Patrick Brown was born in Kilboyne in the townland of Cregganbell, Ballyheane, County Mayo, Ireland, on the 31st October 1889, the son of Patrick and Margaret Brown (née McGough). His family were farmers, and Patrick was one of twelve children.
Due to the size of his family, it is likely that Patrick Brown and some of his siblings had to leave the family home in search of work and he settled in Liverpool where he became a trimmer on ocean-going 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. It was not his first voyage on the Lusitania.
Patrick Brown was killed when she was sunk. He was aged 25 years.
His body was not recovered and identified afterwards and as a consequence, his name is embossed on one of the Lusitania panels on the Mercantile Marine War Memorial at Tower Hill, London.
Register of Births, Marriages, and Deaths, 1901 Census of Ireland, 1911 Census of Ireland, Cunard Records, Commonwealth War Graves Commission, PRO BT 334, Deaths at Sea 1871 – 1968, Graham Maddocks, Geoff Whitfield, Michael Poirier, Jim Kalafus, Cliff Barry, Paul Latimer, Norman Gray.
Copyright © Peter Kelly.
Revised & Updated – 26th December 2022.