Tom Granger Godley was born in Great Hale, Lincolnshire, England, in 1869, the son of Thomas John Dawson and Anne Godley (née Foster). His father was a land steward of 91 acres of land, and Tom was the youngest of five children in the family.
On completing his education, he became a hotel proprietor in Scarborough, Yorkshire, where his family had moved to, and on the 28th October 1898, he married Daisy Danvers Morgan in Scarborough. Their daughter, and only child, Alma Dorothy Danvers Godley was born in December 1900.
In April 1903, Tom and his wife separated as his wife alleged cruelty and adultery on his part. In December 1910, Daisy Godley filed for divorce, claiming that Tom Godley had fathered children with two domestic servants that had been employed by the family between 1898 and 1903, and also alleging cruelty, including assault. Her application for a divorce was granted on the 22nd January 1912.
Following the breakdown of his marriage, Tom Godley moved to Liverpool where he found employment as a waiter on trans-Atlantic liners, working for the Cunard Steam Ship Company Limited. His usual ship was the Carmania.
He engaged as a first class waiter in the Stewards’ Department on the Lusitania, at Liverpool, on the 12th April 1915 at a monthly rate of £4-5s.-0d. (£4.25p.). He reported for duty on the morning of the 17th April before she left Liverpool for the very last time.
Having successfully crossed the Atlantic, he was still on board for the return voyage on the 1st May. When the great liner sank just a week later, he was fortunate enough to be listed among the survivors.
At some stage after his return to Liverpool, he was officially paid off from the Lusitania’s last voyage and given the balance of wages owing to him. In keeping with all the vessel’s crew members, whether they survived or perished, this sum included pay up to and including the 8th May - 24 hours after the sinking.
Little else is known about Tom, except that he collapsed and died suddenly at a friend’s house in Liverpool on the 29th July 1917, aged 48 years. According to newspaper reports, his early death was attributed to his lengthy immersion in the water following the sinking of the Lusitania.
Register of Births, Marriages, and Deaths, England & Wales Civil Divorce Records 1858 – 1918, 1871 Census of England, 1881 Census of England, 1891 Census of England, 1901 Census of England, 1911 Census of England, Liverpool Crew Lists 1861 – 1919, Cunard Records, Liverpool Daily Post, Westerham Herald, PRO BT 100/345, Graham Maddocks, Geoff Whitfield, Michael Poirier, Jim Kalafus, Cliff Barry, Paul Latimer, Norman Gray.
Copyright © Peter Kelly.
Revised & Updated – 4th December 2023.