Richard Joseph Danson was born in Birkenhead, Cheshire, England, on the 11th February 1868, the son of John Anselm and Mary Danson (née Broderick). His father was a plumber, and later a house painter. Richard was one of twelve children in the family.
On completing his education, he worked with his father as a house painter, before he enlisted in the British Mercantile Marine as a steward.
On the 12th July 1900, he married Mary Ellen “Mamie” O’Leary at the Church of Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception, Birkenhead, and in 1915, they lived at 12, Cavendish Street, Birkenhead, with their son, and only child, Richard Francis, who was born in 1903. The couple were to live at this address for the remainder of their lives.
Richard Danson engaged as an assistant pantry steward in the Stewards Department, on board the Lusitania at Liverpool on the 12th April 1915 at a monthly wage of £6. He reported for duty on the morning of the 17th April, in time for the liner’s last ever sailing down the River Mersey. It was not his first voyage on the liner.
Having survived the sinking three weeks later, he was returned to Birkenhead, where he was able to give an account of his experiences of the sinking and his survival, to a reporter of The Birkenhead News and Advertiser which was printed in the edition of the 12th May 1915: -
He said that he was down below when the vessel was struck and immediately made his way up on deck. When he arrived there, the ship had taken a big list to the starboard side. He put on a lifebelt and sat on the rail, and waited until he was close to the water before sliding off into the sea.
The doomed liner was then practically full of water and there was very little suction. After swimming for about a mile, Mr. Danson found an upturned boat and clambered up. He then managed to secure three rafts and rescued about 16 women and children. Following a long and anxious wait, they were eventually taken on board the trawler Indian Empire and landed at Queenstown.
Pantry Steward Danson was eventually officially discharged from the Lusitania’s last voyage and paid the balance of wages owing to him. These, from the 12th April until the morning of the 8th May, 24 hours after the liner went down, amounted to £5-15s.-4d. (£5.81½p.).
Mamie Danson died at their home on the 25th February 1919, aged 48 years, and in the summer of 1921, he married Edith Alexandra Harvey.
Richard Joseph Dawson died at his home in Birkenhead on the 2nd January 1940, aged 71 years. His second wife, Edith, died on the 18th May 1948, aged 75 years.
Richard Francis Danson followed in his father’s footsteps by serving as a steward in the Mercantile Marine before taking up work in a candle factory. He died in Birkenhead in 1974, aged 71 years.
Register of Births, Marriages, and Deaths, 1871 Census of England, 1891 Census of England, 1901 Census of England, 1911 Census of England, 1921 Census of England, 1939 Register, Cunard Records, Birkenhead News, Liverpool Evening Express, PRO
BT 100/345, Graham Maddocks, Geoff Whitfield, Michael Poirier, Jim Kalafus, Cliff Barry, Paul Latimer, Norman Gray.
Copyright © Peter Kelly.
Revised & Updated – 8th February 2023.