Eva Mary Grandidge was born in Armley, Leeds, Yorkshire, in November 1911, the daughter of Arthur G. and Lydia Grandidge (née May). The family lived at 28. Fitz Arthur Street, Tong Road, Armley. She had an older brother named Arthur Willie, who was born in early 1910, but died in infancy. Her father was employed as a conductor on the electric trams running in Leeds.
On the 18th June 1912, the family of three boarded the Caronia in Liverpool, and disembarked in New York City on the 26th June. Their destination was Yonkers, New York, where both Arthur and Lydia had siblings living and working. In 1915, they lived at 8, Highfield Avenue, Yonkers, New York.
In the spring of 1915, however, her mother decided to return home for a holiday and booked second cabin passage for herself and Eva on the May sailing of the
Lusitania from New York to Liverpool. Having left Yonkers, mother and daughter joined the liner at her berth at Pier 54 in New York harbour in time to catch her scheduled 10.00 a.m. sailing on 1st May 1915.
This was then delayed until just after mid-day, as she had to take on board passengers, crew and cargo from the Anchor liner
Cameronia which had been requisitioned by the British Admiralty for war service as a troop ship, at the end of April. Six days later, on the afternoon of 7th May, the
Lusitania was torpedoed and sunk by the German submarine U-20 within sight of the southern coast of Ireland and only 250 miles away from her home port.
Both Eva Grandidge and her mother perished in the sinking but although Mrs. Grandidge’s body was never recovered from the sea and identified, that of Eva was. Having been landed at Queenstown, it was taken to one of the temporary mortuaries set up there, given the reference number 155 and described: -
Female child about 7 years. Light brown hair and well nourished. One gold ring on third finger of left hand with initials
E.M.G.. Red coral necklet, 1 small mother-of-pearl gold brooch, 1 knitted woollen cap red and white, 1 white woollen singlet, 1 cotton petticoat, 1 pink and white striped cotton frock, 1 black velvet coat lined with red, having three large grey buttons, button boots and black stockings.
Then, on 13th May 1915, it was buried in The Old Church Cemetery, two miles north of the town, in Mass Grave B, Sixth Row, Lower Tier, where it lies to this day. It is likely that it was not identified at the time of the burial, as the grisly task of recognition was only carried out by Arthur Grandidge, at a later date, from a photograph taken of the body.
As it was necessary to bury all the recovered bodies as soon as possible, because they could not be hygienically stored in the increasing heat of May, they were all photographed in the temporary mortuaries in Queenstown before being buried. Anxious relatives of those missing were then invited to identify their loved ones through these photographs.
Earlier, Arthur Grandidge had written a description of his wife and daughter which had been sent to The Cunard Steam Ship Company and which arrived at Queenstown on 20th July. Eva Grandidge was described as: -
Age 3½ years, ankles seared. Jewellery - Coral Bead Necklace.
Mr Grandidge also asked for any information concerning his wife or daughter to be passed on to him at the Yonkers address or to Mr. J. Sunderland at ‘Lyndhurst’, Seamer Street, Armley, Leeds, Yorkshire.
Once he had identified the body, Arthur Grandidge requested that it be forwarded to his daughter’s aunt, a Mrs. E. Stead of 29, Morris Row, Low Wortley, Leeds. Yorkshire, England, if at all possible. Of course, after being buried in a mass grave for well over a month, especially in a lower tier it was not possible to comply with this request.
On 17th July 1915 property recovered from Eva Grandidge’s body was put on board the White Star liner
Carpathia bound for New York, where it was handed over to her father at 161, Stanley Avenue, Yonkers, on 30 July. Either he had changed his address, or Stanley Avenue was the home of a relative or friend.
Her father remained in the United States of America, married a widow, who had a number of children, and was widowed again. He died in Yonkers, New York, on the 28th November 1934.
Register of Births, Marriages and Deaths, New York Passenger Lists 1820 – 1957, Cunard Records, PRO BT 100/345, UniLiv.D92/1/8-10, UniLiv. PR13/6, Deaths at Sea 1871 – 1968, Graham Maddocks, Geoff Whitfield, Michael Poirier, Jim Kalafus, Cliff Barry, Paul Latimer, Norman Gray.
Copyright © Peter Kelly.