William Affleck Anderson was born in Sedgefield, County Durham, England, in 1881, the son of William John and Ann Anderson (née Fowles) of 'Winterton', Ferryhill, County Durham, England. His father was clerk of the works at the Durham County Asylum at Sedgefield and his brother was a Superintendent Engineer.
In 1909, he married Lilian Ethel Telford and they lived at 77, Trevor Road, Walton, Liverpool, Lancashire, with their two children. The couple had previously resided at 77. Cobham Avenue, Walton, Liverpool.
He was a professional marine engineer and had begun his apprenticeship with Messrs.
Richardson, Westgarth, and Company at Hartlepool Engine Works, in County Durham. Then, in 1907, he joined The Cunard Steam Ship Company and served in the engineering branch on many of its vessels, thereafter.
On the 12th April 1915, he engaged on the Lusitania at Liverpool as Senior Fifth Engineer at a monthly rate of pay of £12-0s-0d. and reported for duty five days later before the liner left Liverpool for the last time, bound for New York. Having completed her voyage there, she was torpedoed and sunk six days out, on her return journey, on the afternoon of the 7th May, by the German submarine, U-20. At that time, she was within sight of the southern Irish coast and only hours from home.
Engineer Anderson did not survive the sinking, but his body was recovered from the sea not long afterwards and landed at Queenstown, where it was taken to the temporary mortuary set up in the yard of the Cunard office at Lynch’s Quay. There, it was given the reference number 52, until it was positively identified, later.
On the 12th May, it was shipped to Liverpool for burial, which took place at 3.30 p.m., on the 15th May 1915, at Kirkdale Cemetery, in Non-Conformist Section 7, Grave No. 1359. He was aged 33 years. The service in the chapel and at the graveside was conducted by The Reverend James McMurchy, of the Trinity Presbyterian Church, Orrell Lane, who had officiated, the previous day, at the funeral of another Lusitania crew member, Extra Chief Steward Arthur Ford. Engineer Anderson's coffin was carried to the grave by six representatives of Cunard's Engineering Department, Messrs. Curror, Bolting, Hedderley, McFarlane, Morrison, and Reade.
As well as family mourners, the Cunard Steam Ship Company was represented by the chairman, Mr. A.A. Booth, the general manager, Mr. A.D. Mearns, the assistant manager, Mr. H. Litchfield, and the assistant superintendent engineer, Mr. M. McGregor.
His remains still lie there today, under a standard Commonwealth War Graves Commission headstone carved from sandstone. It bears the private inscription: -
IN THE MIDST OF LIFE
WE ARE IN DEATH
He was also commemorated on a war memorial inside Trinity United Reformed Church, (formerly Trinity Presbyterian Church), on the corner of Rice Lane and Orrel Lane, in Orrel Park, Liverpool. The memorial took the form of a stained glass window, with the names of the fallen incised below it, on two brass panels. Unfortunately, at the end of the 1990s, the church closed down and a decision on the future of the panels has not yet been made.
His name was also engraved on a brass plaque belonging to The Liverpool Branch of The Marine Engineers’ Association which used to be in The Britannia Rooms in The Cunard Building in Liverpool. Underneath the badge of the association was engraved: -
ROLL OF HONOUR
LIVERPOOL BRANCH
A TRIBUTE TO THE MEMORY OF
THE MEMBERS, WHO LOST THEIR LIVES
THROUGH ENEMY ACTION IN THE
GREAT WAR. 1914 - 1919
and then followed the names of the 226 former members.
The memorial is not in the building today, however, and its present whereabouts, if it has survived, are not known.
In the June 1915 edition of The Journal of the Marine Engineers’ Association, it was said of him: -
Mr. Anderson will be remembered as a young man possessing a very genial disposition and in consequence was very popular amongst his colleagues.
Such property as was found on his body was handed over to his widow Lilian on the 29th November 1915, at 33, Park Road, Consett, County Durham. It is probable that she was staying with relatives at the time. She had already received the balance of wages owed to him in respect of the Lusitania's last voyage, during August! The property consisted of £1-2s-6d. (£1.12½p.), in British gold and silver coinage and a pair of razors.
Some time after Engineer Anderson's death, his widow and children moved to 'Delaford', Haigh Road, Waterloo, Liverpool, and this is the address shown in Commonwealth War Graves Commission records.
The Liverpool and London War Risks Insurance Association Limited granted a yearly pension to Lilian Anderson to compensate her for the loss of her husband which amounted to £76-6s-1d. (£76.30½p.) which was payable at the rate of £6-7s-3d. (£6.36p.) per month.
Register of Births, Marriages and Deaths, Kirkdale Cemetery Burial Register, 1891 Census of England, 1901 Census of England, 1911 Census of England, Cunard Records, Commonwealth War Graves Commission, UK Campaign Medals Awarded to World War I Merchant Seamen 1914 – 1925, UK World War I Pension Ledgers and Index Cards 1914 – 1923, Bootle Times, Illustrated Chronicle, Marine Engineers‘ Association Journal, PRO BT 334, PRO BT 351/1/3379, UniLiv. PR. 13/24, Deaths at Sea 1871 – 1968, Graham Maddocks, George Donnison, Robert O‘Brien, Michael Poirier, Jim Kalafus, Cliff Barry, Paul Latimer, Norman Gray.
Copyright © Peter Kelly.
Revised & Updated – 5th December 2022.