Thomas Henry 'Tom' Williams was born in Liverpool, Lancashire, England, on the 22nd December 1879, the eldest son of Thomas Henry and Mary Catherine Williams (née Pritchard). At the time of his birth, his family lived at 253. Scotland Road, Liverpool. He was one of nine children; however, two of his siblings died in infancy.
His father was a pork butcher at the time of Thomas’ birth, but later became a building contractor, and the family moved house an number of times before finally settling at 'Cartref', Birkenhead Road, Great Meols, and were a popular members of the community. As well as his being a builder, his father was also a Justice of the Peace and a former Alderman.
Tom Williams worked as a cotton salesman and stockbroker, and in August 1914, he went to New York, U.S.A., in connection with this business, to the firm of Williams and Prehn, with which he may have been financially involved. He also conducted business in Muskogee, Oklahoma. In April 1915, he booked saloon passage home to Great Meols on the Lusitania - his ticket number being 46140. He boarded the liner at Pier 54, on the morning of 1st May 1915 and was allocated room B46, which was the personal responsibility of First Class Waiter John Roach, who was serving as a bedroom steward on what became the liner’s last voyage. The Cunarder finally left New York harbour, after a delayed start, at 12.25 p.m.
Tom Williams was killed six days later, after the liner was torpedoed. It was first reported that he had survived and his brother went to Queenstown the day after the sinking to search for him. However, when neither he nor his body turned up anywhere in Southern Ireland, it was eventually accepted that he must have perished. As his body was never recovered and identified, he has no known grave. He was aged 35 years.
He is commemorated, however, on the family grave in the churchyard of the former Trinity Church, in Hoylake, Cheshire. The four-sided stone, in white marble, is topped with an effigy of an angel with a trumpet and bears the following inscription: -
To the Glory of God
And In Loving Memory of
THOMAS HENRY
WILLIAMS
ELDEST SON OF
T. H. & M. C. WILLIAMS.
OF "CARTREF" GREAT MEOLS,
WHO WAS LOST
IN THE PASSENGER SHIP
LUSITANIA. MAY 7TH 1915.
AGED 35 YEARS.
He is also commemorated in the Church of Saint John The Baptist, The Parish Church of Great Meols, where he used to worship. His memorial is in the form of two stained glass windows with a figure of a saint and angels in each one and underneath the two is written in red script :-
To the Glory of God and in memory of his life when the S.S. Lusitania was tor-
Thomas Henry Williams who lost pedoed by a German Submarine 7th May 1915
Administration of his estate was granted to his father at London on 4th August 1915, and his effects amounted to £3,910-16s-9d, (£3,910.84p).
Bedroom Steward Roach, who looked after Tom Williams in room B46, survived the sinking and eventually made it back to his Liverpool home.
Thomas Williams senior died in May 1943 aged 93 years and Mary Williams, in March 1923, aged 72 years.
Register of Births, Marriages and Deaths, England & Wales Non-Conformist Births and Baptisms 1538 – 1975, 1881 Census of England & Wales, 1891 Census of England & Wales, 1901 Census of England & Wales, 1911 Census of England & Wales, New York Passenger Lists 1820 – 1957, Cunard Records, Bootle Times, Wallasey News, Probate Records, PRO 22/71, PRO BT 100/345, Deaths at Sea 1871 – 1968, Graham Maddocks, George Donnison, Peter Threlfall, Geoff Whitfield, Michael Poirier, Jim Kalafus, Cliff Barry, Paul Latimer, Norman Gray.
Copyright © Peter Kelly.