Joseph Butler was born in Liverpool, Lancashire, England, in 1871, the son of Peter and Mary Butler (née Mullin). His father was a railway porter, and later a cattle drover. Joseph was the eldest of eight children but five of his siblings had died by 1911. His father died in 1883.
With his father dying when Joseph was only aged 12 years, it is likely he began his working life while still quite young to help his mother support the family. Eventually, he joined the British Mercantile Marine as a fireman on steam ships.
On the 24th February 1897, he married Julia Ann Curran in Liverpool and in 1915; they lived at 10, Darwen Street, Athol Street, Liverpool. They had no children.
He engaged as a fireman in the Engineering Department on board the Lusitania, at Liverpool, on the 12th April 1915, at a monthly rate of pay of £6-10s-0d, (£6.50p.), £1-0s-0d. of which was advanced to him at the time. He then joined the vessel at Liverpool Pierhead, at 8 a.m. on the 17th April, before the liner left the River Mersey for the last ever time. He had served on the Cunarder before.
The Lusitania completed her journey to New York without mishap and left there on the early afternoon of the 1st May to begin the second leg of her voyage with a return to Liverpool. She never made it, however, for on the afternoon of the 7th May, whilst sailing within sight of the Old Head of Kinsale in southern Ireland, she was torpedoed and sunk by the German submarine, U-20, and sank within 20 minutes. At that time, she was probably only about twelve to fourteen hours steaming time away from the safety of her home port.
One of the victims of this action was Fireman Butler. He was aged 44 years at the time.
As his body was not recovered and identified afterwards, he has no known grave and as a consequence, his name is embossed on the Mercantile Marine War Memorial to the Missing of the Mercantile Marine, at Tower Hill, London.
In August 1915, Fireman Butler’s widow Julia received the balance of wages owed to him by Cunard in respect of the Lusitania’s last voyage. This covered the time period from the morning of the 17th April 1915 until the afternoon of the 8th May; 24 hours after the liner had gone down. The Liverpool and London War Risks Insurance Association Limited also granted a yearly pension to Julia Butler to compensate her for the loss of her husband which amounted to £24-15s-8d. (£24.78p.), which was payable at the rate of £2-1s-4d. (£2.06p.) per month.
Register of Births, Marriages and Deaths, Liverpool England Catholic Baptisms 1754 – 1933, 1871 Census of England, 1881 Census of England, 1891 Census of England, 1911 Census of England, Cunard Record, Commonwealth War Graves Commission, UK Campaign Medals Awarded to World War I Merchant Seamen 1914 – 1925, PRO BT 100/345, PRO BT 351/1/19032, UniLiv. PR 13/24, Deaths at Sea 1871 – 1968, Graham Maddocks, Geoff Whitfield, Michael Poirier, Jim Kalafus,
Cliff Barry, Paul Latimer, Norman Gray.
Copyright © Peter Kelly.
Revised & Updated – 28th December 2022.