s last voyage. This was reckoned to be from the 17th April 1915 until the 8th May - 24 hours after the liner had been sunk.
Isle of Man Select Births and Baptisms 1821 – 1911, Isle of Man Baptism Index 1600 – 1981, Liverpool England Catholic Baptisms 1741 – 1919, Liverpool England Catholic Marriages 1754 – 1933, Liverpool England Catholic Burials 1813 – 1985, 1871 Isle of Man Census, 1881 Isle of Man Census, 1891 Census of England, 1901 Census of England, 1911 Census of England, Cunard Records, Commonwealth War Graves Commission, Cork Examiner, Gore's Directory, New York Times, PRO BT 334, Deaths at Sea 1871 – 1968, Graham Maddocks, Tom McDonough, Joe Symon, Geoff Whitfield, Michael Poirier, Jim Kalafus, Cliff Barry, Paul Latimer, Norman Gray.
Copyright © Peter Kelly.
Revised & Updated – 31st December 2022.