John James Ashe was born in Liverpool, Lancashire, England, on the 5th February 1896, the son of Richard and Mary Catherine Ashe (née Waters). In 1915, the family home was at 7, House, 1, Court, Back Grafton Street, Liverpool. John’s father was a dock worker and John was the younger of two children, having an older sister named Ann Jane.
He was educated at St. Patrick’s Roman Catholic Primary School in West Derby and having completed his formal education, he became a labourer, like his father. Occasionally, he worked as a trimmer on steam ships.
He signed on as a trimmer in the Engineering Department on board the Lusitania at Liverpool, on the 12th April 1915 for what would be the liner’s last ever voyage to America and reported for duty at 8 a.m. on the 17th April, the day she left the River Mersey. As a trimmer, his monthly rate of pay was £6-0s-0d. and upon engagement, he was given an advance on his pay of £1-0s-0d.
Having successfully completed the voyage to New York, he was still serving on board in the Engineering Department when the vessel set out on the return journey on the 1st May 1915. John Ashe was killed when the ship was sunk on the 7th May when struck by a torpedo launched from the German submarine U-20. He was aged 19 years.
His body was not recovered and identified afterwards, and he is commemorated on the Mercantile Marine War Memorial at Tower Hill, London.
Register of Births, Marriages and Deaths, National School Admission Registers and Log Books 1870 – 1914, 1901 Census of England, 1911 Census of England, Cunard Records, Commonwealth War Graves Commission, PRO BT 334, Deaths at Sea 1871 – 1968, Graham Maddocks, Michael Poirier, Jim Kalafus, Cliff Barry, Paul Latimer, Norman Gray.
Copyright © Peter Kelly.
Revised & Updated – 7th December 2022.