Sarah King was born in Sale, Cheshire, England, in 1890, the daughter of Thomas and Maria King (née Murphy). The family home was at 6. Church Road, Sale, and her father was a general labourer, but later converted the family home into a lodging house, which her parents managed. Sarah was one of twelve children, although three of her siblings had died by 1911. Her family later moved to 15. Egerton Street, Sale.
As a teenager, Sarah entered domestic service, and worked as a general domestic servant for the Lee family, who resided at “Bromley”, Marlborough Road, Sale. On the 17th July 1912, she gave birth to her daughter, Maria, in Bucklow, Cheshire.
On the 2nd June 1914, she boarded the Caronia in Liverpool, and disembarked in Boston, Massachusetts, in the United States of America, seven days later. On her arrival in Boston, she made her way to the home of Mrs. Doherty, 18. Brattle Street, Arlington, Massachusetts, whom she described as a friend. Five months later, on the 13th November, Mrs. Doherty became her mother-in-law, when Sarah married her son, Michael, in Arlington. It is likely that Sarah was acquainted with her husband before she left England, and it is possible that he was the father of her child, Maria, as in later life Maria adopted the family name, Doherty, as her own.
In the spring of 1915, the U.S. government found reason to order the deportation of Sarah back to England, from whence she came. No records have been found to explain the reasons for this, but she was conveyed to New York City, where she was escorted on board the Lusitania, in time for her departure to Liverpool, on the morning of the 1st May.
She was given third class passage on what proved to be the final voyage of the great liner. The sailing was delayed until after midday as some cargo, and a number of passengers and crew members of the Anchor Lines, S.S Cameronia, which had earlier been requisitioned by the British Admiralty to go in to service as a troop carrier, were transferred on board.
Six days later, when in sight of the Old Head of Kinsale, off the southern coast of Ireland, Sarah King was killed when the vessel was sunk by a German torpedo fired from the submarine, U-20.
No trace of her was ever found, or if her remains were recovered, they were never identified.
Although her maiden name was recorded on the passenger manifest for the voyage, and also in later lists of those who were lost, she was a married woman, who should have correctly been recorded as Mrs. Sarah Doherty!
Register of Births, Marriages and Deaths, Massachusetts Marriage Records 1840 – 1915, 1891 Census of England & Wales, 1901 Census of England & Wales, 1911 Census of England & Wales, Massachusetts Passenger Lists 1820 – 1963, Cunard Records, Deaths at Sea 1871 – 1968, Graham Maddocks, Geoff Whitfield, Michael Poirier, Jim Kalafus, Cliff Barry, Paul Latimer, Norman Gray.
Copyright © Peter Kelly.