John Foster was born in London, England, on the 1st September 1873, the son of William and Sarah Jane Foster (née Hilley). His father was a builder, and both of his parents were born in Totnes, Devon, England. He was the third eldest of ten known children.
In the summer of 1904, he married Mary Alice Weymouth Foster, who was his first cousin, and the daughter of his father’s brother! They lived at 23, Leechwell Street, Totnes, Devon, with Mary’s widowed father, and their three children.
He was a professional seaman in the British Mercantile Marine and served as a first class waiter in the Stewards' Branch on board the Lusitania. He was killed when the liner was sunk while off the Old Head of Kinsale in southern Ireland on the 7th May 1915. He was aged 41 years.
His body was not recovered and identified afterwards, and his name is correspondingly recorded on the Mercantile Marine Memorial at Tower Hill, London.
In August 1915, Mary Foster was given the balance of wages owing to her late husband for his service on the Lusitania’s final voyage. In addition, The Liverpool and London War Risks Insurance Association Limited also granted her a yearly pension to compensate her for the loss of her husband. This amounted to £66-14s.-1d. (£66.70½p.) per annum, which was payable at the rate of £5-11s.-3d. (£5.56p.) per month.
Register of Births, Marriages and Deaths, London England Church of England Births and Baptisms 1813 – 1923, 1881 Census of England, 1911 Census of England, Cunard Records, Commonwealth War Graves Commission, UniLiv. PR 13/24, PRO BT 334, PRO BT 351/1/46941, Graham Maddocks, Geoff Whitfield, Michael Poirier, Jim Kalafus, Cliff Barry, Paul Latimer, Norman Gray.
Copyright © Peter Kelly.
Revised & Updated – 24th November 2023.