Thomas Home was born in Cobourg, Ontario, Canada, on the 1st April 1865, the son of Thomas Brown and Mary Home (née Cumming). His father was a tailor, and his parents had emigrated from Scotland with Thomas’ two older siblings. In total, he had six brothers and sisters.
He became a salesman after leaving school, and on the 8th June 1892, he married Mabel Zitella Salome Pew in Toronto, Ontario. The couple had four children.
He was obviously a successful salesman, because he became a buyer for the firm of Messrs. J. Goulding and Son of Toronto, Ontario, and frequently travelled to Europe on company business.
In the spring of 1915, he was being sent to England, again on behalf of his employers, and having booked a saloon ticket through Robert Reford and Co. of Toronto, he set out to join the
Lusitania at New York at the end of April.
Having arrived at the Cunard berth at Pier 54 in New York, on 1st May 1915 in time for her scheduled 10 o’clock sailing, he boarded, and with ticket number 6927, was allocated saloon room B23. This was under the personal supervision of First Class Waiter James Holden, who came from Liverpool, and who was serving as a first class bedroom steward on the liner’s last voyage.
The Lusitania’s sailing was delayed until the afternoon as she had to embark passengers, crew and cargo from the Anchor Lines vessel the
Cameronia, which had been requisitioned by the British Admiralty for war service as a troop ship at the end of April. She finally left port just after mid-day, and just six days later, on the afternoon of 7th May, she was torpedoed and sunk by the German submarine U-20. At that point, she was off The Old Head of Kinsale in southern Ireland and only some fourteen hours steaming away from her Liverpool destination.
Thomas Home managed to survive this action and having been rescued from the sea, he was landed at Queenstown, from where he was able to send a cable to his firm, informing them of his safety. He was aged 50 years at the time of his ordeal.
Waiter Holden who had looked after Thomas Home in room B23 perished in the sinking, however and never saw his Liverpool again.
Thomas Home lodged a claim for the loss of his personal effects, and for personal injuries he suffered, with the Canadian Commission established to decide on cases arising out of the sinking of the
Lusitania. He gave evidence before the Commission in October 1923, itemising the personal effects he had lost in the sinking, and valuing them at $505.59. He claimed $5,000 for personal injuries he sustained.
In his evidence, he stated that he saw the torpedo approach, and was standing directly over it when it struck the liner, causing him to be covered in ash, and being struck with pieces of timber. He testified that the heel of his boot was ripped off by the force of the explosion, and he had damaged the tendons in his heel. He was awarded $5,505.59 – the full amount of his claim.
Thomas Home continued to travel to Europe on business for many years, and his experience of the sinking of the
Lusitania didn’t seem to affect his wiliness to travel on trans-Atlantic voyages.
He died in Toronto, Ontario, on the 9th March 1952, aged 86 years. His wife had died in 1928.
Ontario Canada Marriages 1826 – 1937, 1881 Census of Canada, 1891 Census of Canada, 1901 Census of Canada, 1911 Census of Canada, New York Passenger Lists 1820 – 1957, Cunard Records, Canadian Claims Case No. 777, Edmonton Journal, The Toronto World, PRO BT 100/345, Graham Maddocks, Geoff Whitfield, Michael Poirier, Jim Kalafus, Cliff Barry, Paul Latimer, Norman Gray.
Copyright © Peter Kelly.