Robert William Blythyn was born in Liverpool, Lancashire, England, in 1874, the son of William and Anne Blythyn (née Roberts). His father was a mariner and Robert was the eldest of five known children in the family.
He was educated at St. Mary’s School, in Waverley Street, Bootle, after which he became a professional seaman in the Mercantile Marine, serving on the Cunarders, Lucania and Carmania, before serving on the Lusitania. His first position was as a bosun’s boy on the Aurania in August 1889, aged 15 years.
In early 1898, he married Mary Thompson Ferguson in Birkenhead, Cheshire, and by 1911, they lived at 22. Bank Road, Bootle, Liverpool. The couple had five children, and two of their sons would also serve at sea with the Cunard Steam Ship Company, Robert James Blythyn, born in 1902, and William Blythyn, born in 1905. They also had daughters named Mary and Hilda, and another son, named John.
Robert William Blythyn engaged as a Smokeroom steward in the Steward's Department on board the Lusitania at Liverpool on the 12th April 1915 at a monthly rate of pay of £4-5s-0d., (£4.25p.), and joined the vessel at 7 a.m. on the 17th April, before she sailed out of the River Mersey for the last time. It was not the first time that he had served on the vessel.
Having successfully completed the liner’s voyage to New York, he was on board when she left the Cunard berth at Pier 54 in New York harbour just after mid-day on the 1st May. Then, six days out of New York, the Lusitania was torpedoed and sunk off the coast of southern Ireland, by the German submarine U-20, only some twelve to fourteen hours away from her home port. Robert Blythyn was killed as a result of this action. He was aged 40 years.
His body was not recovered from the sea and identified afterwards and as a consequence, he is commemorated on the Mercantile Marine Memorial at Tower Hill,
London. He is also commemorated on the municipal war memorial in Stanley Road, Bootle, Merseyside. His name is not on one of the bronze panels on the main memorial, but on a semi-circular wall around it, where later additions are displayed. He is also originally commemorated on a roll of honour in the main hall of St. Mary’s School, Bootle. The memorial takes the form of a glazed brass plaque set in a wooden frame and the inscription on it states: -
TO THE MEMORY OF THE OLD
BOYS OF THIS SCHOOL WHO
LAID DOWN THEIR LIVES DURING
THE EUROPEAN WAR 1914-1919.
THEY FOUGHT THE GOOD FIGHT
DYING IN THE CAUSE OF HUMANITY
THAT HONOUR MIGHT LIVE
Beneath the names of 59 former pupils and one former assistant master is then written: -
THIS TABLET WAS ERECTED
BY PAST AND PRESENT SCHOLARS
AND SYMPATHETIC FRIENDS
Since it was originally unveiled, another eight names have been added, presumably of casualties who were overlooked at first. None of them is a victim of the Lusitania’s sinking!
Administration of Robert William Blythyn’s estate was granted to his widow, Mary, on the 26th June 1915 and his effects amounted to £237-0s-0d., a large amount for a ship’s steward in 1915. In August, she also received the balance of wages owed to him in respect of his service on the Lusitania from the 17th April until the 8th May 1915, 24 hours after the ship had gone down.
Coincidentally, after the sinking, Mary Blythyn met George Knill who had been a fifteen year old scullery man on board the Lusitania’s final fateful voyage and they fell in love and eventually married. Knill had never actually met Mary Blythyn’s father whilst on board - hardly surprising considering that there were nearly 700 crew members on board on her final voyage and a scullery man would have little opportunity to socialise with a Smokeroom steward.
Older son, Robert James Blythyn, served as a first class waiter on the Lusitania’s sister ship the Aquitania, the Carmania, the second Mauritania, and later the giant Cunarder Queen Mary. Younger son, William Blythyn, served as a saloon steward on the Ascania, the Britannic, the Parthia, the Carinthia, and the Media.
As late as August 1955, and another world war later, a male member of the Blythyn family, a Mr. H. Blythyn, applied to The Public Trustee Office in Kingsway, London, to see if the family was entitled to any form of compensation from The National Distress Relief Fund, in respect of Robert William Blythyn’s death on the Lusitania, forty years earlier.
The reply of the public trustee was simple: -
Dear Sir,
I have to acknowledge your letter, received this morning, and in reply to inform you that assistance from the above Fund was confined to the dependents of passengers.
As far as I am aware, claims from the dependents of members of the crew (were) dealt with by compensatory grants.
In point of fact, Mary Thompson Blythyn would have been eligible for compensation under The Workmen’s Compensation Act, and it is inconceivable that she would not have applied for this at the time of her husband’s death. Also, The Liverpool and London War Risks Insurance Association Limited granted her a yearly pension to compensate her for the loss of her husband which amounted to £69-17s-7d. (£69.88½p.), which was payable at the rate of £5-16s-6d. (£5.82½p.) per month.
Mary Thompson Blythyn never re-married and died in Liverpool in 1967, aged 90 years.
Register of Births, Marriages and Deaths, 1881 Census of England, 1891 Census of England, 1901 Census of England, 1911 Census of England, Liverpool England Crew Lists 1861 – 1919, Cunard Records, Commonwealth War Graves Commission, UK Campaign Medals Awarded to World War I Merchant Seamen 1914 – 1925, UK World War I Pension Ledgers and Index Cards 1914 – 1923, Probate Records, NGMM DX 1055/1/13, PRO BT 100/345, PRO BT 334, PRO BT 351/1/12363, UniLiv. PR 13/24, Deaths at Sea 1871 – 1968, Graham Maddocks, Geoff Whitfield, Michael Poirier, Jim Kalafus, Cliff Barry, Paul Latimer, Norman Gray.
Copyright © Peter Kelly.
Revised & Updated – 15th December 2022.