Elizabeth Derbyshire was born in Wigan, Lancashire, England, on the 9th March 1858, the daughter of Thomas and Margaret Derbyshire (née Dowey). She was the third of five known children, and her father was a collier in one of the local coal mines.
On completion of her education, Elizabeth became a weaver in a local cotton mill, and then, on the 2nd March 1879, she married Edward Lawrenson, a local coal miner. In April 1880, their daughter, and only child, Margaret Ann was born.
In 1895, her husband travelled to Nanaimo, British Columbia, Canada, to work in the thriving coal mining industry in that area, and in 1900, Elizabeth and her daughter and son-in-law, Peter Winstanley, joined him there, following Peter and Margaret’s wedding.
Both couples prospered in Canada, however, Peter and Margaret’s wedding broke down, and Peter went to live at Crescent Creek, neat Slocun Junction, outside Nelson, British Columbia, where he purchased a 92-acre ranch. He was living alone in a log cabin on his farm for about five years before he was brutally murdered in an apparent burglary at his home on the 3rd May 1912.
By this time, Edward and Elizabeth Lawrenson were living in Michel, British Columbia, where they had prospered and were financially secure.
In the spring of 1915, Elizabeth and Edward Lawrenson decided to return to Lancashire permanently, and as a result, booked second cabin passage on the Lusitania’s May sailing from New York to Liverpool.
Having left Michel at the end of April, the couple arrived at the Cunard berth at Pier 54 in new York harbour on the morning of 1st May 1915 in time for the liner’s 10.00 a.m. scheduled sailing. This was then delayed until the afternoon because she had to wait to embark passengers, crew and cargo from the Anchor Lines vessel the S.S. Cameronia which the British Admiralty had requisitioned for war service at the end of April.
Six days out of New York on the afternoon of 7th May, and within sight of the coast of southern Ireland, the Lusitania was torpedoed and sunk by the German submarine U-20. At that time, she was only about 250 miles away from her destination.
Both Elizabeth and Edward Lawrenson were killed as a result of this action. They were both aged 57 years. As neither body was recovered and identified later, neither has a known grave.
Their daughter, who by 1916 had travelled to Australia and re-married, and was now Mrs. Margaret Ann Hunt, of Newcastle, New South Wales, filed a claim with the Canadian Commission seeking compensation for the loss of her parents personal property and money in the sinking. The Commission awarded her compensation of $1,550.00 in April 1926.
Register of Births, Marriages and Deaths, Wigan England Church of England Baptisms 1813 – 1911, Wigan England Church of England Marriages 1754 – 1926, 1861 Census of England & Wales, 1871 Census of England & Wales, 1881 Census of England &
Wales, 1901 Census of Canada, Cunard Records, New York Times, The Province, Wigan Observer and District Advertiser, Canadian Claims Case No. 818, PRO BT 100/345, UniLiv. PR13/6, Deaths at Sea 1871 – 1968, Graham Maddocks, Geoff Whitfield, Michael Poirier, Jim Kalafus, Cliff Barry, Paul Latimer, Norman Gray.
Copyright © Peter Kelly.