Lott Ketch Gadd was born in Newport, Monmouthshire, Wales, on the 28th March 1871, the son of Edward and Selina Gadd (née Coles). His father was a police officer, who changed his name from Kitch to Gadd sometime after his marriage in 1865. Lott was the second youngest of five known children in the family.
After completing his education, Lott trained as a gentlemen's barber and hairdresser, and on the 15th April 1889, he married Annie Turner in Northampton, Northamptonshire. The couple had three children, all daughters, named Lillian Florence, Violet Mabel, and Nina Annie.
In 1893, he arrived with his family in Liverpool, Lancashire, to seek employment on the trans-Atlantic liners and found employment with the Cunard Steam Ship Company as a ship’s barber. In 1915, he lived with his family at 37, Salisbury Road, Liverpool.
On the 12th April 1915, at Liverpool, he engaged as one of the three barbers employed in the Stewards' Department on board the Lusitania. His monthly rate of pay was only £0-1s.-0d., (£0.5p.), which was presumably merely a retaining fee, with him being expected to earn a wage from his customers. He joined the liner at 7 a.m. on the 17th April 1915 at Liverpool landing stage in time for her last ever voyage out of the River Mersey. It was not his first voyage on the Cunarder. The other two barbers serving on board ship were Jonathan Denton and Reginald Nice.
According to the book The Last Voyage of the Lusitania by Adolph and Mary Hoehling, Lott Gadd, during the return voyage to Liverpool, had managed to establish such a rapport with the famous American theatre impresario Charles Frohman, that he was invited to a private drinks party in Frohman's cabin on the evening of Thursday, the 6th May 1915. It is possible, of course, that the barber had met Frohman before on one of the latter’s many trans-Atlantic crossings.
Although saloon passenger Frohman did not survive the sinking, Lott Gadd did, despite the ordeal of finding himself in charge of one of the lifeboats which was improperly launched and which then spilled its occupants into the sea, after the liner had been torpedoed and sunk!
Having been rescued from the sea and then landed at Queenstown, he eventually got back to Liverpool, where he was paid the balance of wages owed to him in respect of his service on board the Lusitania, which was reckoned from the 17th April 1915, until the 8th May, 24 hours after the great liner had foundered.
Lott Gadd continued to work as a ship’s barber with Cunard until 1920, and then, in May 1921, he travelled to New York City with the intention of permanently settling in the United States of America. From what can be determined, within weeks of his arrival, he had settled in Detroit, Michigan, and was later joined by his wife and youngest daughter, Nina. He became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 1928 and operated his own business in Detroit until 1943.
On the 16th April 1931, he applied to the Circuit Court in Wayne County, Michigan, for a divorce from his wife on the grounds of desertion. His application was granted on the 18th November 1931.
In 1944, he moved to California, where he ran his business at 1218. West 2nd Street, Hollywood, Los Angeles.
Lott Gadd died in Los Angeles, California, on the 19th November 1945, aged 74 years.
Register of Births, Marriages and Deaths, Michigan U.S. Divorce Records 1897 – 1952, California U.S. Death Index 1940 – 1997, 1871 Census of Wales, 1881 Census of Wales, 1891 Census of England, 1901 Census of England, 1911 Census of England, 1921 Census of England, Michigan Federal Naturalization Records 1887 – 1931, New York Passenger Lists, 1820 – 1957, Cunard Records, California U.S. Occupational Licenses, Registers, and Directories 1876 – 1969, Western Mail, Last Voyage of the Lusitania, PRO BT 100/345, PRO BT 351/1/48625, . Graham Maddocks, Geoff Whitfield, Michael Poirier, Jim Kalafus, Cliff Barry, Paul Latimer, Norman Gray.
Copyright © Peter Kelly.
Revised & Updated – 27th November 2023.