Alice Margaret Kaltenbach was born in Bournemouth, then in Hampshire, England, in 1890, the daughter, and eldest child, of Jules and Mary Alice Kaltenbach (née Davey). Her father was a confectioner, and the family home was at 157a. Old Christchurch Road, Bournemouth. She had at least one younger sister, named Eleanora Anna.
The family resided in Bournemouth until 1893, at which point no trace of them can be found, so it is possible they were in mainland Europe.
In 1910, Alice immigrated to Toronto, Ontario, Canada, where in 1915, her home was at 266. West King Street, Toronto. She worked as a stenographer and was unmarried.
In the spring of 1915, she decided to cross the Atlantic Ocean to Europe, perhaps to visit her family, and having chosen to do so on the
Lusitania, some time in April, she left her home and travelled to New York, where, on the morning of 1st May, she boarded the liner at the Cunard berth at Pier 54 as a second cabin passenger.
Little else is known about her, except that having waited until just after mid-day before the liner sailed, (she had to wait to embark passengers, cargo and crew from the recently requisitioned Anchor Liner
Cameronia) she was killed just six days later when the liner was sunk.
On the early afternoon of 7th May, the Lusitania was torpedoed and sunk off the coast of southern Ireland by the German submarine
U-20, when at most; she was only twelve to fourteen hours away from the safety of her Liverpool home port.
As Alice Kaltenbach’s body was never recovered and identified afterwards, she has no known grave. She was aged 25 years.
Register of Births, Marriages and Deaths, 1891 Census of England & Wales, Canadian Passenger Lists 1865 -1935, Cunard Records, Bournemouth Guardian, The Toronto World, 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.