William Dewhurst was born in Darwen, Lancashire, England, on the 23rd October 1893, the son, and one of seven children of John and Alice Dewhurst (née Holden). The family home was at 447. Bolton Road, Darwen. John Dewhurst was a cotton weaver in one of the local cotton mills, and when he died in 1901, William and his older siblings found similar employment at very young ages.
On the 30th March 1913, he arrived in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, on board the
Tunisian, and then, in November 1913, travelled to Fall River, Massachusetts, in the United States of America, where he settled and found employment at his trade as a weaver.
In the spring of 1915, however, possibly because of the war in Europe, he decided to return home and consequently booked as a second cabin passenger on the May sailing of the
Lusitania from New York to Liverpool. He must have done very well at his job to be able to afford second cabin passage on the wages of a weaver!
Having left Fall River some time in April, he arrived at the Cunard berth at Pier 54 in New York harbour on the morning of 1st May 1915 in time for the liner’s scheduled 10.00 a.m. sailing. Once on board, however, he would have had to have waited until just before 12.30 p.m. before the liner actually sailed, as her departure was delayed so that she could take on board passengers, cargo and crew from the Anchor Liner
Cameronia, which had been requisitioned by the British Admiralty for war work as a troop ship.
Then, six days later, on the afternoon of 7th May, the Lusitania was torpedoed twelve miles off the coast of southern Ireland by the German submarine
U-20, and sank within eighteen minutes. At that stage of her voyage, she was only about fourteen hours away from the safety of her home port.
William Dewhurst was one of the many second class passengers who lost their lives as a result of this enemy action and as his body was never recovered from the sea and identified afterwards, he has no known grave. He was aged 21 years at the time of his death.
Register of Births, Marriages and Deaths, Lancashire England Church of England Births and Baptisms 1813 – 1911, 1901 Census of England & Wales, 1911 Census of England & Wales, Canadian Passenger Lists 1865 – 1935, U.S. Border Crossings from Canada to U.S. 1895 – 1960, U.S. Records of Aliens Pre-Examined in Canada 1904 – 1954, Cunard Records, PRO BT 100/345, UniLiv. D92/2/149, Deaths at Sea 1871 – 1968, Graham Maddocks, Geoff Whitfield, Michael Poirier, Jim Kalafus, Cliff Barry, Paul Latimer, Norman Gray.
Copyright © Peter Kelly.