Joseph Alan Dredge - usually known as Alan Dredge - was born in Hungerford, Berkshire, England, on 1st March 1872, the second son, and one of five children, of Joseph and Margaretta Dredge (née Davies). His father was an auctioneer, and when Alan was still a child, the family moved to Hereford, Herefordshire, England. Alan was educated at Hereford County College and then Balliol College, Oxford, from where he graduated with a second class honours degree in 1892, going on to achieve a Batchelor of Arts and a Master of Arts degree.
Alan Dredge found employment as a produce manager and worked abroad for many years, mainly West Africa. In early 1908, he married Eva Norman Hazelgrove (née Graves), who was a divorcee. It is believed that Alan and Eva (who changed her hame to Evelyn shortly after her arrival in England in 1903) began a relationship no later than early 1904, while Evelyn, who was still married to Colonel Harry Seymour Hazelgrove, was in England while her husband was serving with the army in Aden. Evelyn had a son from her marriage who was in a boarding school in Devon.
Evelyn had an illegitimate daughter in August 1908, and it is believed that Alan Dredge was the father, although when the child was born, her mother claimed the father was a merchant, named Alexander Francis. However, during divorce proceeding in January 1907, instigated by her husband, it was claimed that no trace of a person named Alexander Francis could be found, and it was believed that the name was a fictitious one given by Mrs. Hazelgrove to protect the real identity of the father.
By 1910, Alan was the manager of The Belize Estate and Produce Company in British Honduras and his wife had accompanied him on the posting. In the spring of 1915, the couple decided to return to England and London, where his daughter was being looked after by her grandparents.
Alan and Evelyn Dredge left Belize City in British Honduras, on the 23rd April 1915, on board the
Marowinje, and disembarked in New Orleans, Louisiana, three days later, on the 26th April. From there, they travelled to New York City, and booked saloon passage on the
Lusitania, scheduled to depart from New York on the 1st May, through the New York firm of Busk & Daniel, of The Produce Exchange in the city. On the morning of 1st May, they joined the Cunarder at Pier 54 in New York harbour, with ticket number 46134. Alan and Evelyn Dredge had last travelled on the vessel from Liverpool to New York in August 1913, on their way back to Belize following a trip home to England.
Once on board, they were escorted to saloon room B33 which was in the care of First Class Waiter James Holden who was acting as a first class bedroom steward on what was to became the
Lusitania’s final voyage across the Atlantic. Holden was a native of Liverpool. The scheduled 10.00am. sailing was then postponed until just after mid-day, because the
Lusitania had to embark passengers, cargo and some of the crew from the Anchor Lines vessel the S.S.
Cameronia, which the British Admiralty had requisitioned for use as a troop ship.
Then, six days later, on the afternoon of 7th May, when the Cunarder was off the coast of southern Ireland, she was torpedoed and sunk, only hours away from her Liverpool destination, by the German submarine
U-20. Neither of the Dredges survived the sinking and as a result, neither ever saw their native land again. Alan Dredge was aged 43 years at the time of the sinking.
As neither of their bodies was ever recovered and identified afterwards, neither has a known grave.
Administration of Alan Dredge’s estate was granted to Theophilus Clive Davies, who was described as being a merchant, on the 26th August 1915. His effects amounted to £3,273-6s.-5d. (£3,273.32p).
Register of Births, Marriages and Deaths, 1881 Census of England & Wales, Balliol College Register, 1901 Census, UK Incoming Passenger Lists 1878 – 1960, UK Outward Passenger Lists 1890 – 1960, New York Passenger Lists 1820 – 1957, New Orleans Passenger Lists 1813 – 1963, Cunard Records, England Oxford Men and their Colleges 1880 – 1892, San Francisco Chronicle, Probate Records, Deaths at Sea 1871 – 1968, Graham Maddocks, Nyle Monday, Joe Devereux, Geoff Whitfield, Michael Poirier, Jim Kalafus, Cliff Barry, Paul Latimer, Norman Gray.
Copyright © Peter Kelly.