John Henry Gregory was born in Camberwell, London, at the end of 1894, the son of John Henry and Florence Mary Gregory (née Caddock). His father was a rug dresser, and John Henry junior was the eldest of eight surviving children in the family. He had two siblings who had died before 1911. In 1915, the family home was at 54, Tilson Road, Peckham, London.
On completing his education, he became a furniture maker, and then, after the outbreak of World War I, he enlisted in the British Army at Shoreditch on the 31st August 1914. As 11271 Private John H. Gregory, he was assigned to the Royal Berkshire Regiment. His military service only lasted 64 days as he was discharged as being medically unfit due to deafness on the 2nd November 1914.
The circumstances as to how or when he travelled to the United States of America are unknown; however, by the spring of 1915 he decided to return to England.
He engaged as a trimmer in the Engineering Department on board the Lusitania at New York, on the 30th April 1915, just in time for her fateful voyage home. His monthly rate of pay was £6. It is likely that he signed on to earn money as he journeyed home.
He was killed when the ship was sunk, and his body was not recovered and identified later. As a consequence, he is commemorated on the Mercantile Marine Memorial at Tower Hill, London.
Commonwealth War Graves Commission records show his rank as fireman, but several Cunard sources show it to have been that of trimmer.
Register of Births, Marriages, and Deaths, London England Births and Baptisms 1813 – 1906, 1901 Census of England, 1911 Census of England, Cunard Records, Commonwealth War Graves Commission, UK British Army World War I Pension Records 1914 – 1920, UniLiv. D92/6/1, PRO BT 334, PRO BT 351/1/54461, Deaths at Sea 1871 – 1968, Graham Maddocks, Geoff Whitfield, Michael Poirier, Jim Kalafus, Cliff Barry, Paul Latimer, Norman Gray.
Copyright © Peter Kelly.
Revised & Updated – 15th December 2023.