Frederick ‘Fred’ Archibald McMurtry was born in Elizabethville, Northumberland County, Ontario, Canada, on the 17th May 1871, the son of William and Mary A. McMurthy (née McBurney). His father was a farmer, and Fred was the second youngest of eight known children.
On the 29th July 1897, he married Gertrude Mabel Reeve in Toronto, Ontario, and they had two children – Louis Burney, who was always known as “Burney”, born in 1898, and Florence Vedda, always known as “Vedda”, born in 1900.
He was a buyer for a T. Eaton & Company, a large Canadian drapery firm, and from at least 1902, travelled frequently to Europe, often several times a year. He had made several trans-Atlantic crossings on the Lusitania.
In January 1915, he had returned to Canada from a business trip in England, travelling as a saloon passenger on the Lusitania, and finding it necessary to return to England a few months later, he again booked saloon passage on the liner which was due to leave New York on the morning of 1st May. His ticket, numbered 13061, and was booked through his company’s New York City branch, at 45, East 17th Street, New York.
Travelling from Canada, he arrived at the liner’s berth, at Pier 54 in New York harbour on the morning of 1st May and once on board, was escorted to room D59, which was the personal responsibility of First Class Bedroom Steward Edwin Huther who came from Liverpool. His berth in room D59 was No. 1, and in No. 2, was another buyer for his company, Walter McLean, who was on his way back to his home in England, having conducted company business in Japan. Their ticket numbers were different, indicating that they were not issued at the same time!
The liner’s 10.00 a.m. sailing was delayed until the afternoon as she had to embark passengers, crew and cargo from the Anchor Liner Cameronia, which had been requisitioned by the British Admiralty for war work at the end of April. She finally left the 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 twelve miles off the coast of southern Ireland and only 250 miles away from her Liverpool destination.
One of those killed was Fred McMurtry and as his body was never recovered from the sea and identified afterwards, he has no known grave. He was aged 43 years, being ten days short of his 44th birthday.
Both Walter McLean and Bedroom Steward Huther, who had looked after both him and Fred McMurtry in room D59, also perished in the disaster, as did his colleague, Walter McLean.
His wife and daughter filed a claim with the Canadian Commission, seeking compensation for the loss of Fred McMurtry’s life, and also for the loss of his personal effects and cash he was carrying with him. The Commission awarded Gertrude McMurtry the sum of $40,000 in compensation for the loss of her husband, and an additional $2,050 for the loss of his personal effects and cash. In addition, they awarded his daughter, Vedda McMurtry, the sum of $7,000.
Germany was not finished with the McMurtry family following the death of Fred, for his son, 2nd Lieutenant Louis Burney McMurtry, 213 Squadron, Royal Air Force, was killed when the Sopwith Camel he was flying was shot down by German aircraft on the 13th October 1918 over Belgium. His remains were recovered and interred in Oostrozebeke Communal Cemetery, Belgium.
On the 4th December 1939, Gertrude McMurtry died, aged 61 years, as a result of ovarian cancer. Her daughter, Vedda, who was unmarried, and who had cared for her mother in her final months, died as a result of shooting herself in the head with a rifle
at the home they had shared in Pickering, Ontario, on the 2nd October 1940, just six days before her 40th birthday.
Ontario Canada Marriages 1826 – 1938, Ontario Canada Deaths and Deaths Overseas 1869 – 1948, 1881 Census of Canada, 1901 Census of Canada, 1906 Census of Manitoba, Cunard Records, Commonwealth War Graves Commission, Canadian Claims Case No. 780, PRO 22/71, PRO BT 100/345, Deaths at Sea 1871 – 1968, Graham Maddocks, Geoff Whitfield, Michael Poirier, Jim Kalafus, Cliff Barry, Paul Latimer, Norman Gray.
Copyright © Peter Kelly.