Sidney Groves was born in Portsmouth, Hampshire, England, in 1887, the son of Frederick Richard and Ellen Groves (née Rennie). His father was a carpenter, and the family home was originally at 17. Cowper Road and later 70. Manor Road, Portsmouth. Following in his father’s footsteps, Sidney also became a carpenter.
On the 6th May 1907, he arrived in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, on board the
Virginian, and proceeded to Toronto, Ontario, in search of work. On the 21st December 1910, he married Clara Gertrude Lee in Toronto, and they had one son named Frederick William, who was born on the 30th June 1913. The family lived at 142. Lee Avenue, Toronto.
In the spring of 1915, Sidney and Clara Groves decided to cross the Atlantic to Europe, perhaps to introduce his young son to his family. As a result, they booked as second cabin passengers on the May sailing of the
Lusitania from New York to Liverpool and set out some time in April, accompanied by baby Frederick, to catch the sailing, which was scheduled to begin on the morning of 1st May 1915.
Having arrived at the Cunard berth at Pier 54 on the west side of the city, they boarded in time for the liner’s planned 10 o’clock departure, but had to wait until just after mid-day before the liner actually left the port. This was caused because she had to wait to embark passengers, crew and cargo from the liner Cameronia
which the British Admiralty had requisitioned for war service as a troop ship at the end of April.
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 just eighteen minutes later. At that stage of her voyage, she was only 250 miles from the safety of her home port.
All three of the Groves family members were killed as a result of this action and although the body of Clara Groves was eventually recovered from the sea and buried at Queenstown, nothing was ever seen again of either Sidney Groves or his son Frederick.
Sidney Groves was aged 28 years at his time of death.
Register of Births, Marriages and Deaths, Ontario Canada Marriages 1826 – 1937, 1891 Census of England & Wales, 1901 Census of England & Wales, 911 Census of Canada, Canadian Passenger Lists 1865 – 1935, Cunard Records, PRO BT 100/345, UniLiv D92/2/31, Deaths at Sea 1871 – 1968, Graham Maddocks, Geoff Whitfield, Michael Poirier, Jim Kalafus, Cliff Barry, Paul Latimer, Norman Gray.
Copyright © Peter Kelly.