Edward Percy Wallace Stroud was born in Chatham, Kent, England, on the 27th December 1876, the son of Henry Wallace and Ann Huntley Stroud (née Besley). He was one of eleven children, and his father was a professional soldier in the British Army, retiring with the rank of Colonel.
In February 1892, aged 15 years, Edward enrolled in the Mercantile Marine as an indentured apprentice for a period of four years, and in 1894, he had also enlisted in the Royal Naval Reserve as a midshipman. He obtained his master’s certificate in 1906, which allowed him to command foreign-going vessels. He was transferred to the
“retired” list of the Royal Naval Reserve in 1910 with the rank of sub-lieutenant.
He travelled the world while serving in the Mercantile Marine, but by 1906, he had taken up a position as a manager with the American Creamery Company in Mexico City, Mexico. On the 19th August 1907, he married Constance Eda Simpson at Christ Church, Mexico City, and on the 3rd September, they married again in a civil ceremony at His Britannic Majesty’s Consulate in Mexico City! His wife divided her time between Mexico City and London, and then on the 19th March 1912, Constance gave birth to a daughter, named Helen Alice Wallace Stroud, at Westminster Hospital, London.
In May 1913, Edward Stroud returned to London, and on the 30th June, he filed for divorce from his wife on the grounds of adultery, claiming that Helen Alice Wallace Stroud was not his child, even though his name appeared on her birth certificate as being her father. His wife did not contest his claim and the divorce was granted on the 29th June 1914.
It is not known when he returned to Mexico, or if Constance and Helen accompanied him, but in July 1914, Constance and Helen Stroud departed from Tampico, Mexico, where Edward Stroud was now employed as a marine superintendent with the Anglo Mexican Petroleum Products Company Limited, and travelled to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. From there, they travelled by rail to New York where they boarded the Aquitania to return to England. It is likely that Constance was hoping to reunite with Edward, for she returned with Helen to Mexico that October.
On the 13th March 1915, Constance and Helen departed from Mexico on the s.s. San Urbano, a tanker owned by the Eagle Oil & Shipping Company, which was partnered with Edward’s parent company. They were described as being crew members, probably because the vessel was a commercial oil tanker and not designed to carry passengers, and also because they might have been able to avail of free passage. They arrived in Philadelphia on the 21st March and continued by rail to New York City.
Edward Stroud also travelled to New York City, with the intention of returning to England to do his patriotic duty as an officer of the Royal Naval Reserve. It is unknown if he travelled with Constance and Helen from Tampico, but all three of them were booked as second cabin passengers on the May sailing of the Lusitania from New York to Liverpool.
The three of them arrived at the Cunard berth at Pier 54 in New York on the morning of 1st May 1915 in time for the liner’s 10 o’clock sailing, but in company with all the other passengers and crew, they had to wait until 12,27 p.m., before she actually slipped her moorings and began her journey into the Atlantic. This was caused because she had to wait to embark passengers, crew and cargo from the Anchor Lines vessel Cameronia which the British Admiralty had requisitioned for war service as a troop ship 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 Liverpool destination. Although Edwin and Constance Stroud managed to survive this action, their daughter Helen was killed.
Having been rescued from the sea and landed at Queenstown, Edward Stroud was interviewed by a representative of County Cork newspaper The Southern Star and gave
the following account of his survival :-
The sub. was seen by several and when the torpedo was launched there were gasps from everyone. People went dashing to find their loved ones. Afterwards there was no chance of us in the boats on (the) port side with the high list. When the ship dived my wife and I were washed off deck and flung among the wreckage and struggling people. It was then I lost my child as she was swept from my arms. We were in the sea for a terrible time clinging to wreckage before a steamer picked us up.
The newspaper account erroneously gives Mr. Stroud's initials as C. P. W..
Cunard Records erroneously recorded his forename on the passenger manifest as Edwin.
Having returned to London, it would appear that they finally went their separate ways, as Constance married Captain Francis John Newton Dunne in Wandsworth, London, on the 1st October 1915, while Edward returned to the uniform of a Royal Naval Reserve officer, and married Dora Annie Williams at the Registry Office, St. Giles, London, on the 14th April 1916.
Edward Stroud was appointed a lieutenant in the Royal Naval Reserve and sent to Alexandria, Egypt. While there, he received information that his wife was being unfaithful, and on the 17th April 1917, he swore a petition, witnessed by the British Pro-Consul in Alexandria, to the effect that he wished to commence divorce proceeding against his wife, Dora Annie Stroud, alleging adultery. He claimed that his wife had committed adultery with a person unknown to him at Fischer’s Hotel, Clifford Street, Old Bond Street, London, on the 24th March 1917, and also frequented the same hotel with men from December 1916 to March 1917. His application was filed in the Divorce Court in London on the 2nd May 1917, but on the 18th November 1918, the case was struck out, the judge stating on the 3rd December that the couple had resumed cohabitation.
This was incorrect, for on the 4th December 1918, Edward Stroud again filed for divorce. On this occasion; however, he had stronger evidence! He stated that his wife had been living as man and wife with a man named Percival Charles Scott O’Connor. His wife did not contest the allegation, and a divorce was granted on the 20th October 1919.
On the 29th January 1919, Edward Stroud was demobilised from war service. His final posting was at the British Naval Transport Office, Bordeaux, France.
It is not known where Edward Stroud went to after completing his service, or what he worked at, but by 1949, he was residing at the Cromwell Court Hotel, Cromwell Road, Wimbledon, London. On the 9th March 1949, he died at a 25. Thornton Hill, Wimbledon, which was, and still is, a care home for the elderly. He was aged 72 years.
On the 10th May 1949, probate of his will was granted to Dorothy Celia Hewett, widow, and James Stanley Clay, bank manager. His estate amounted to £5,523-17s.-11d. (£5,523.89½p.).
Register of Births, Marriages and Deaths, England & Wales Civil Divorce Records 1858 – 1918, 1881 Census of England & Wales, 1891 Census of England & Wales, New York Passenger Lists 1820 – 1957, Florida U.S. Passenger & Crew Lists 1898 – 1963, UK Incoming Passenger Lists 1878 – 1960, New York Passenger Lists 1820 – 1957, Cunard Records, UK Apprentices Indentured in Merchant Navy 1824 – 1910, UK and Ireland Masters and Mates Certificates 1850 – 1927, Southern Star, ADM 30/131/12, Deaths at Sea 1871 – 1968, Graham Maddocks, Geoff Whitfield, Michael Poirier, Jim Kalafus, Cliff Barry, Paul Latimer, Norman Gray.
Copyright © Peter Kelly.