Peter Buswell was born in Canning Town, London, England, on the 12th April 1888, the son of Arthur Henry and Mary Ann (née Garms). He was the youngest of six sons! His father, who was a butcher, died in 1890 when Peter was still an infant.
On completing his education, Peter found work as a clerk in a shipping office.
In 1910, he married Marion McBride Brown Haxton in London, and the couple set up home at 83. Lowth Road, Denmark Hill, Camberwell, London. The couple had two children – a son named Peter, born in 1913, and a daughter named Eileen, born in 1915. In 1915, the family were residing at 13. Braemer Avenue, Thornton Heath, Surrey.
On the 12th March 1915, Peter Buswell boarded the Tuscania at Glasgow and disembarked in New York on the 22nd March. His passage was booked by the Anchor Line of Glasgow, so it is possible he was employed by this shipping line, and conducting business on their behalf. His return saloon passage ticket on the Lusitania was also booked by the Anchor Line.
He arrived at the Cunard berth at Pier 54 in New York on the morning of 1st May 1915, in time for the liner’s scheduled 10.00 a.m. sailing and using his ticket, which was numbered 13429, he boarded the vessel. He was then escorted to his accommodation in room B4, which was under the personal care of First Class Bedroom Steward William H. Williams, who came from Liverpool.
The Lusitania’s sailing was then delayed until the early afternoon because she had to embark passengers, crew and cargo from the Anchor Lines vessel Anchor Lines vessel the
S.S. Cameronia which the British Admiralty had requisitioned for war service as a troop ship at the end of April.
Six days out of New York on the afternoon of 7th May, and within sight of the coast of southern Ireland, the
Lusitania was torpedoed and sunk by the German submarine U-20. At that time, she was only about 250 miles away from her Liverpool destination.
Peter Buswell was fortunate enough to survive the sinking - one of just over 100 saloon passengers to do so, and having been rescued from the sea, he was landed at Queenstown, from where he eventually made it back to his Surrey home. During his ordeal, he suffered a serious injury to his right leg.
Bedroom Steward Williams who had looked after him in room B4, also survived the sinking, and eventually returned to his home in Liverpool.
Whereas the Germans had failed to kill Peter, they did succeed in killing one of his brothers! G/24922 Private Leonard Buswell of the Queens (Royal West Surrey) Regiment was killed in action on the 4th November 1917 while serving on the Western Front in Belgium.
Undaunted by his ordeal on the Lusitania, Peter Buswell made several trans-Atlantic crossings until 1937.
By the early 1920’s, the Buswell family were residing at 75. Leigh Hall Road, Leigh-on-Sea, Essex. They were still residing there on the 24th March 1949 when Peter Buswell died, aged 60 years.
Register of Births, Marriages and Deaths, 1891 Census of England & Wales, 1901 Census of England & Wales, 1911 Census of England & Wales, 1939 Register, New York Passenger Lists 1820 – 1957, Commonwealth War Graves Commission, Cunard Records, Probate Records, PRO 22/71, UniLiv D92/2/422, Graham Maddocks, Geoff Whitfield, Michael Poirier, Jim Kalafus, Cliff Barry, Paul Latimer, Norman Gray.
Copyright © Peter Kelly.