Michael Jones was born in Liverpool, Lancashire, England, on the 13th November 1889, the son of John and Ellen Jones (née McCabe). He was one of eight children, and his father worked as a dock labourer and later as a boiler scaler. By 1915, the family resided at 9. Shadwell Street, Liverpool.
After finishing his education, he became a boiler scaler, like his father, before he joined the Mercantile Marine as a trimmer on steam ships.
He engaged as a trimmer in the Engineering Department on board the Lusitania at Liverpool on the 12th April 1915, at a monthly wage of £6-0s.-0d. and joined the vessel at 8 a.m., on the morning of the 17th April, for what would prove to be her final round trip.
When the great liner was sunk on the 7th May off the south coast of Ireland, he survived the sinking, and having been rescued from the sea and landed at Queenstown, he eventually made it back to his family in Liverpool.
Michael Jones continued to serve as a trimmer and fireman in the Mercantile Marine until the early 1930’s but nothing further is known about him.
Liverpool England Catholic Baptisms 1741 – 1919, 1891 Census of England, 1901 Census of England, 1911 Census of England, 1921 Census of England, Cunard Records, PRO BT 100/345, PRO BT 348, PRO BT 350, PRO BT 351/1/73044, Graham Maddocks, Geoff Whitfield, Michael Poirier, Jim Kalafus, Cliff Barry, Paul Latimer, Norman Gray.
Copyright © Peter Kelly.
Revised & Updated – 28th January 2024.