William George Gardner (known as George) was born in between 1857 and 1861, the son of Benjamin and Anna Gardner. Nothing is known of his family or early life.
According to the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, he was born in Herefordshire; however, various census records state that he was either born in Liverpool, Lancashire, or Canada!
He married to Hannah Renney Wedgewood Bebington at St. Mary’s Church, Kirkdale, Liverpool on the 15th January 1882, and they lived at 17, Ferndale Park, Waterloo, Liverpool, Lancashire. They had four children.
He was a professional steward serving in the Mercantile Marine and he engaged as a second class waiter in the Stewards' Department on board the Lusitania at Liverpool on the 12th April 1915 at a monthly wage of £4-5s.-0d. (£4.25p.). He joined the liner at Liverpool Pier Head five days later in time for the vessel’s last ever sailing out of the River Mersey. His previous ship had been the Lusitania’s sister ship the R.M.S. Mauretania.
Having arrived without mishap in New York, he was on board serving in the same capacity, on the early afternoon of the 1st May, as the Lusitania left New York on the start of her return voyage to Liverpool. Then, six days out of that port, on the afternoon of the 7th May, she was torpedoed and sunk by the German submarine U-20, within sight of the coast of southern Ireland. At that time, she was only about fourteen hours steaming time away from the safety of her home port. George Gardner lost his life as a result of this action. He gave his age as being 46 years when signing on for the voyage but was clearly much older than this.
His body was recovered from the sea and identified afterwards, and was given the reference number 20, in one of the temporary mortuaries set up in Queenstown - probably the one in the yard of Cunard’s offices at Lynch’s Quay. It was described there as: -
Male, 50 years, Crew, serge clothes with buttons.
He was then buried in The Old Church Cemetery, Queenstown, in Mass Grave C, Row 6, Lower Tier on the 10th May 1915. This was the date upon which most of the burials of Lusitania victims took place, following a long funeral procession which began outside the Cunard office on the waterfront.
Despite the fact that he has an identifiable burial site, however, the Commonwealth War Graves Commission was not aware of the fact and after the Great War, commemorated him on the Mercantile Marine Memorial to the Missing at Tower Hill, London.
However, once Graham Maddocks had established beyond doubt that he was buried in The Old Church Cemetery, the Commission agreed to erect a permanent memorial to him where he is buried and this was done in November 1998.
It takes the form of a monument of Irish limestone, sited at the head of Mass Grave B, the centre one of the three. The names of crew members buried in the three mass graves are incised on two black granite panels on the memorial, with a legend in between them, which reads: -
1914 - 1918
IN HONOURED MEMORY
OF THOSE NAMED WHO,
SERVING ON THE
RMS LUSITANIA,
DIED WHEN THE SHIP WAS
SUNK BY ENEMY ACTION
ON 7 MAY 1915
AND ARE BURIED NEARBY
The name of Waiter Gardner is incised on the left hand panel.
The Commission has also stated that should it ever be necessary to renew the panel bearing his name on the Tower Hill Memorial, his name would be omitted from its replacement.
What remained of his property was handed over to his son, Mr. H.L. Gardner by the Cunard Company, at the Waterloo address, on the 6th June 1915. It consisted of a 5 dollar bill, almost 18/- (£0.90p.), in British coinage, some keys, a watch, a chain with pencil case attached, two purses, a gold ring inscribed with the initials H.G..
In August of the same year, he was officially discharged from the last voyage of the Lusitania and his widow Hannah was paid the balance of wages owed to him, in respect of his service on board the Lusitania from the 17th April 1915, until 8th May, 24 hours after the vessel had gone down! In addition, The Liverpool and London War Risks Insurance Association Limited granted a yearly pension to Hannah Gardner to compensate her for the loss of her husband which amounted to £26-18s.-9d. (£26.93½p.) which was payable at the rate of £2-4s.-11d. (£2.24½p.) per month.
Register of Births, Marriages, and Deaths, England Select Marriages 1538 – 1973, 1891 Census of England, 1901 Census of England, 1911 Census of England, 1921 Census of England, Liverpool England Crew Lists 1861 – 1919, Cunard Records, Commonwealth War Graves Commission, 1894 Kelly’s Directory of Liverpool & Birkenhead, UniLiv.D92/1/8-10, UniLiv. PR 13/24, PRO BT 334, Deaths at Sea 1871 – 1968, Graham Maddocks, Geoff Whitfield, Michael Poirier, Jim Kalafus, Cliff Barry, Paul Latimer, Norman Gray.
Copyright © Peter Kelly.
Revised & Updated – 28th November 2023.