Emma Hadley was born in Whiteheath, Worcestershire, England, on the 21st April 1853, the daughter of John and Elizabeth Hadley (née Parkes). Her father manufactured iron nails in one of the local factories, and the family resided at 39. High Street, Blackheath. On completion of her education, Emma worked as a domestic servant.
On the 16th November 1873, she married Reuben Harris at the Church of St. Thomas, Dudley, Staffordshire. The couple would have eleven children, seven who would still be alive in 1911. In the early years of their marriage, the family resided at 37. High Street, Blackheath – two houses away from Emma’s family home! The family later moved to Long Lane, an area between Blackheath and Halesowen.
In March 1912, her husband, Reuben, and son, Aaron, who was a carpenter, went to Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Emma Harris joined them when she arrived in Halifax on the 30th August 1912, on board the
Empress of Ireland, and followed them in Calgary
By 1915, the couple had moved to Toronto, Ontario, where her husband found work as a bricklayer with Fyshe Martin and Company. In the spring of that year, however, perhaps because of the Great War, they made the decision to travel back to England and as a result, booked second cabin passage on the May sailing of the Lusitania
from New York to Liverpool.
Having left Toronto sometime after they had purchased their tickets on the 14th April 1915, they arrived in New York on the morning of 1st May, and boarded the liner at the Cunard berth at Pier 54 in time for her scheduled 10 o’clock departure. They then had to wait until just after mid-day, before the liner left port, because she had to embark cargo, passengers and crew from the liner and Anchor Liner
Cameronia which the British Admiralty had requisitioned 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 coast of southern Ireland, only about 250 miles away from her destination and home port.
Both Emma and Reuben Harris were killed as a result of this action and as neither of their bodies was ever recovered from the sea and identified afterwards, neither has a known grave. Emma Harris was aged 61 years.
The Great War was not finished with the Harris family, however; as on the 15th May 1915, two of their sons – Aaron and Benjamin enlisted in the Royal Engineers, and whereas Benjamin survived, 98244 Sapper Aaron Harris did not. Having completed his basic training in England, he was sent to France on the 18th December 1915 and assigned to the 155th Field Company of the Royal Engineers. While serving on the Western Front, he suffered a gunshot wound to his neck on the 17th January 1916, and initially treated at No. 10 Field Hospital, St. Omar, and then transferred to St John Hospital, at Etaples, where he died on the 20th February. His remains were interred in Etaples Military Cemetery in Grave VI.C.7 where they still lie today.
Register of Births, Marriages and Deaths, England Select Marriages 1538 – 1973, 1861 Census of England & Wales, 1871 Census of England & Wales, 1881 Census of England & Wales, 1891 Census of England & Wales, 1901 Census of England & Wales, 1911 Census of England & Wales, Canadian Passenger Lists 1865 – 1935, Cunard Records, Birmingham Daily Gazette, PRO BT 100/345, Deaths at Sea 1871 – 1968, Commonwealth War Graves Commission, Graham Maddocks, Robert Dean, Geoff Whitfield, Michael Poirier, Jim Kalafus, Cliff Barry, Paul Latimer, Norman Gray.
Copyright © Peter Kelly.