Annie Taylor was born in Shelf, Yorkshire, on the 26th April 1885, the daughter of Timothy and Hannah Taylor (née Naylor). Her father was a mechanic in local woollen mills, and later, her parents' home was at 33, Ewart Street, Great Horton, Bradford. Annie was the eight born of ten known children in the family.
On completing her education as a young teenager, she found work as a weaver in a local woollen mill, and at some stage she became engaged to be married to Eddie Marlton Riley, who was also a weaver, and who had immigrated to Bridgeport, Connecticut, in the United States of America in 1905. Her fiancé had returned to Bradford in 1908, but returned to the United States of America in February 1909.
In April 1909, Annie travelled to the United States of America to get married, and she married Eddie Riley in Lawrence, Massachusetts, on the 30th April 1909. The couple lived in Fitchburg, Massachusetts, where they found work as weavers in a woollen
mill, and when Annie discovered she was expecting their first child, they couple decided to return to Bradford for the birth, and did so in November 1910.
On the 17th February 1911, Annie gave birth to twins – a girl named Ethel, and a boy named Sutcliffe. Her husband returned to the United States of America in May 1911, and when he had found a suitable home for them all, in Lawrence, Massachusetts, Annie and her two infants travelled to him.
Perhaps because of the war, the family decided to return to Bradford, and as a consequence, booked as third class passengers on the Lusitania, leaving from Boston, Massachusetts and joining the vessel before she left New York for the last time just after mid-day, on 1st May 1915.
After the sinking, the family eventually returned to her parents’ home in Great Horton on Monday 10th May, having sent a telegram from Holyhead on Sunday 9th May.
There, Eddie Riley told a representative of the local newspaper The Bradford Daily Telegraph, about the family experience: -
Mr, Riley said that quite apart from the disaster the voyage was one long to be remembered. (sic) Both he and his wife have both several times previously crossed the Atlantic. Notwithstanding the fact that both passengers and crew did not believe the Germans capable of such felony, there was a lurking suspicion of mistrust, and they were constantly upon the look-out for eventualities.
When they were nearing the homeland, that suspicion began to disappear and the crew's company were in excellent spirits. The blow was all the more unexpected, and there was naturally great commotion when the first torpedo found the mark.
The men on board behaved promptly and with great courage. The crew were especially deserving of high praise for the gallant attempts they made to save the passengers, and he (Mr. Riley) fears that not many of them escaped with their lives after the attention they devoted to the passengers.
Mr and Mrs Riley’s good fortune lay in the fact that they were put into one of the Lusitania’s boats which took the water in perfect order, and remained afloat until other assistance arrived.
They will never forget the scenes they witnessed whilst in the boat. Women and children screamed for help and the whole sea seemed to be strewn with human beings and floating wreckage. Mr. Riley was able to render assistance to several persons in the water near their boat, but many went down before they could be reached. When they landed, they were shown every kindness by the willing helpers on shore.
Mr. Riley remarks that it feels grand this morning to be back home again and incidentally mentions that he has had no sleep for three nights.
What Eddie Riley did not mention in his account to The Bradford Daily Telegraph,
was that he and Annie were separated from the twins when the liner was torpedoed and were really fortunate that they survived.
Friends Elizabeth Hampshire and Florence Whitehead from Glossop in Cheshire who were travelling home from Boston, Massachusetts as second cabin passengers, related their experiences of the sinking in The Cheshire Daily Echo on 10th May 1915. Part of their account stated: -
Rushing on deck, they found that already the boats were being lowered. Helped by members of the crew and some of the male passengers they obtained a place in a boat. Four children were thrown into their boat, two of them being twins whose parents they afterwards learned were picked up by another boat.
As the only young twins known to have been on board were the Riley twins, it must have been those to whom the friends were referring.
As far as is known, the Riley’s never returned to the United States of America again, and settled back in Bradford. They resided at 48. Old Road, Bradford.
Annie Riley died in Bradford on the 17th December 1961, aged 76 years. Her husband, Eddie had died in 1954.
At the time of her death, she was residing at 20. Collins Street, Great Horton, Bradford, and on the 1st February 1962, at Wakefield, administration of her estate was granted to her son, Sutcliffe, who was at that time a warehouse foreman. Her estate amounted to £2,092.
Register of Births, Marriages and Deaths, Massachusetts U.S. Marriage Records 1840 – 1915, 1891 Census of England & Wales, 1901 Census of England & Wales, 1910 U.S. Federal Census, 1911 Census of England & Wales, 1939 Register, New York Passenger Lists 1820 – 1957, Massachusetts Passenger Lists 1820 – 1963, UK Incoming Passenger Lists 1878 – 1960, Cunard Records, Bradford Daily Telegraph, Cheshire Daily Echo, Probate Records, UniLiv D92/2/223, Graham Maddocks, Geoff Whitfield, Michael Poirier, Jim Kalafus, Cliff Barry, Paul Latimer, Norman Gray.
Copyright © Peter Kelly.