Charles Aylmer Luttrell Yeatman was born in the North West Provinces, India, in 1878, the son of Charles Edward and Frances Mary Ann Yeatman (née Murphy). He had at least one brother and two sisters and his father was a District Superintendent of Police.
His father died in 1899 and his mother in 1890 while Charles was a teenager, and nothing is known of his life in India or when he immigrated to England, but by 1901, he was working as a cashier in London.
On the 16th November 1907, he married Cora Rose Gower in Hove, Sussex, and the couple established their home at 23, Hereford House, Stamford Bridge, Middlesex.
They had no children.
He was a commercial traveller and manager for Eyre & Spottiswoode, a London-based printing company, and in December 1914, he had travelled to the United States of America to conduct business on behalf of his employers. He was accompanied by his wife, who wished to visit one of her sisters, Mrs. Violet Henderson, in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, after her husband ad conducted his business affairs. Mrs. Henderson’s husband had died in October 1914, leaving her a widow with a young son.
For their return to London, the Yeatman’s booked second cabin passage on the Lusitania which was due to sail from New York to Liverpool on the morning of 1st May 1915. Mrs. Violet Henderson had decided to permanently return to England with her young son, Harris, who was known as “Huntley”, and also booked second cabin passage on the Lusitania. The party joined the liner at the Cunard berth in the harbour in time for her sailing which was then delayed until just after mid-day.
Six days later, both Charles and Cora Yeatman were dead, killed after the liner was torpedoed and sunk just off the coast of southern Ireland. Charles Yeatman was aged 37 years.
His body was recovered soon after the sinking, however and taken to one of the temporary mortuaries in Queenstown, where it was given the reference number 107. It was afterwards identified by his brother, Mr. Fraser Yeatman, who was a stores clerk and who had travelled from Staffordshire to perform this grim task. He then took the body away for burial, which took place in a private grave in Section D, Row 9, Grave 47 in The Old Church Cemetery just outside the town.
His wife’s body was recovered not long afterwards and was also buried in the same grave. The remains of them both still lie there today although the location of the grave has since been re-designated 1630. As there is no headstone on the grave, no trace of their final resting place is obvious any more.
Charles Yeatman’s sister-in-law, Mrs. Violet Henderson, whose address was recorded as being of The Underfeed Stoke Co., of Deansgate, Manchester, Lancashire, England, received property recovered from his body whilst she was at Queenstown.
On 22nd May 1915, administration of Charles Yeatman’s estate was granted at Lichfield, Staffordshire, to his brother Fraser Yeatman. His effects amounted to £150-0s-0d.
Register of Births, Marriages and Deaths, East Sussex England Church of England Marriages and Banns 1754 – 1936, London England Marriages and Banns 1754 – 1921, 1901 Census of England & Wales, 1911 Census of England & Wales, New York Passenger Lists 1820 – 1957, Canadian Passenger Lists 1865 – 1935, U.S. Border Crossings from Canada to U.S. 1895 – 1960, Cunard Records, Probate Records, PRO BT 100/345, Deaths at Sea 1871 – 1968, Graham Maddocks, Geoff Whitfield, Michael Poirier, Jim Kalafus, Cliff Barry, Paul Latimer, Norman Gray.
Copyright © Peter Kelly.