Ellen Rostron was born in Radcliffe, Lancashire, England, in 1877, the daughter of George and Elizabeth Rostron (née Holt). Her father was a millwright and mechanic in a cotton mill, and she was one of seven children; however, four of her siblings had died by 1911.
After completing her education, Ellen became a cotton weaver, as did a number of her siblings, and then, on the 26th May 1912, she arrived in Quebec, Canada, having sailed from Liverpool on board the
Canada. From there, she made her way overland to Toronto, Ontario.
On the 26th March 1913, she married James Alfred Jones in Toronto. Her husband had been born in Bidston, Staffordshire, England, and was working in Toronto as a shipper. In early 1914, Ellen gave birth to their son, William Edward, and in 1915, the family were residing at 302. Bain Avenue, Toronto.
In 1915, Ellen decided to take a holiday to England with her infant son, William Edward, and to introduce him to her own, and her husband’s families. Consequently, she booked second cabin passage for them both on the May sailing of the
Lusitania from New York to Liverpool.
Having left Toronto at the end of April, they travelled by rail to New York City and boarded the vessel at her berth at Pier 54 in New York harbour on the morning of 1st May.
Six days later, the vessel was torpedoed and sunk by the German submarine
U-20 off the coast of southern Ireland and only hours away from her destination. Both mother and son lost their lives when the liner sank, and as neither of their bodies was recovered, they have no known graves. Ellen Jones was aged 38 years, and her son aged 15 months.
At the end of August 1915, Ellen’s husband enlisted in the Canadian Army. As 300547 Private James Alfred Jones, he was originally posted to the Canadian Field Artillery, but was later transferred to the Royal Canadian Dragoons. On the 23rd March 1918, he was reported as missing after an action, and then, in August 1918, it was reported that he had died while being held as a prisoner-of-war at Guise, France. Apparently he had suffered a gunshot wound to the head whilst in action on the 23rd March, and recovered from the battlefield by German soldiers who presumably brought him to one of their field hospitals where he succumbed to his wounds. He is buried in Grave 1141, Allied Section, Guise (La Desolation) French National Cemetery, Flavigny-Le-Petit, Aisne, France.
Register of Births, Marriages and Deaths, Manchester England Church of England Births and Baptisms 1813 – 1915, Ontario Canada Marriages 1826 – 1938, 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, Canada CEF World War I Personnel Files 1914 – 1918, Commonwealth War Graves Commission, PRO BT 100/345, Deaths at Sea 1871 – 1968, Graham Maddocks, Geoff Whitfield, Michael Poirier, Jim Kalafus, Cliff Barry, Paul Latimer, Norman Gray.
Copyright © Peter Kelly.