Charles William Waring was born in London, Middlesex, England, on the 4th March 1867, the eldest son of Barnaby and Mary Ann Waring (née Stack). His father was a coachman, (cab driver), and Charles was one of six children. At an early age, the family moved to West Derby, a district of Liverpool, and he became a grocer’s errand boy and gradually learned the trade until he became a grocer himself.
In 1891, Charles Waring immigrated to Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, where he became a clerk. Then, on the 14th January 1894, he married Emily Gertrude Sauer in Winnipeg and the couple had three children – Clarissa Maud, Edna Gertrude, and Charles Ferdinand. By 1915, the family were residing at 268. Guildford Street, St. James, Winnipeg, and Charles was employed as the manager for a wholesale and retail grocery business, earning $1,500 per year.
On the 6th January 1915, his wife died, and shortly after her death, Charles Waring decided to make a trip to England, and as a result, booked second cabin passage on the May sailing of the Lusitania, from New York to Liverpool. Travelling from Winnipeg at the end of April, he joined the liner at her berth at Pier 54 in New York harbour on the morning of 1st May 1915, in time for her scheduled 10.00 a.m. sailing.
This was delayed, however, as the steamer had to embark passengers, crew and cargo from the steamer Cameronia, which had been requisitioned by the British Admiralty for war work as a troop ship at the end of April and just after mid-day, the Lusitania left New York and began her fateful last voyage out into the Atlantic.
Six days later. on the afternoon of 7th May, she was torpedoed and sunk off The Old Head of Kinsale in southern Ireland by the German submarine U-20. At that time, she was only hours away from her Liverpool destination.
Charles Waring was killed as a result of this action and as his body was never recovered and identified, he has no known grave. He was aged 48 years.
On 8th May 1915, Cunard at Queenstown received a cable from Oscar Berry at Fort
Osborne Barracks in Winnipeg, Manitoba, asking if Charles Waring was a survivor. Cunard relied that it had no information about him at that time, but would wire again later. Nothing was ever heard of him again, however.
On the 10th May 1915, Oscar Berry married Edna Gertrude Waring in Winnipeg.
Charles waring’s three children lodged a claim with the Canadian Commission, seeking compensation of $1,000 for the loss of his money and personal effects in the sinking and a further $4,000 for the loss of his life. At the time of his death, his children claimed that they were living with him, and either wholly or partly dependant on him. In March 1926, the Commission awarded his children their full claim of $5,000.
Register of Births, Marriages and Deaths, London England Church of England Births and Baptisms 1813 - 1920, Manitoba Marriage Index 1879 – 1931, 1871 Census of England & Wales, 1881 Census of England & Wales, 1891 Census of England & Wales, 1901 Census of Canada, 1906 Census of Manitoba, Saskatchewan & Alberta, UK Outward Passenger Lists 1890 – 1960, Canadian Passenger Lists 1865 – 1935, Cunard Records, Canadian Claims Case No. 834, Winnipeg Tribune, PRO BT 100/345, UniLiv D92/1/6, Deaths at Sea 1871 – 1968, Graham Maddocks, Lawrence Evans, Geoff Whitfield, Michael Poirier, Jim Kalafus, Cliff Barry, Paul Latimer, Norman Gray.
Copyright © Peter Kelly.