James Coady was born in Banna, near Fethard, County Wexford, Ireland, on the 22nd October 1862. Nothing is known of his family or when he left Ireland and settled in Liverpool, Lancashire, England.
He was a professional seaman in the British Mercantile Marine. In 1915, his home was at 8, Flint Street, Irlam Road, Bootle, Liverpool, the home of his niece, Mrs. Rose O’Neill. He was unmarried.
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.) and joined the ship at Liverpool Pier Head on the morning of the 17th April 1915, in time for her last ever voyage out of the River Mersey. It was not the first time that he had served on board the vessel. Another fireman on board, and who was also born in Wexford, was Matthew Murphy. James Coady sometimes boarded at Matthew’s home.
Having completed the liner’s crossing to New York, Fireman Coady was on board on the early afternoon of the 1st May, as the Lusitania left the Cunard berth at Pier 54 in that city on the start of her return voyage to Liverpool. Then, six days later, on the afternoon of the 7th May, she was torpedoed and sunk by the German submarine, U-20, within sight of the Old Head of Kinsale in southern Ireland. At that time, she was only about fourteen hours steaming time away from the safety of her home port. James Coady lost his life as a result of this action. He was aged 53 years.
His body was recovered from the sea afterwards, however, and before it was identified in one of Queenstown's temporary mortuaries, it was given the reference number 153 and described as: -
58 years, 5’8”, fireman, clean shaven, full face, grey hair, stout build, no coat, brown sailor trousers.
As it was necessary to bury all the recovered bodies as soon as possible because they
could not be realistically stored in the increasing heat of May, they were all photographed in the temporary mortuaries in Queenstown before being buried. Anxious relatives of those missing were then invited to identify their loved ones through these photographs.
Soon after the sinking, copies of all the photographs were posted in St. George's Hall in Liverpool and Coady’s niece, Rose O’Neill, must have seen them there, for she was convinced that the photograph of corpse No. 153 was that of her uncle and sent Cunard details of him as further proof. These included the fact that he was clean shaven and had white hair.
By this time, however, a positive identification had already been made of body No 153, by Second Senior Third Engineer George Little and his body had been buried on the 13th May 1915 in The Old Church Cemetery, Queenstown, two miles north of the town, in Mass Grave A, 6th Row, Lower Tier. It lies there to this day.
Despite the fact that he has an identifiable burial site, however, the Commonwealth War Graves Commission was not aware of the fact and after the Great War, commemorated him on the Mercantile Marine Memorial to the Missing at Tower Hill, London.
However, once Graham Maddocks had established beyond doubt that he was buried in The Old Church Cemetery, the Commission agreed to erect a permanent memorial to him where he is buried, and this was done in November 1998.
It takes the form of a monument of Irish limestone, sited at the head of Mass Grave B, the centre one of the three. The names of crew members buried in the three mass graves are incised on two black granite panels on the memorial, with a legend in between them, which reads: -
1914 - 1918
IN HONOURED MEMORY
OF THOSE NAMED WHO,
SERVING ON THE
RMS LUSITANIA,
DIED WHEN THE SHIP WAS
SUNK BY ENEMY ACTION
ON 7 MAY 1915
AND ARE BURIED NEARBY
The name of Fireman Coady is incised on the left hand panel.
The Commission has also stated that should it ever be necessary to renew the panel bearing his name on the Tower Hill Memorial, his name would be omitted from its replacement.
There is a James Cody commemorated on a white marble plaque in St. James' Roman Catholic Church in Chestnut Grove, Bootle, Lancashire, and it is likely that this is a misspelling of James Coady's actual surname. It would indicate, furthermore, that he worshipped at that church. Also commemorated on this plaque is James’ friend, Fireman Matthew Murphy.
Liverpool England Crew Lists 1864 – 1919, Cunard Records, Commonwealth War Graves Commission, PRO BT 100/345, PRO BT 334, UniLiv.D92/B/Part 1, Uni.Liv. D92/1/6-2, Deaths at Sea 1871 – 1968, Graham Maddocks, Denise Deighton, Geoff Whitfield, Michael Poirier, Jim Kalafus, Cliff Barry, Paul Latimer, Norman Gray.
Copyright © Peter Kelly.
Revised & Updated – 9th January 2023.