Arthur Taylor was born in Shirehampton, Gloucestershire, England, on the 27th November 1884, the son of John Sykes and Ann Elizabeth Taylor (née Kershaw). His father was a glass blower, and his parents had moved from Thornhill Lees, Yorkshire, to Shirehampton prior to his birth, but while he was still a child, they returned to Thornhill Lees. Arthur was one of six children, although two died in childhood.
Like his father, Arthur became a glass worker when he left school, and the family resided at Warren Street, and later Chestnut Terrace, Thornhill Lees. On the 28th October 1905, Arthur married Amy Booth, a weaver in a woollen mill, at the parish church in Thornhill. In April 1907, their son, and only child, John, was born, and by 1911, the family resided at 5. Thomas Street, Thornhill Lees.
On the 30th November 1911, Arthur Taylor boarded the Baltic at Liverpool and crossed the Atlantic Ocean to the home of an uncle, George Kershaw, who resided in Wallingford, Connecticut. He did not remain long there, for early in 1912, he moved on to Toronto, Ontario, Canada, where he found work as a silver polisher and resided at Amsterdam Avenue in the city.
In 1915, he decided to return to his family, who were by this time residing with his mother-in-law at 13. Beatson Street, Thornhill Lees – either on a visit or to have them return with him to Canada, or perhaps in connection with the war raging in Europe. Consequently, he booked third class passage on the May sailing of the Lusitania from New York to Liverpool.
He arrived at the Cunard berth at Pier 54 in New York harbour on the morning of 1st May, in time for the liner’s scheduled 10 o’clock departure. Having boarded, however, like all the other passengers and crew, he had to wait until the early afternoon before the liner sailed. This was because she had to embark passengers, crew and cargo from the Anchor Liner, which had been requisitioned by the British Admiralty for war service as a troop ship, at the end of April.
The Lusitania finally left port just after mid-day and just six days later, on the afternoon of 7th May; she was torpedoed and sunk by the German submarine U-20, off The Old Head of Kinsale in southern Ireland and only 250 miles away from her home port.
There were over 240 third class passengers killed as a result of this torpedoing and unfortunately, Arthur Taylor was one of them. He was aged 30 years.
As his body was never recovered from the sea afterwards and identified, he has no known grave.
In a list of victims compiled after the sinking, Arthur Taylor’s occupation is recorded as being that of a “sand polisher” which is obviously incorrect.
Register of Births, Marriages and Deaths, Bristol England Church of England Baptisms 1813 – 1918, Yorkshire England Church of England Marriages and Banns 1813 – 1935, 1891 Census of England & Wales, 1901 Census of England & Wales, 1911 Census of England & Wales, New York Passenger Lists 1820 – 1957, U.S. Border Crossings from Canada to U.S. 1895 – 1960, Cunard Records, Dewsbury Reporter, Deaths at Sea 1871 – 1968, Graham Maddocks, Geoff Whitfield, Michael Poirier, Jim Kalafus, Cliff Barry, Paul Latimer, Norman Gray.
Copyright © Peter Kelly.