John Edward Inman was born in Natland, near Kendal, Westmorland, England, in 1888, the son of William Jackson and Isabella Margaret Inman (née Heslop). He was the third eldest of eight known children, and his father was a stoker in The Sedgwick Gunpowder Company factory, which was one of many gunpowder factories in the area at that time.
John became a blacksmith by trade, and for a period worked in Leech, near Ulverston, Lancashire, before he immigrated to Park City, Summit County, Utah, in the United States of America, in 1913. He found lodgings with Mrs. James Neil, at 915. Norfolk Avenue, park City, and he was working as a miner in the Silver King, the largest, and most profitable of the local silver mines, and was a member of the Maccabee Lodge, which was one of the local miners clubs.
In the spring of 1915, he decided to return home - perhaps because of the military situation in Europe. Consequently, he booked as a third class passenger on the May sailing of the
Lusitania which was scheduled to leave the Cunard berth at Pier 54 in New York, on the morning of 1st May 1915.
Having left Utah at the end of April, John Inman arrived in New York in time to board the steamer for her 10 o’clock departure but discovered that this had been delayed until the early afternoon. This was so that she could embark passengers, cargo and crew from the Anchor Lines ship the S.S. Cameronia, which had been requisitioned by the British Admiralty for war work as a troop ship.
Six days later, however, on the afternoon of 7th May, the Lusitania was torpedoed twelve miles off the coast of southern Ireland by the German submarine
U-20, and sank two miles nearer to the shore. At that stage of her voyage, she was only about fourteen hours steaming time away from her home port.
John Inman was killed as a result of this action and as his body was never recovered from the sea and identified afterwards, he has no known grave. He was aged 26 years at the time of his death.
Register of Births, Marriages and Deaths, 1891 Census of England & Wales, 1901 Census of England & Wales, 1911 Census of England & Wales, UK Outward Passenger Lists 1890 – 1960, New York Passenger Lists 1820 – 1957, Cunard Records, Utah Wills and Probate Records 1800 – 1985, The Park Record, PRO BT 100/345, UniLiv D92/2/162, Graham Maddocks, Geoff Whitfield, Michael Poirier, Jim Kalafus, Cliff Barry, Paul Latimer, Norman Gray.
Copyright © Peter Kelly.