Robert Duncan Gray was born in Airdrie, Lanarkshire, Scotland, on the 14th April 1880, the son of Alexander and Margaret S. Gray (née Hutton). His father was a printer, and the family home was at 23. Bell Street, Airdrie, and later at 2. Wellington Street, Airdrie.
In January 1900, he enlisted in the Cameron Highlanders Regiment of the British Army. His service number was 5126. He served in Gibraltar and South Africa, being promoted to the rank of lance corporal. He ‘bought’ his way out of his regiment in March 1903, and returned to civilian life.
On the 24th November 1909, he married Jessie Young Walker in the Masonic Temple in Airdrie, and the couple established their home at 22, Graham Street, Airdrie. They didn’t have any children, and Robert worked as a clerk.
In December 1913, he embarked on the California at Glasgow, and decided to try his luck in the United States of America. On disembarking in New York City, he went to the home of his married sister in Brooklyn.
In the spring of 1915, he decided to return to Scotland, and booked second cabin passage home to Airdrie, via Liverpool, on the Lusitania. He boarded the liner at the Cunard berth at Pier 54 in New York, on the morning of 1st May 1915 in time for her scheduled 10.00 a.m. sailing and was allocated Room No. C28, along with three others. He then had to wait - like all the other passengers and crew, until just after mid-day before the
Lusitania actually sailed, as she had to wait to embark some cargo, passengers and crew from the Anchor Lines vessel
Cameronia, which the Admiralty requisitioned for use as a troop ship, just before sailing.
Six days later, he was lucky enough to be counted amongst the survivors after the liner was torpedoed and sunk, off the southern coast of Ireland by the German submarine
U-20. On his return home, he recounted his experiences to a reporter from the local newspaper,
The Dundee Advertiser, which were published in the edition of Monday 10th May, three days after the sinking. They stated: -
He had been thrown into the sea wearing a lifebelt, and was from four to five hours in the water when he was picked up by a trawler and taken to Queenstown, from where he wired to his wife and relatives in Airdrie.
On Saturday, he was taken to Holyhead, and travelling overnight, he arrived at Coatbridge yesterday morning, and taking a tramcar up to Airdrie, surprised his wife and friends by walking in as the church bells were ringing.
He is very lame by the knocking about he received, and will require some days to recover from the injuries and nervous prostration.
Not long after his return, nevertheless, he applied to The Lusitania Relief Fund for financial assistance. This fund had been set up immediately after the disaster by The Lord Mayor of Liverpool and some local dignitaries to give help to survivors and relatives of the dead who had suffered financial hardship as a result of the sinking. For some reason now impossible to ascertain with certainty, the Relief Fund awards committee declined to give Robert Gray a grant. This would probably suggest that his financial circumstances at the time were fairly comfortable!
Cyril Wallace, another survivor, wrote to the Cunard Steamship Company a few weeks after the sinking, seeking Robert Gray’s address. It may be that Wallace was one of his room mates on board, but it is certain that they had become acquaintances.
By 1934, Robert Gray was residing at 4. Graham Street, Airdrie, and was a practitioner of medical gymnastics and massage. He wrote to the military authorities in April of that year, seeking a copy of his service record, and also enquiring if he could obtain replacement medals. When asked to explain the loss of his record of service and medals, he stated that he had lost them in the sinking of the
Lusitania!
Robert Gray died in Airdrie on the 29th December 1936, aged 56 years. At the time of his death, he was the assistant supervisor of the welfare department of Messrs. Stewarts & Lloyds’ Coatbridge and Airdrie Works. The company manufactured steel tubes.
1881 Census of Scotland, 1891 Census of Scotland, British Army WWI Service Records 1914 – 1920, New York Passenger Lists 1820 – 1957, Cunard Records, Dundee Advertiser, Dundee Evening Telegraph, IWM GB62, Liverpool Record Office, PRO BT 100/345, UniLiv D92/2/244, Graham Maddocks, Geoff Whitfield, Michael Poirier, Jim Kalafus, Cliff Barry, Paul Latimer, Norman Gray.
Copyright © Peter Kelly.