Andrew McDermott was born in Elland, near Brighouse, Yorkshire, England, on the 28th October 1889, the son of Hugh and Mary McDermott (née Hughes). His parents had emigrated from Ireland, and his father worked as a general labourer. Andrew was one of eight children, and by 1911, the family home was at 2, New Street, Elland.
On completing his education, early in his teenage years, he went to work in a soap factory, assembling boxes and packing soap, and later he worked in a pottery, manufacturing earthenware.
In February 1915, he sailed for New York, in the United States of America, from Liverpool on the Anchor Lines vessel Cameronia, arriving there on 2nd March. He was making for Springfield, Massachusetts, where he had a paternal uncle. It is not known if his intentions were just to visit his uncle on a holiday, or to find work, but he obviously decided not to stay, deciding to return home within two months of arriving, and consequently, he booked a third class passage on the May sailing of the Lusitania.
He boarded her at the Cunard berth at Pier 54 on the morning of 1st May 1915 - with ticket number 126215 - in time for her scheduled 10.00 a.m. departure, but had to wait until the early afternoon before she sailed. This was because she had to embark passengers, crew and carg
requisitioned by the British Admiralty for war service as a troop ship, at the end of April.
The Lusitania finally left port at 12.27 p.m. and just six days later, on the afternoon of 7th May, she was torpedoed and sunk by the German submarine U-20. At that point, she was off The Old Head of Kinsale in southern Ireland and only about 250 miles away from her Liverpool home port and destination.
Although Andrew McDermott survived the sinking, after he was rescued from the sea, and landed at Queenstown, he had to be taken to hospital to recover. He had suffered a severe contusion to his right knee, and was not discharged for nearly two weeks, after which, he eventually returned to Elland.
Once there, he applied for financial assistance to The Lusitania Relief Fund. This fund had been set up after the liner had gone down, by The Lord Mayor of Liverpool and other local dignitaries, to provide monetary aid to second and third class passengers who found themselves in financial difficulties as a result of the sinking. The fund also distributed help to dependant relatives of those who had lost their lives.
The awards committee granted him the 'once and for ever' sum of £4-0s-0d., on the ground of his deteriorated health.
He was aged 25 years at the time of the sinking, although Cunard records show him to have been 22!
In 1920, he married Ethel Blanche Garbutt, a widow, whose maiden name was Corbitt. Ethel had married John Garbutt in 1910, however, he had died just over a year later, in late 1911, shortly after the birth of their son, Emmanuel.
The couple lived for many years at 8. Brookroyd Lane, Batley, Yorkshire, and as far as is known, they only had a daughter, named Mary, born in 1920.
In November 1925, whilst working at a warehouse in Batley as a bricklayer’s labourer, Andrew McDermott was struck on the side of his head by a half-brick which fell from scaffolding. His employer paid him compensation for one month, while he was out of work, and then stopped paying him, resulting in Andrew suing him for compensation. In early 1928, his case was heard at Dewsbury County Court, and Andrew was awarded compensation of 25/- (£1.25p.) per week from January 1926 to August 1927.
Andrew McDermott continued to work as a bricklayer’s labourer for the remainder of his working life. He died in the Leeds, West Yorkshire, Registration District on the 27th October 1951, one day before his 62nd birthday.
Register of Births, Marriages and Deaths, 1891 Census of England & Wales, 1901 Census of England & Wales, 1911 Census of England & Wales, 1939 Register, New York Passenger Lists 1820 – 1957, Cunard Records, Liverpool Record Office, Leeds Mercury, Yorkshire Observer, Yorkshire Post and Leeds Intelligencer, Morpeth Herald, UniLiv.D92/1/8-10, Graham Maddocks, Geoff Whitfield, Michael Poirier, Jim Kalafus, Cliff Barry, Paul Latimer, Norman Gray.
Copyright © Peter Kelly.