Edward Tarry was born in Leicester, Leicestershire, England, on the 6th August 1887, the son of Abraham and Louisa Tarry (née Holmes). His father was a foreman in a local shoe factory and Edward was the third eldest of x children, and the family resided at Birstall Street, Leicester.
He worked for Leicestershire hosiery manufacturers Messrs. N. Corah and Sons as a
warehouse man and on the 24th December 1910, he married co-worker, Clara Caroline Harvey, at the Primitive Methodist Church, Hinckley Road, Leicester. His wife worked as a hosiery machinist. By 1915, the family home was at 40, Tyndale Street, Leicester. Their daughter Edna Mabel was born in 1911, and their son, Norman John Edward, was born in 1914.
In 1914, Edward had become the manager of the Canadian branch of the firm in Toronto, Ontario. For a return visit back home, in the spring of 1915, he booked a second cabin return ticket via New York and Liverpool with The Cunard Steam Ship Company.
Consequently, he left Toronto by rail at the end of April 1915 and joined the Lusitania at the Cunard berth at Pier 54 in New York, in time for her last ever sailing from there, which began just after mid-day on 1st May 1915.
When the liner was torpedoed and sunk, six days later, by the German submarine U-20, she was within sight of the coast of southern Ireland and only hours away from her destination.
Edward Tarry was fortunate enough to survive this action and having been rescued from the sea and landed at Queenstown, he was able to send a telegram to anxious relatives in Leicester announcing his survival. He eventually made it back to Leicester suffering from acute shock, on the morning of Monday 10th May, no doubt to the relief of his wife and children.
The 11th May edition of local newspaper The Leicester Mail reported his return thus: -
He was met by his wife and friends, who beheld him in an old suit of clothes which had been given to him, as he had lost all his belongings.
On the same day, another local newspaper The Leicester Daily Mercury also reported: -
We learned on enquiry this morning that Mr. Tarry, one of the local survivors of the Lusitania is still confined to his bed, suffering from severe shock to the nerves as a result of his terrible experiences on the ill-fated liner.
He is making progress, but it will be some days before he is sufficiently recovered to be able to speak of what he saw after the Lusitania was torpedoed. At present, he does not wish to speak of his experiences, even if his medical attendant would allow him to do so.
Soon after his return home, Edward Tarry applied to The Lusitania Relief Fund, for financial help. This fund had been set up immediately after the liner had gone down, by The Lord Mayor of Liverpool and other local business dignitaries to help second and third class passenger survivors and the relatives of those who had perished, who had come upon financial difficulties as a result of the sinking. It was thought at the time that the saloon passengers would not need financial help!
The Committee declined to give him any assistance, noting that he was not in need of any help, he was in full employment, and was being assisted by the firm he worked for.
In December 1915, Edward Tarry enlisted in the British Army, however, it was not until
February 1917 when he was called up, and as G.20037 Private Edward Tarry, he served with the Royal West Kent Regiment. He was sent to the Western Front and on the 25th October 1917, he narrowly escaped death when he was buried by great quantities of soil as a result of a German artillery shell exploding within five yards of his position in a dug out on the Menin Road, near Ypres, Belgium. He was left mentally confused and unable to speak for some time afterwards. It would appear that he never fully recovered from this experience and was discharged from his regiment in June 1918, being deemed medically unfit for further military service.
In 1916, their third child, a daughter named Winifred, was born.
In October 1918 a copy of the Cunard Daily Bulletin printed on board the Lusitania was presented to the Red Cross Society, together with one of the last photographs ever taken of the vessel, and having been auctioned, raised £700-0s-0d for Red Cross funds.
This occasioned Edward Tarry to write the following letter to The Cunard Steam Ship Company on 6th November. At that time his address was 21. Noel Street, Leicester: -
Dear Sirs,
I notice in The London Daily Mail of Oct 24 was a photograph of the ”last” Bulletin printed on the “Lusitania” which was presented By Sir Harry Brittian (sic) to the “Red Cross Society” to be sold by auction along with a last picture of the Boat, given by Your Goodselves.
I would like to point out to you that the “Bulletin” given by Sir Harry Brittian was dated April 23rd and is Not the last Bulletin printed on that Boat.
I myself who was a passenger on Board The Lusitania on her ill fated last voyage but fortunately was saved Through jumping over board and was picked up of course. I only saved what was in my pockets and amongst my treasures are two copies of the Lusitania Bulletin, one dated May 6 and one May 7. This latter one is I think the last, or one of the last printed, being the day we were torpedoed.
I should be pleased to hear if you know of any other later Bulletins that was (sic) preserved by a passenger as, if not, I feel that my copy is the last in existence and shall prize it as such.
I was delighted to see what a magnificent sum was realized for the Acton Red Cross and appreciate The Generosity which prompted Your Goodselves and Sir Harry Brittian (sic) to give up Relics for such a good cause. I was thirty five weeks in Hospital under the red Cross before being discharged in July This year and I know it is a deserving cause.
Also I would be pleased to know if passengers claims are being entertained by the Government in respect to loss by enemy action, in view of a possible indemnity?
I am dear Sirs,
Yours faithfully,
E. Tarry
In the early 1920’s, the Tarry family immigrated to Canada, settling in Vancouver, British Columbia.
While still in England, Edward Tarry had submitted a claim for personal injuries and the loss of his personal possessions and money as a result of the sinking of the Lusitania. This claim had been submitted to the British Reparation Claims Department, but following his immigration to Canada, his case was transferred to the Canadian Commission. In May 1926, the Commission awarded him $250 in respect of his personal injuries, and a further $1,388.43 in respect of the personal possessions and money he had lost.
Edward Tarry died in Vancouver on the 21st May 1964, aged 76 years.
Register of Births, Marriages and Deaths, British Columbia Canada Death Index 1872 – 1990, 1891 Census of England & Wales, 1901 Census of England & Wales, 1911 Census of England & Wales, Canadian Passenger Lists 1865 – 1935, Canada Border Crossings from U.S. to Canada 1908 – 1935, Cunard Records, Canadian Claims Case No. 871, Liverpool Record Office, Leicester Daily Mercury, Leicester Mail, NGMM D/Lus/4/8/17, PRO BT 100/345, UniLiv D92/2/222, Graham Maddocks, Jess Jenkins, Geoff Whitfield, Michael Poirier, Jim Kalafus, Cliff Barry, Paul Latimer, Norman Gray.
Copyright © Peter Kelly.