Alfred Harrod was born in Liverpool, Lancashire, England, on the 16th November 1891, the son of Joseph Henry and Sophia Mathilda Bultill Harrod (née Lowndes). His father was an upholsterer, and the family home was at 23, Nile Street, St. James Road, Liverpool. He was one of six children, although by 1911 only three were living. His father later became the first verger to be employed at Liverpool Cathedral, a position he held until his death in 1941.
On the 18th March 1910 he became an indentured apprentice to a man named Thomas A. Shute in the Mercantile Marine, thus commencing his career as a professional seaman.
He was employed as one of three junior assistant pursers in the Deck Department on board the Lusitania, having previously served on the S.S. Ascania. His monthly rate of pay was set at £6-0s.-0d. when he signed on at Liverpool for the Lusitania's final voyage on the 14th April 1915.
When the ship was sunk, he and both the other two junior assistant pursers, (G.W. Beesley and L.H. Sloane) were killed, along with the Purser, J.A. McCubbin and one of the assistant pursers, A.H. Burden. Only the other assistant purser, W.H. Harkness, survived from the Pursers' Section. Alfred Harrod was aged 23 years when he was killed.
His body was never found and identified afterwards and as a consequence, he is
commemorated on the Mercantile Marine Memorial at Tower Hill, London.
His name is also inscribed on the family grave at Anfield Cemetery, Liverpool.
Register of Births, Marriages and Deaths, Liverpool England Church of England Baptisms 1813 – 1919, 1901 Census of England, 1911 Census of England, Cunard Records, UK Apprentices Indentured in Merchant Navy 1824 – 1910, Commonwealth War Graves Commission, PRO BT 334, Deaths at Sea 1871 – 1968, Graham Maddocks, Rosemary Harrod, Geoff Whitfield, Michael Poirier, Jim Kalafus, Cliff Barry, Paul Latimer, Norman Gray.
Copyright © Peter Kelly.
Revised & Updated – 2nd January 2024.