William Joass Ritchie was born in Turriff, near Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire, Scotland, in 1877, the son of George and Jane Martin Ritchie (née Neish). His father was a general merchant, and the family home was at 3, Schoolhill, in Turriff. His brother was a Baillie, which was a local magistrate, and William worked his father’s general store.
In his early life, William Ritchie had been a keen sportsman and was especially good at clay pigeon shooting for which he was renowned in the area. He also excelled at bowling and was a favourite on Turriff bowling green.
For several years, he assisted his father in the family business and then, in 1912, he went to Canada and settled in Winnipeg, Manitoba, where he obtained a position with the firm of T. Eaton and Company. In the spring of 1915, however, he decided to return to Turriff for a holiday.
The local newspaper The Aberdeen Daily Journal later said of this visit: -
He was coming home for a holiday and not only his relatives but a large number of his old friends in Turriff, by whom he was warmly respected, were looking forward to meeting him. He was a shrewd business man and a very keen sportsman.
Consequently, he booked second cabin passage on the Lusitania, and leaving Winnipeg at the end of April, he joined the liner at the Cunard berth in New York harbour on the morning of 1st May, for her scheduled 10 o‘clock sailing.
The liner’s sailing was delayed until 12.27 p.m., to embark passengers, crew, and cargo from the liner Cameronia which the British Admiralty had requisitioned for war service as a troop ship at the end of April and William Ritchie must have had his last glimpse of New York as she slipped into the North River and out into the Atlantic.
Six days later, he was dead, one of those killed after the liner had been torpedoed and sunk by the German submarine U-20, within sight of the coast of southern Ireland, when she was a mere 250 miles from her Liverpool home port.
Not long after the sinking, his brother Baillie Ritchie travelled to Queenstown, in
County Cork, where survivors and bodies of the dead had been landed, in the hope of finding his brother - alive or dead. Unfortunately, his journey was in vain as no trace of him was ever discovered – although a surviving steward confirmed to Baillie Ritchie that his brother had, indeed, been on board the hapless vessel! As a consequence, William Ritchie has no known grave. He was aged 38 years.
On 7th April 1916, confirmation of his estate was given to his mother. His estate amounted to £232-16s.-4d. (£232.81½p.).
1881 Census of Scotland, 1891 Census of Scotland, 1901 Census of Scotland, Canadian Passenger Lists 1865 – 1935, Cunard Records, Aberdeen Daily Journal, Aberdeen press and Journal, Aberdeen Weekly Journal, Winnipeg Tribune, Probate Records, PRO BT 100/345, Deaths at Sea 1871 – 1968, Graham Maddocks, Lawrence Evans, Geoff Whitfield, Michael Poirier, Jim Kalafus, Cliff Barry, Paul Latimer, Norman Gray.
Copyright © Peter Kelly.