William Henry Cole was born in Ampney St. Mary, near Cirencester, Gloucestershire in 1886, the second son of Henry Edwin and Ellen Julia Cole (née Cuss) of ‘Can Court‘, Ampney St. Mary, near Cirencester. His father was a farmer and William was one of seven children.
He was educated at Wellingborough Grammar School after which he took up an engineering apprenticeship at The Wantage Engineering Works and then joined The Cunard Steam Ship Company in 1906.
Sailing out of Liverpool, he made his home at 105, Belgrave Road, Aigburth, Liverpool, and served on the Lusitania and the Mauretania as well as smaller liners. It was whilst serving on one of these, the Slavonia that he was shipwrecked in 1909
and being a keen amateur photographer, was able to take pictures of the experience. He passed his chief engineer’s certificate in 1912.
On the 12th April 1915, he engaged as Second Intermediate Third Engineer in the Engineering Department on board the Lusitania and reported for duty on the morning of the 17th, before the liner left Liverpool Landing Stage for the very last time. His monthly rate of pay in this rank was £14-10s.-0d. (£14.50p).
Having completed his voyage to New York, he was killed when the steamer was sunk on her return journey on the afternoon of the 7th May 1915, by the German submarine, U-20. At that time, she was only twelve miles off the Old Head of Kinsale in southern Ireland and only hours away from her home port. Engineer Cole was aged 28 years.
His body was not amongst those recovered and identified afterwards, and as a consequence, he is commemorated on the Mercantile Marine War Memorial at Tower Hill, London.
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 a tribute to him published in The Journal of the Marine Engineers’ Association in June 1915, it was said: -
He was highly esteemed by all with whom he came into contact.
Administration of his estate was granted to his father on the 19th July 1915, and his effects amounted to £732-17s.-0d. (£732.85p). In August of the same year, the balance of wages owed to him for his service on the Lusitania from the 17th April until the 8th May, (24 hours after the liner had gone down) was also paid out to his relatives by Cunard.
Register of Births, Marriages and Deaths, Gloucestershire England Church of England Baptisms 1813 – 1913, 1891 Census of England, 1901 Census of England, 1911 Census of England, Cunard Records, Commonwealth War Graves Commission, Gloucestershire Graphic, Marine Engineers’ Journal, Probate Records, PRO BT 334, Deaths at Sea 1871 – 1968, Graham Maddocks, Joe Devereux, George Donnison, David Irving, Robert O'Brien, Geoff Whitfield, Michael Poirier, Jim Kalafus, Cliff Barry, Paul Latimer, Norman Gray.
Copyright © Peter Kelly.
Revised & Updated – 12th January 2023.