Reginald Raphael Lockhart was born in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, on the 14th September 1865, the son of James and Susan Isabella Lockhart (née Follenus). His father was a merchant, and Reginald was the eldest of six known children.
On completing his education, Reginald became a dry goods merchant, and moved to Toronto, Ontario. It was in Toronto, on the 13th January 1891, that he married Louise Shay Burritt, and the couple went on to have six children.
His eldest child, Norman Burritt Lockhart died from meningitis, aged 23 years, at the family home, which was at 36. Dale Avenue, Rosedale, Toronto, on the 22nd March 1915. Norman was serving as a private with the 19th Bn., Canadian Expeditionary Force, at the time of his death.
Reginald Lockhart, by this time was employed by Messrs. W.R. Johnson & Co. Ltd., as a cloth buyer, and frequently travelled to England in the course of his business.
At the end of April 1915, he set off in the company of a colleague, Robinson Pirie, from Toronto, to Huddersfield in Yorkshire, to buy cloth from Messrs. Thomas Cresswell and Co., of Lord Street. He was well known in the city as he made frequent buying trips there.
As a consequence, he booked as a saloon passenger on the Lusitania and joined her
before she left New York, just after mid-day, on 1st May 1915. Once he had boarded, (with ticket number 10863), he was allocated room B72, which was under the personal supervision of First Class Waiter John Roach, who came from Liverpool. Roach was serving as a first class bedroom steward on the liner’s last ever trans-Atlantic crossing.
When the liner was sunk, six days later, he managed to survive and having been rescued from the sea by a Royal Navy destroyer, he was landed at Queenstown from where he eventually made his way to England.
In an account written by a fellow saloon passenger survivor, Laura Ryerson, after her rescue, she describes coming across Reginald Lockhart in the sea: -
I am a good swimmer and although there was a good crowd struggling together I got clear and came up against a raft on which were Leonard McMurray and Mr. Lockhart of Toronto. The raft was sinking with so many on it, so I and others swam to a lifeboat floating near and got into it.
His colleague Robinson Pirie also survived, as did Leonard McMurray, mentioned in Laura Ryerson’s account. First Class Waiter John Roach also survived and eventually returned to Liverpool.
Lockhart was aged 49 years when he survived the Lusitania’s sinking, although he gave his age on boarding as being 41 years! He remained in Queenstown for number of days before he continued on his journey England, however, he was diagnosed as suffering from pneumonia and hospitalised for a number of weeks shortly after his arrival and was unable to conduct his business in Huddersfield. He boarded the St. Paul at Liverpool on the 31st July and after landing in New York City, made his way back to his home in Toronto.
Reginald Lockhart filed a claim with the Canadian Commission after arriving back in Toronto, and gave evidence before the Commission in October 1923. His claim for $1,859.15 was for medical expenses, loss of his personal effects, and compensation for being unable to work for ten weeks after his ordeal. He was awarded his full claim in due course.
Reginald Lockhart continued working as a cloth buyer, and travelling to England on a regular basis for many years, until at least 1926.
He died at Toronto General Hospital on the 18th October 1929, aged 64 years. The cause of his death was recorded as being an abscess of the lung. He was laid to rest in St. James Cemetery, Toronto, on the 21st October, beside his son, Norman.
Ontario Canada Marriages 1826 – 1938, Ontario Canada Deaths and Deaths Overseas 1869 – 1948, 1881 Census of Canada, 1891 Census of Canada, 1911 Census of Canada, 1921 Census of Canada, Canadian Passenger Lists 1865 – 1935, Cunard Records, Canada War Graves Registers (Circumstances of Casualty) 1914 – 1948, Canadian Claims Case No. 764, Huddersfield Daily Examiner, Deaths at Sea 1871 – 1968, Graham Maddocks, Geoff Whitfield, Michael Poirier, Jim Kalafus, Cliff Barry, Paul Latimer, Norman Gray.
Copyright © Peter Kelly.