Charles Alfred Learoyd was born in South Yarra, Victoria, Australia, on the 6th November 1867, the son of Joseph and Isabella Annie Learoyd, (née Ronald). He was the youngest of five known children, and his father was a successful merchant who had emigrated from England. Charles was educated in England at St. Chatham House, Chatham, Kent, under the tutorship of a Mr. Edwin Banks.
His uncle, Mr. A.N. Ronald, was a prominent wool merchant with the firm, Ronald & Rodger, Exchange Chambers, Bixteth Street, Liverpool.
Having completed his education, he married Mabel Kate Symonds in St. Kilda, Victoria, on the 22nd February 1896 and became a wool broker, travelling extensively through Canada and Australia in the course of his business. His home address in England was at 130, Brompton Road, London, Middlesex.
The couple had one child, a son named Ronald Hilton Douglas Learoyd, always known as ‘Douglas’, who was born in Sydney, New South Wales, on the 4th September 1900. Tragically, the poor lad died of appendicitis on board the s.s. Malwa on the 17th March 1911, aged 10 years, while on a voyage from Australia to England.
At the end of 1914, Charles Learoyd had been in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, with his wife, presumably on business, and they set out for England via Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Staying in Toronto for a while, they booked saloon passage from there through A. F. Webster & Son, of Toronto, to Liverpool on the Lusitania’s May sailing in 1915, which was scheduled to leave New York on the morning of 1st May.
Leaving Toronto at the end of April, they stayed at The Baltimore Hotel, in New York City, before joining the liner at the Cunard berth at Pier 54 in the port, on that morning. Having boarded with ticket number 46123, they were escorted to their accommodation in room D57, which was the personal responsibility of First Class Bedroom Steward Edwin Huther, who came from Liverpool. Accompanying the couple on their journey was Mrs. Learoyd’s British maid, Miss Margaret Hurley, who was accommodated in saloon room B82.
The liner’s sailing was then delayed, as she had to embark passengers, crew and cargo from the Anchor Liner Cameronia which had been requisitioned for war work by the British Admiralty at the end of April. She finally left New York just before 12.30 p.m. and just six days later, on the afternoon of 7th May, she was torpedoed and sunk by the German submarine U-20, when she was only twelve miles off the coast of southern Ireland and barely 250 miles away from her home port.
Although Mabel Learoyd survived the sinking, Charles Learoyd did not, although his body was eventually recovered from the sea. It was washed up on Valentia Island in County Kerry, in mid July 1915, about 90 miles from where the liner had gone down and was buried on 22nd July 1915 in Kilmore Graveyard, on Valentia Island. He was aged 47 years.
After such a long immersion in the water, it was not possible to make a positive identification of his corpse, but Margaret Hurley, who had also survived the sinking, was able to identify his property and this was eventually sent to Cunard’s London office for despatch to Mabel Learoyd at the Brompton address. It is likely that Mabel Learoyd and Margaret Hurley were able to survive because they were put into one of the few lifeboats which were successfully launched form the Boat Deck.
Following a positive identification of Charles Learoyd’s body, a headstone was erected on his grave by his family and this survives to this day. It consists of a large stone cross mounted on three square stone blocks, and the inscription states: -
SACRED
TO THE MEMORY OF
CHARLES ALFRED LEAROYD
OF SYDNEY AUSTRALIA
WHO LOST HIS LIFE BY THE SINKING OF
THE LUSITANIA,
MAY 7TH 1915
The headstone is in excellent condition, although the cross is known to have toppled in recent years and replaced by local people.
Bedroom Steward Huther, who had looked after the Learoyds in room D57 also survived the sinking and eventually made it back to his home in Liverpool.
On 21st March 1916, probate of Charles Learoyd’s will was granted to his widow Mabel at London and his effects amounted to £1,530-14s-0d., (£1,530.70p.).
Australia Births and Baptisms 1792 – 1981, 1881 Census of England & Wales, 1911 Census of England & Wales, New York Passenger Lists 1820 – 1957, Canadian Passenger Lists 1865 – 1915, U.S. Border Crossings from Canada to U.S. 1895 – 1960, Cunard Records, The Sydney Morning Herald, Probate Records, PRO 22/71, PRO BT 100/345, UniLiv.D92/1/8-10, UniLiv D92/2/330, Deaths at Sea 1871 – 1968, Graham Maddocks, Geoff Whitfield, Lawrence Evans, Michael Poirier, Jim Kalafus, Cliff Barry, Paul Latimer, Norman Gray.
Copyright © Peter Kelly