Annie Kelly was born in Newgrove, Mountbellew, County Galway, Ireland, on the 27th September 1895, the daughter of John Francis and Margaret Mary Kelly (née Brannelly). She was the ninth of twelve known children, and her father, who was a farmer, had died while she was a young child, leaving her widowed mother as the head of the household.
Prior to the Great War, her boyfriend, named William Murphy, had emigrated to the
United States of America and Annie decided to join him there, with the intention of getting married.
She arrived at Ellis Island on board the Lusitania on 24th April 1914 with ticket No. 37371. All would-be emigrants to The United States of America had to undergo a routine medical inspection upon their arrival, or while at sea prior to their arrival, to see that they were free from disease and capable of earning a living unaided. Unfortunately for Annie Kelly, the inspecting doctor, the ship’s surgeon on board the Lusitania, Dr. James McDermott, discovered a heart defect and she was refused admission.
When such a situation occurred the refused person was interned on Ellis Island and it was the responsibility of the shipping line to take him or her back to their point of origin as a deported passenger. This was always done, for obvious reasons, as cheaply as possible, which meant travelling steerage or third class.
Whilst Annie Kelly was languishing on Ellis Island, awaiting her deportation, her brother, Thomas, a previous emigrant, petitioned the Mayor of Boston, Massachusetts, to allow his sister to remain in America, on the grounds that should her health fail and prevent her working, he would personally take responsibility for her and her welfare.
Despite the inevitable and frustrating bureaucratic delays he eventually managed to gain permission for her to stay, and rushed to New York City with the necessary documents to secure her release. Unfortunately, he was too late as she had already been deported as a third class passenger on the Lusitania. The liner had left New York for the very last time at 12.25 p.m., on 1st May 1915.
Thomas Kelly’s frustration and disappointment would change to an emotion far worse, however, when just six days later, the liner was sunk, only hours away from her destination and literally within sight if Ireland!
Annie Kelly was killed in the sinking and her body was never recovered from the sea and identified. So close to home, she would never set foot on her native soil again. She was aged 19 years. Ironically, the surgeon responsible for her deportation, Dr. James McDermott, also lost his life.
Her mother applied to The Lusitania Relief Fund, for compensation. The fund awarded her a payment of £5-0s-0d. with further enquiries to be made as to her dependency on her daughter The Lusitania Relief Fund had been set up after the tragedy by the Lord Mayor of Liverpool and a group of local businessmen, to help alleviate financial distress caused by the sinking, to second and third class passengers. It was considered that saloon passengers would be financially comfortable enough not to need this help!
Register of Births, Marriages and Deaths, 1901 Census of Ireland, 1911 Census of Ireland, New York Passenger Lists 1820 – 1957, Cunard Records, Liverpool Record Office, Boston Daily Globe, Roscommon Messenger, Last Voyage of the Lusitania, Lusitania, Unravelling The Mysteries, PRO BT 100/345, UniLiv D92/2/395, Deaths at Sea 1871 – 1968, Graham Maddocks, Ray White, Geoff Whitfield, Michael Poirier, Jim Kalafus, Cliff Barry, Paul Latimer, Norman Gray.
Copyright © Peter Kelly.