William Mitchelhill was born in Edinburgh, Midlothian, Scotland on the 27th August 1870, the son of James and Elizabeth Swanston Mitchelhill (née Bruce), late of 75, Clerk Street, Edinburgh, Midlothian. His father was a baker, and William was the youngest of five known children.
William studied law and qualified as a solicitor, and then, in 1903, he had emigrated to St. Joseph, Buchanan County, Missouri, in the United States of America, where one of his older brothers, Bruce Mitchelhill, was living. He became a “seeds man”, engaging in the wholesale seed business as a member of Mitchelhill Brothers.
On 11th December 1907, he married an American girl, Jeanette Ambrose, in Kansas City, and in 1912, their son, James Moffatt Mitchelhill was born.
In the spring of 1915, however, he decided to return home - possibly because he was mindful of his patriotic duty - and consequently booked as a second cabin passenger on the May sailing of the Lusitania, which was scheduled to sail from New York to Liverpool on the morning of 1st May 1915.
Travelling from St. Joseph sometime in April, he arrived at the Cunard berth at Pier 54 in New York port on May Day morning and boarded the liner in time for her scheduled 10.00 a.m. sailing, which was then delayed until the afternoon. This was because the vessel had to take on board passengers, crew and cargo from the Anchor Liner Cameronia, which had been requisitioned by the British Admiralty for war work at the end of April.
William Mitchellhill occupied berth 1 in cabin C9, which he shared with Guy Cockburn, Martin Collis, and Edward Peacock.
The Lusitania finally left New York for the last time at 12.27 p.m. and six days later, on the afternoon of 7th May, she was torpedoed and sunk by the German submarine U-20, within sight of the coast of southern Ireland and only about 250 miles away from the safety of her home port.
William Mitchelhill was killed as a result of this action and as his body was never recovered and identified afterwards, he has no known grave. He was aged 44 years at the time of his death. Guy Cockburn, Martin Collis, and Edward Peacock survived the experience.
He is commemorated, however, in Mount Mora Cemetery, in Saint Joseph, his former home, on a stone and bronze memorial. It takes the form of a dressed white stone memorial with a bronze, round topped tablet fixed to the front. The embossed inscription on the tablet reads: -
IN MEMORIAM
WILLIAM MITCHELHILL
LOST AT SEA,
IN THE SINKING OF THE “S.S. LUSITANIA”
OFF THE OLD HEAD OF KINSALE, IRELAND,
ON MAY 7TH 1915
AUGUST 27TH 1870 - MAY 7TH 1915
Jeanette Mitchelhill and her son filed a claim with the U.S. State Department for compensation for the loss of William Mitchelhill and his personal belongings in the sinking. The Mixed Claims Commission awarded Jeanette Mitchelhill the sum of $20,000.00 and her son the sum of $10,000.00 in compensation after the war.
Scotland Select Births and Baptisms 1564 – 1950, Missouri U.S. Jackson County Marriage Records 1840 – 1985, 1871 Census of Scotland, 1881 Census of Scotland, 1891 Census of Scotland, 1901 Census of Scotland, Canadian Passenger Lists 1865 – 1935, U.S. Border Crossings from Canada to U.S. 1895 – 1960, Cunard Records, Mixed Claims Commission Docket No. 3982, Dundee Peoples Journal, Edinburgh Evening News, St. Joseph Observer, Find A Grave, PRO BT 100/345, UniLiv D92/2/400, Deaths at Sea 1871 – 1968, Graham Maddocks, Geoff Whitfield, Michael Poirier, Jim Kalafus, Cliff Barry, Paul Latimer, Norman Gray.
Copyright © Peter Kelly.