James Lockhart was born in Stevenson, Ayrshire, Scotland, in 1885, the son of John and Ann Lockhart (née Lamont). He was one of ten known children in the family, and he had a twin brother named Hugh. His father was an agricultural labourer, and the family had a long tradition of serving as volunteers in the local militia.
In May 1903, James signed on as a part-time volunteer with the local militia and also became an apprentice carpenter and joiner. On the 22nd May 1908, he signed on as a regular soldier with the 4th Bn. Royal Scots Fusiliers for a period of eighteen months.
On the 31st March 1909, he was discharged from the army, and three days later, on the 3rd April, he boarded the Columbia at Glasgow, bound for New York City. He had at least one brother working in New York at this time, and it is likely that he readily found work, and he settled in Tarrytown, New York..
He returned to his home in Scotland in late 1910 for a holiday, and returned to New York on board the California in March 1911.
In August 1914, the Great War commenced in Europe, and three of his brothers immediately answered the call to arms and enlisted in the British Army. On the 22nd December 1914, his brother, S/12856 Lance Corporal John Lockhart, 1st Bn. Cameron Highlanders, was listed as ‘missing in action’ which was obviously of grave concern to his family and comrades.
In the spring of 1915, James Lockhart decided to return home to Ayrshire, most likely to re-join his regiment, and as a result, he booked as a third class passenger on the Lusitania from New York to Liverpool and joined her on the morning of 1st May 1915, in time for scheduled 10.00 a.m. sailing from the Cunard berth at Pier 54. Once on board, with ticket number1685, he then had to wait for the liner to load cargo, passengers and some of the crew from the Anchor Lines ship Cameronia which the British Admiralty had requisitioned as a troop ship.
The Lusitania finally got under way at 12.27 p.m., and just six days later, on the afternoon of 7th May, the great liner was torpedoed and sunk, within sight of the coast of southern Ireland by the German submarine U-20. James Lockhart lost his life as a result of this action and as no trace of his body was ever discovered afterwards, he has no known grave. He was aged 30 years.
In the early summer of 1915, his mother, stating she was dependant on her son, applied for help to The Lusitania Relief Fund, which had been set up after the sinking by The
Lord Mayor of Liverpool and other notable Merseyside business people, to provide financial assistance for survivors and relatives of those killed.
The awards committee ruled that Mrs. Lockhart had only a very partial dependency on her son, and consequently granted her a ‘once and only’ sum of £5-0s-0d.
In October 1915, it was determined that his brother, John, had in fact been killed in action on the 22nd December 1914, and then, on the 11th November 1915, the family were informed of the death of a another of the brothers, when 6273 Company Serjeant-Major Ritchie Brown Lockhart, 1st/4th Bn. Royal Scots Fusiliers, had died, aged 28 years, of beriberi in a field hospital in Mudros, Greece, and was buried in Plot V, Row C, Grave 131 in the nearby Portianos Military Cemetery, where he lies today.
Like James Lockhart, the remains of his brother, John, could not be found or identified, so he too, has no known grave, however, he is commemorated on Panel 41 & 42 of the La Touret Memorial, Pas De Calais, France, which is a memorial to over 13,400 British soldiers who were killed in the area between October 1914 and September 1915, and have no known graves.
A fourth brother, whose name is not known, was seriously wounded while serving in the Dardanelles Campaign, and in late 1915, was recovering in Stobhill Hospital, Glasgow, Scotland.
1891 Census of Scotland, 1901 Census of Scotland, New York Passenger Lists 1820 – 1957,Cunard Records, Liverpool Record Office, British Army WWI Service Records 1914 – 1920, Commonwealth War Graves Commission, Ardrossan and Saltcoats Herald, PRO BT 100/345, UniLiv D92/2/48, Deaths at Sea 1871 – 1968, Graham Maddocks, Geoff Whitfield, Michael Poirier, Jim Kalafus, Cliff Barry, Paul Latimer, Norman Gray.
Copyright © Peter Kelly.