Alfred William Hesketh was born in Liverpool, Lancashire, in 1883, the son of Thomas Hesketh, a printer.
It is said that he went to Canada whilst very young and by 1911 he was living in St. Catherines, Lincoln County, Ontario. On the 18th December 1911, he married Lily Eland Nichols, who had emigrated from Leeds, Yorkshire, England, and who was a photographer. The couple had two children – Alfred Arthur, born in October 1912, and Charles, who was born in late 1914.
As a result of the war raging in Europe, and being a trained mechanic, he decided to return to England, preferably to Birmingham, to seek work there, stating: -
I thought I could help the Mother Country in this way.
Consequently, he booked as a third class passenger on the Lusitania and joined the ship at New York, on the morning of 1st May 1915 in time for her scheduled 10.00 a.m. sailing to Liverpool. This was then delayed until just after mid-day, as the liner had to take on board passengers, crew and cargo from the S.S. Cameronia, an Anchor Liner, which had been taken up from trade by the British Admiralty at the end of April to be used as a troop ship.
The Lusitania was torpedoed and sunk just six days later, off the Old Head of Kinsale in southern Ireland by the German submarine U-20, but Alfred Hesketh survived this assault and having been rescued from the sea and landed at Queenstown, he managed to get a ship to Liverpool.
From there, he reached Birkenhead on the other bank of the River Mersey. With the aid of the Birkenhead Borough Police, he was eventually able to get to 59, Greenway Road, Tranmere, where his brother Charles Hesketh lodged with a Mrs. Kelly, and a happy reunion was affected between the brothers.
On 10th May 1915, Alfred Hesketh was able to give an account of his experiences on the
Lusitania to a reporter of The Birkenhead News and Advertiser, which was published in the 12th May 1915 edition of the newspaper. It stated: -
He said he was in his bunk when the Lusitania was torpedoed, taking a little rest after dinner, like many others, as they did not know what sleep they would get the next night. When the ship was struck, he ran up on deck and in a very little while the vessel began to heel over badly.
It was indeed difficult to get along, and people were speedily in difficulties on this account. He saw a woman with a little boy and helped the woman along until they came to a place where people were getting ready for a boat. He then helped in getting lifebuoys for others but did not put one on himself until the last moment. The vessel’s ‘list’ rapidly increased, and seeing that she was sinking fast, Hesketh, like many more, set himself to escape over the port side. The angle of the deck was then, however, so great that he had to make three or four jumps before he could get hold of the port rail. Then he slid down a rope and dropped into the sea.
“I seemed to be carried down 30 or 40 feet“, said Hesketh, “and I thought it was all over, but I came up again, and found I was close to an upturned boat. I clung to this, and an old gentleman came to the surface too, half dead, and I pushed things toward him to support him until he could get hold of the boat. He was saved, and I saw him in a Cork hotel afterwards“. It was not until four hours after jumping into the water that Hesketh was taken on board a ship.
As to the torpedoing of the vessel, Hesketh said that of course they all knew of the German threats, but they were told the ‘speed’ of the vessel would save her. He understood a British war ship was to be near as a guard but he did not see one. He also thought the speed off the coast of Ireland was a great deal below the average, and people were remarking upon it and wondered why it was.
It was a lovely day and the portholes were all open, so the water had plenty of places to rush in. The noise of smashing crockery and other things being displaced was very weird to listen to.
Alfred Hesketh eventually achieved his aspiration and reached Birmingham, Warwickshire, where he obtained war work, and accommodation at 109, Bowyer Road, Saltby.
He applied to The Lusitania Relief Fund for financial help during the summer of 1915. This fund was set up by The Lord Mayor of Liverpool and other local businessmen to give aid to those survivors or relatives of the dead who were experiencing financial difficulties as a result of the sinking. There is no record of any payment being made to him, the last report of the Committee stating that they were waiting for him to furnish a new address.
Nothing is known about him after this. In 1924, his wife applied to become a naturalized U.S. citizen, and on her application, she stated she did not know the whereabouts of her husband! Then in October 1934, she married a man named George Haslam, in Hamilton, Ontario, and at the time of this marriage, she claimed to be a widow!
Register of Births, Marriages and Deaths, Liverpool England Catholic Baptisms 1741 – 1919, Ontario Canada Marriages 1826 – 1937, New York Passenger Lists 1820 – 1957, Cunard Records, Birkenhead News and Advertiser, Liverpool Record Office, Graham Maddocks, Geoff Whitfield, Michael Poirier, Jim Kalafus, Cliff Barry, Paul Latimer, Norman Gray.
Copyright © Peter Kelly.