John “Jack” Lemon was born in Liverpool, Lancashire, England, on the 13th April 1895, the son of John and Teresa Lemon (née Jordan). His father was a dock labourer, and Jack was the youngest of four children in the family.
After leaving school, he worked as a baker’s boy before joining 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.-0s. and joined the vessel at 8 a.m., on the 17th April, before she sailed out of the River Mersey for the final time.
When the liner sank off the south coast of Ireland on the 7th May 1915, he was counted amongst the survivors and having been rescued from the sea and landed at Queenstown, he eventually managed to make his way back to his home in Liverpool.
It is not known if he ever returned to sea again, but by 1921, he was working as a riverside worker for the Canadian Pacific Ocean Services in Liverpool.
In the summer of 1923, he married Mary Veitch in Liverpool, and they had one child, a son named John, who like his father was always known as ‘Jack’.
Jack Lemon spent the remainder of his live working in Liverpool as a dock labourer and resided with his wife and son at 110. Linacre Lane, Bootle, Liverpool.
He died at Walton Hospital, Liverpool, on the 3rd October 1959, aged 64 years, and he was buried in Bootle Cemetery.
When his will was proven on 2nd November 1959, administration was granted to his widow and his effects amounted to £309-10s.-10d. (£309. 54p.).
Register of Births, Marriages and Deaths, 1901 Census of England, 1911 Census of England, 1921 Census of England, 1939 Register, Cunard Records, Liverpool Echo, Probate Records, PRO BT 100/345, Graham Maddocks, Geoff Whitfield, Michael Poirier, Jim Kalafus, Cliff Barry, Paul Latimer, Norman Gray.
Copyright © Peter Kelly.
Revised & Updated – 3rd March 2024.