Ernest George Henn was born in Dudley, Worcestershire, England, in November 1879, the son of Charles George Whitfield and Sarah Ann Henn (née Wilkes). His father was a timber merchant, and the family was at 2. Dudley Road, Tipton, Staffordshire.
On the 10th September 1905, he married Edith Mabel Fisher, known as 'May', in nearby Dudley Port. They had no children, and they established their home at 23. Clarendon Street, Wolverhampton, Staffordshire He worked as a commercial traveller in his father’s business before immigrating to Canada with his wife in 1913, and getting a job as a post office clerk in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. They resided at 1019. Avenue J South, Saskatoon.
In the spring of 1915, he decided to return to England and consequently set off from Saskatoon on 24th April 1915, with his wife May, and his wife’s aunt, Miss Martha Lakin, and travelling by Canadian Northern Railways, arrived at New York, on the 30th. From there, the party of three joined the Lusitania as second cabin passengers in time for her scheduled 10 o’clock sailing on the morning of 1st May. Once on board, Ernest and May Henn were allocated room D73.
They then had to wait until just after mid-day before the vessel left her berth at Pier 54 to begin what would become her last ever voyage, This was because she had to embark 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. Then just six days later, on the afternoon of 7th May, the
Lusitania was torpedoed and sunk by the German submarine U-20, off The Old Head of Kinsale in southern Ireland and only 250 miles hours away from her Liverpool home port.
George Henn was killed as a result of this action, as was his wife and her aunt. He was aged years 35.
However, another Second Cabin passenger, Mrs. Mabel Henshaw, who lost her baby Constance in the sinking, later described to a reporter of
The Saskatoon Daily Star, how Ernest Henn had helped to save her life. She said: -
I met Mr. Henn on the stairway and he helped me up to the deck. When he saw me without a life belt he immediately gave me the one he was wearing and went in search of his wife and aunt. All three of them were drowned.
His body was later recovered from the sea and taken to Queenstown and given the identification number 144 in one of the temporary mortuaries set up there. Cunard records show that the body was put in the charge of a Captain Dodd, who waited as long as he possibly could before having it buried in The Old Church Cemetery, Queenstown, on 13th May 1915, in Mass Grave B, 6th Row, Upper Tier. Presumably, it had originally been intended to ship it back home to Canada but it had to be buried for reasons of hygiene, before authorisation arrived. The bodies of his wife and her aunt were also recovered and also buried in The Old Church Cemetery.
Property recovered from Ernest Henn's body, was given at Queenstown, to his brother-in-law, Mr. J.L. Fisher, who lived at 2, Crompton Road, Tipton, Staffordshire. It included a silver hunter watch with an enamel dial, engraved on the back with the inscription
PRESENTED TO E.G. HENN ON HIS 21ST BIRTHDAY FROM UNCLE JOHN NOV. 1900,
a lady’s gold watch and chain, also engraved on the back, a half gold sovereign, £0-7s-0d, (£0.35p.), in silver coinage, a £1 note drawn on The Wolverhampton Bank, a fountain pen a gold curb bracelet a pearl penknife, a money draft for $1,600 and a wallet full of documents which still survives in the family possession today.
Another brother of Ernest Henn was apparently present at the time the property was handed over and he was able to help in the identification of the body of No. 132, who was saloon passenger Mrs. Florence Wallace-Watson, who had been travelling from Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is more likely, however, that this was a simple mistake and that the body he identified was really No 182, which was that of his sister-in-law’s aunt, Martha Maria Lakin.
Ernest Henn’s parents lodged a claim for compensation as they were some way dependant on him. By the time their case was heard, his father had died, and the Canadian Commission awarded his mother the sum of $2,500, which included compensation for the loss of his personal effects.
Photocopied Photograph
Register of Births, Marriages and Deaths, 1881 Census of England & Wales, 1891 Census of England & Wales, 1901 Census of England & Wales, 1911 Census of England & Wales, UK Outward Passenger Lists 1890 – 1960, Canadian Passenger Lists 1865 – 1935, Cunard Records, The Saskatoon Daily Star, Canadian Claims Case No. 816, PRO BT 100/345, UniLiv.D92/1/8-10, UniLiv D92/2/36, UniLiv D92/2/195, Deaths at Sea 1871 – 1968, Graham Maddocks, Kenneth Henn, Geoff Whitfield, Michael Poirier, Jim Kalafus, Cliff Barry, Paul Latimer, Norman Gray.
Copyright © Peter Kelly.