Isaac Linton was born in Newry, County Down, Northern Ireland, in 1864, the son of Isaac and Sarah Linton (née McCracken). He was one of nine known children in the family, and his father was a dock labourer who later joined the Mercantile Marine as a fireman on steam ships.
Not long after his birth, his family moved to Liverpool, Lancashire, England, where Isaac’s brothers and sisters, Andrew, Elizabeth, Sarah and James were born. The family home was at 23, Titchfield Street, Liverpool.
On the 26th August 1883, he married Annie Garrett in Liverpool, and although he was only aged 19 years at this time, he gave his age on the marriage certificate as being 21! The couple had twelve children, five of whom survived childhood - Margaret, born in 1883, Catherine (Katie), born in 1891, Agnes, born in 1901, Annie, born in 1910, and James, born in 1896. Annie Linton died on 7th August 1911 and after that, Isaac Linton went to live at 6 Heriot Street, Liverpool.
Like his father, he became a professional seaman in the Mercantile Marine, and he engaged as a fireman in the Engineering Department on board the Lusitania at Liverpool on the 14th April 1915, for what would be the Lusitania’s last voyage. His monthly rate of pay as a fireman was £6-10s.-0d. (£6.50p.). He reported for duty at 8.00 a.m. on the 17th April, before the liner left England for the last time. His previous ship had been the S.S. La Rosarina.
When the ship was torpedoed, he was on watch in the engine room and suffered a head injury. A fellow fireman from the same watch, John O’Connell, helped him up to the deck and into the sea and although John O’Connell survived, Isaac Linton did not. He was aged 51 years, although once again, he gave a false age of 48 years, when he engaged.
His body was recovered from the sea afterwards and taken to one of the temporary mortuaries in Queenstown. There, it was given the reference number 65 and also photographed, and the family later saw a copy of this photograph, clearly showing the head injury. It is not known whether this injury caused him to perish in the sea.
Once a positive identification had been made, however, he was buried in The Old Church Cemetery, Queenstown, on the 10th May 1915, the day that most of the victims were buried, in a mass funeral, which began at the Cunard offices at Lynch Quay. His remains lie there today in Mass Grave C, 1st Row, Lower Tier.
No property was recovered from his body, but the balance of wages owing to him at his time of death was later paid to his widow Annie, by Cunard. The qualifying time for this sum of money was reckoned from the 17th April until the 8th May 1915, 24 hours after the liner had gone down.
Despite his having an identified grave, the records of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission showed that his body was never recovered from the sea and as a consequence he is commemorated on the Mercantile Marine Memorial to the Missing, at Tower Hill, London. After the late Graham Maddocks had submitted positive information about his burial to the Commission, however, it agreed to amend its records to show his true burial place.
Also, at the instigation of Graham Maddocks, in November 1998, the Commission erected a commemorative wall of Irish limestone in The Old Church Cemetery, behind the centre one of the three mass graves and his name is clearly inscribed on the right hand panel.
The Commission has further stated that should the bronze panel which bears his name at Tower Hill ever need to be renewed in the future, his details will be removed from it.
Register of Births, Marriages and Deaths, Liverpool England Church of England Marriages 1754 – 1935, 1871 Census of England, 1881 Census of England, 1891 Census of England, 1901 Census of England, 1911 Census of England, Cunard Records, Commonwealth War Graves Commission, PRO BT 100/345, PRO BT 334, PRO BT 351/1/82720, Graham Maddocks, Gerry Stenson, Geoff Whitfield, Michael Poirier, Jim Kalafus, Cliff Barry, Paul Latimer, Norman Gray.
Copyright © Peter Kelly.
Revised & Updated – 6th March 2024.