John Joseph Kelly was born on his parents’ farm at Drumcomogue, Emly, County Tipperary, Ireland, on the 3rd January 1887, the son and eldest of eight children of Patrick and Margaret “Maggie” Kelly (née English). He was baptized into the Catholic Church on the 5th January 1887, but when his father officially registered his birth on the 16th July 1887, he stated that John Joseph was born on the 1st May 1887!
Sometime after 1911, he had crossed the Atlantic Ocean to the United States of America and settled in New York City, where he obtained employment as a train conductor.
In the spring of 1915, however, perhaps because of the war in Europe, he decided to return home and having booked third class passage on the May sailing of the Lusitania from New York
the west side of the city on the morning of 1st May 1915. Once on board, with ticket number 38369, he, in company with all the other passengers and crew had to wait until the early afternoon before he actually had his last sight of his adopted city, as the liner left the pier and slipped into the North River! The delay was caused because the Cunarder had to embark passengers, cargo and some of the crew from the Anchor Liner Cameronia, which had been requisitioned by the British Admiralty for war service as a troop ship.
Then, six days later, on the afternoon of 7th May, the Lusitania was torpedoed and sunk within sight of the coast of southern Ireland by the German submarine U-20 under the command of Kapitänleutnant Walther Schwieger. At that stage of her voyage, she was only about twelve to fourteen hours away from the safety of her home port.
John Kelly would have had a good view of his native land as it came into sight on the mid-morning of that day, as the steamer emerged from thick fog, but he would never set foot there ever again, as he was one of some third class passengers killed as a result of the enemy action. As his body was never recovered and identified afterwards, he has no known grave. He was aged 28 years.
The family name was Kelly, however, in the 1911 Census; the family name was recorded as O’Kelly, so perhaps they used both versions of the name.
Register of Births, Marriages and Deaths, Ireland Select Catholic Births and Baptisms Registers 1763 – 1912, 1901 Census of Ireland, 1911 Census of Ireland, Cunard Records, PRO BT 100/345, Deaths at Sea 1871 – 1968, Graham Maddocks, Geoff Whitfield, Michael Poirier, Jim Kalafus, Cliff Barry, Paul Latimer, Norman Gray.
Copyright © Peter Kelly.