Patrick Needham is believed to have been born in County Sligo, Ireland, around 1866, but no evidence can be found in support of this, and nothing is known of his childhood or family.
It is not known when he left his native land to travel to Liverpool, Lancashire, England, but it is likely that he did so as a teenager or young man in search of work, and joined the British Mercantile Marine as a ship’s fireman on steam ships.
On the 12th August 1890, he married Bridget Cumiskey in Liverpool, and they would have five children, although by 1911, only their son, John, was still alive. In 1915, the family resided at 24. Clare Street, Liverpool.
Patrick Needham engaged as a Leading Fireman in the Engineering Branch on board the Lusitania at Liverpool sometime in April 1915, at a monthly rate of £7-10s.-0d. (£7.50p.). He reported for duty at 8 a.m. on the 17th April for the liner’s last ever voyage out of the River Mersey. Also, on board as a member of the crew was his son, John, making his first voyage as a trimmer, and no doubt his father had secured this position for him.
Having completed the liner’s crossing to New York without mishap, Leading Fireman Needham was still on board the ship on the early afternoon of the 1st May, as the Lusitania left New York on the start of her return voyage to Liverpool. Then, six days out of that port, on the afternoon of the 7th May, she was torpedoed and sunk by the German submarine, U-20, within sight of the coast of southern Ireland. At that time, she was only about fourteen hours steaming time away from the safety of her home port.
He survived the sinking and was landed at Queenstown having been rescued from the sea; however, his son was lost and no trace of him was ever found.
When he finally got back to Liverpool, he was officially discharged from the liner's final voyage, by Cunard, and paid the balance of wages owing to him in respect of it.
Patrick Needham continued to serve as a fireman in the Mercantile Marine for many years after surviving the sinking of the Lusitania.
He died in Liverpool on the 29th September 1934, and he was buried in Ford Cemetery, Liverpool, on the 5th October.
Germany was to strike against the family again on the 3rd May 1941, when Patrick’s widow, Bridget, was killed when her home at 67. Ford Street, was struck by a bomb during a German Luftwaffe air raid on Liverpool. She was aged 73 years.
Register of Births, Marriages and Deaths, Liverpool England Catholic Marriages 1754 – 1933, Liverpool England Catholic Burials 1813 – 1985, 1891 Census of England, 1901 Census of England, 1911 Census of England, 1921 Census of England, Liverpool England Crew Lists 1861 – 1919, New York Passenger Lists 1820 – 1957, Cunard Records, Commonwealth War Graves Commission, UK World War II Civilian War Dead 1939 – 1946, PRO BT 100/345, PRO BT 351/1/103502, Deaths at Sea 1871 – 1968, Graham Maddocks, Geoff Whitfield, Michael Poirier, Jim Kalafus, Cliff Barry, Paul Latimer, Norman Gray.
Copyright © Peter Kelly.
Revised & Updated – 23rd January 2025.