Frederick George Webster was born in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, on the 15th January 1914, one of twin sons of Frederick George and Margaret Webster (née Arthur). His twin brother was named Henry Harrison, and he also had another brother named William Frederick, who was born in 1912.
His parents had originally come from Great Britain, his father from Liverpool, Lancashire, and his mother from Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire. His father was a plumber.
In the spring of 1915, however, the family decided to return home to Britain for a holiday and as a consequence, booked second cabin passage on the Lusitania, which was due to leave New York for Liverpool on 1st May 1915.
They left Toronto by rail at the end of April and joined the liner at her berth, at Pier 54 in New York harbour on the morning of May Day, in plenty of time for her sailing, which, delayed by the extra loading of passengers crew and cargo, finally began just after mid-day.
Six days out of New York, the Cunarder was torpedoed and sunk by the German submarine U-20, only hours away from her Liverpool home port and only twelve miles off the coast of southern Ireland. Both Frederick, his twin brother Henry and their mother Margaret were killed, only their father and their older brother William surviving. Frederick Webster was a mere 15 months old.
The family catastrophe was outlined in the book The Tragedy of the Lusitania written in 1915 by Captain Frederick D. Ellis, in which he stated: -
They reached the deck with the others who were dining when the torpedo struck. Webster took his son by the hand and darted away to bring lifebelts. When he returned, his wife and babies were not to be seen, nor have they since been seen.
As baby Frederick’s body was never recovered from the sea and identified afterwards, he has no known grave.
Ontario Canada Births 1832 – 1916, Cunard Records, Aberdeen Daily Journal, Aberdeen Weekly Journal, Tragedy of the Lusitania, PRO BT 100/345, Deaths at Sea 1871 – 1968, Graham Maddocks, Stuart Williamson, Michael Poirier, Jim Kalafus, Cliff Barry, Paul Latimer, Norman Gray.
Copyright © Peter Kelly.