Arthur Pirie was born in Newark, New Jersey, in the United States of America, in
1909, the son of Arthur and Annie Pirie (née Osborne). His father was an optician and instrument maker, and his parents and older sister, Margaret, had emigrated to the United States of America from Glasgow, Lanarkshire, Scotland, in 1905.
Some time after young Arthur’s birth, the family relocated to Lynn, Massachusetts, residing at 660. Boston Street, and then in the spring of 1915, his father returned to Glasgow and secured work with Messrs. G. & J. Weir, of Cathcart, Glasgow, who were manufacturing aircraft and aircraft engines for the war effort.
Once he had secured work in Glasgow, Arthur Pirie sent for his family to join him in Glasgow, and consequently, they booked passage on the Anchor Liner Cameronia to travel from New York to Glasgow at the end of April, but this ship was then requisitioned by the British Admiralty for war service as a troop ship and her passengers, her cargo, and some of her crew were transferred to the Lusitania instead, as second cabin passangers. This sailing then commenced at 12.27 on 1st May 1915.
Six days later, on the afternoon of 7th May 1915, with the liner only hours from her Liverpool destination, and within sight of the coast of southern Ireland, Arthur Pirie and his mother and sister were all killed after the liner was torpedoed and sunk by the German submarine U-20. Arthur was only five years of age. No trace of his or the other two bodies was ever discovered and identified afterwards and as a result, none has a known grave.
On the 27th May, the Cunard office in Queenstown received a cable which stated: -
HAVE REMAINS BEEN RECOVERED? IF NOT PRESUME YOU ARE MAKING BEST ENDEAVOURS. HAVING ANXIOUS ENQUIRIES
The reply sent the same day stated: -
REGRET NO TRACE SO FAR OF PIRIE FAMILY. THE SEARCH STEAMERS ARE AT WORK DAY AND NIGHT PATROLLING THE COAST AND GOING AS FAR AS 60 MILES WEST OF FASTNET. NOTHING IS BEING LEFT UNDONE. NO BODIES FOUND FOR SOME DAYS.
No Pirie bodies ever were!
Later that year, Arthur Pirie senior applied to The Lusitania Relief Fund of Liverpool, for compensation for his family’s loss. The fund had been set up immediately after the sinking by The Lord Mayor of the city and other local citizens to give financial help to second and third class passenger survivors and the relatives of those killed, who had suffered as a result of the events of 7th May.
Probably because he was not a dependent, and was able to work, the awards committee turned down his application. He returned to Lynn in August of 1915.
1910 U.S. Federal Census, Cunard Records, Liverpool Record Office, Boston Post, Daily Record, PRO BT 100/345, UniLiv D92/2/61, UniLiv. PR13/6, Graham Maddocks, Geoff Whitfield, Michael Poirier, Jim Kalafus, Cliff Barry, Paul Latimer, Norman Gray.
Copyright © Peter Kelly.