Richard ‘Dick’ Gould was born in Liverpool, Lancashire, England, in the summer of 1881, the son of William and Ann Jane Gould (née Gobbin). His father was a railway porter, and Dick was one of seven known children in the family.
On completing his education, he trained as a boilermaker and found work with the Cunard Steam Ship Company Limited.
He married Jane ‘Jennie’ Martin in Liverpool in 1906, and in 1915, they lived at 8, Berwick Road, Bootle, Lancashire. They had three children, a son born in 1907, a daughter born in 1910, and another son born in 1912. He was an active freemason and a
member of Kirkdale Lodge, No. 1756, in Liverpool.
He engaged as Boilermaker in the Engineering Department on board the Lusitania, at Liverpool on the 12th April 1915 at a monthly rate of pay of £12-0s.-0d., and he reported for duty five days later, before the liner left the River Mersey for the last time. It was not the first time that he had served on the vessel.
Having completed her voyage to New York, the liner left the Cunard berth at Pier 54, there just after mid-day on the 1st May 1915 for her return to Liverpool. Six days later, she was torpedoed and sunk off the coast of southern Ireland, by the German submarine U-20, under the command of Kapitänleutnant Walther Schwieger. At that time, the Lusitania was only twelve to fourteen hours steaming time away from her home port.
Boilermaker Gould did not survive her sinking and as his body was never recovered and identified after the disaster, he has no known grave. As a consequence, his name is embossed on the Mercantile Marine Memorial at Tower Hill, London. He was 33 years old, although he gave his age on engagement as 32!
He is also commemorated on the municipal war memorial in Stanley Road, Bootle, Merseyside, and on a bronze roll of honour dedicated to all the freemasons from the Liverpool district, who were killed in the Great War, at the Masonic Hall in Hope Street, Liverpool.
His widow, Jennie, received the balance of wages owed to him for his service on board the liner in August 1915 and in common with all crew members, survived or perished, this was reckoned to be from the 17th April 1915 until the 8th May, 24 hours after the liner had gone down. In addition, The Liverpool and London War Risks Insurance Association Limited granted an annual pension to Jennie Gould to compensate her for the loss of her husband which amounted to £94-6s.-11d. (£94.34½p.), payable at the rate of £7-17s.-3d. (£7.86p.) per month.
Two other crew members, who were killed on board the Lusitania, were also members of Kirkdale Lodge. They were Second Cabin Bedroom Steward D. C. Handlin, who came from Waterloo, near Liverpool and Barkeeper Henry Ross who came from Aintree, a district of Liverpool.
When the Lusitania left Liverpool on the 17th April, there were two boilermakers on board, Richard Gould, who was Senior Boilermaker and P.R. Smith, who was Junior Boilermaker. However, before the liner left New York, three weeks later, Smith was transferred, leaving Richard Gould as the sole practitioner of that craft on board.
Register of Births, Marriages, and Deaths, 1891 Census of England, 1901 Census of England, 1911 Census of England, Cunard Records, Commonwealth War Graves Commission, UK World War I Pension Ledgers and Index Cards 1914 – 1923, Liverpool Echo, UniLiv D92/11, UniLiv. PR 13/24, PRO BT 334, Deaths at Sea 1871 – 1968, Graham Maddocks, Geoff Cuthill, J. Kontzle, Geoff Whitfield, Michael Poirier, Jim Kalafus, Cliff Barry, Paul Latimer, Norman Gray.
Copyright © Peter Kelly.
Revised & Updated – 10th December 2023.