Arthur William Norman was born in Peckham, London, England, on the 29th March
1880, the son of David Greville and Sarah Hannah Norman (née Kilner). His father was a rag merchant, and Arthur was one of ten children.
Nothing is known about his early life, but by 1904, he was working as a ship’s steward in the British Mercantile Marine.
On the 23rd April 1904, he married Selina Louise Bayley in Bermondsey, London, and his home address in May 1915 was at 102, New Church Street, London. Arthur and his wife would have four children.
It is not known when or how he went to New York City in the United States of America, but he engaged as a trimmer in the Engineering Department on board the Lusitania at New York, on the 30th April 1915, but appears to have served as a fireman, nevertheless. His rate of pay was £6-0s.-0d. per month, and he was on board when the liner departed from Pier 54 in New York harbour on the afternoon of the 1st May.
He survived her sinking, six days out of New York, on the afternoon of the 7th May on her return sailing to Liverpool. She was torpedoed and sunk by the German submarine U-20, within sight of the coast of southern Ireland and only hours away from her home port.
Having been rescued from the sea and landed at Queenstown, Fireman Norman eventually got back to Liverpool and then home to London.
There were two passenger victims of the sinking with the surname Norman, second cabin passenger Robert Norman and third class passenger Jasper Norman, both British, and both travelling from New York.
When the list of survivors was first published in the press, the family of one of these must have clung onto the hope that Fireman A.W. Norman's name on this list was a mis-print, for on the 28th May 1915 a cable was received at the Cunard Head Office, from New York, which asked: -
“A.W. NORMAN SURVIVOR IS THIS ROBERT NORMAN SECOND CABIN OR JASPER NORMAN STEERAGE”
All hope must have been dashed, however, with the reply which was sent the following day :-
“YOURS TWENTY EIGHTH. A.W. NORMAN CORRECT. MEMBER OF CREW”
Nothing can be found concerning Arthur Norman until 1920, when he was living in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. His wife and children joined him in Toronto in August 1920, and Arthur found work as a janitor with a life assurance company in the city. For many years the family resided at 57. Laing Street, Toronto.
In 1941, Elizabeth Norman died, and after Arthur retired, he lived with his son in Bannockburn, near Belleville, Ontario.
On the 28th June 1964, he died in Belleville hospital, aged 84 years. He was buried beside his wife in St. John’s Norway Cemetery in Toronto.
Register of Births, Marriages and Deaths, 1881 Census of England, 1891 Census of England, 1901 Census of England, 1911 Census of England, 1931 Census of Canada, Cunard Records, The Sault Star, PRO BT 100/345, PRO BT 351/1/105247, UniLiv. PR13/6, Graham Maddocks, Geoff Whitfield, Michael Poirier, Jim Kalafus, Cliff Barry, Paul Latimer, Norman Gray.
Copyright © Peter Kelly.
Revised & Updated – 26th January 2025.