William Hendry was born in Liverpool, Lancashire, England, on the 11th August 1879, the son or William and Martha Hendry (née Millington). He was one of five known children, and his father was a dock labourer.
At some time, he moved to Yorkshire, where he became manager of The Fleece Inn and The Flappit, which were public houses in and around Keighley, and then moved to The Black Bull Hotel in Haworth.
On the 31st July 1907, at the Parish Church, Morecambe, Lancashire, he married Mrs. Laura Walker, (née Speight) who with her late husband, Mr. William Walker, had run The Hare and Hounds in Keighley. Laura Hendry, who had four children, was a native of Keighley.
After working in the licensed trade, and also for a time as a dining car conductor for the Midland Railway Company, William Hendry moved back to Liverpool with his wife and her children to take up work as a waiter on trans-Atlantic liners and they initially set up home at 10, Chepstow Street, Kirkdale, Liverpool, which was the home of William’s younger brother, Thomas James Hendry.
He engaged as a first class waiter in the Stewards' Department on board the Lusitania at Liverpool on the 12th April 1915, for what would be her last ever voyage ever, out of the River Mersey. As a first class waiter, his monthly wage was £4-5s.-0d. (£4.25p.). He joined the ship at 7 a.m. on the 17th April. He had sailed on her before.
Although he survived the sinking, he was initially reported missing, which caused a lot of consternation both in Liverpool and Haworth and relatives from Keighley travelled to Liverpool to seek news of him. Eventually, however, he was listed amongst the survivors.
On his eventual return to Liverpool, he was officially paid off from the Lusitania’s final voyage and given wages owing to him which amounted to £4-9s.-6d. (£4.42½p.), which was for the period from the 17th April to the 8th May 1915, 24 hours after the liner had sunk.
William Hendry continued to serve on trans-Atlantic liners as a waiter and bedroom steward until the outbreak of the Second World War, when he decided to find work on land.
He found employment in the newly opened Napier’s aircraft engine factory on the East Lancashire Road, Liverpool, as a “works policeman”.
William Hendry died at Walton Hospital, Liverpool, on the 10th January 1944, aged 64 years. His wife had died in 1941. His home at the time of his death was 20. Bramberton Road, Walton, Liverpool.
Register of Births, Marriages, and Deaths, England & Scotland Select Cemetery Registers 1800 – 2022, 1881 Census of England,
1891 Census of England, 1901 Census of England, 1911 Census of England, 1939 Register, New York Passenger Lists 1820 – 1957, Cunard Records, West Yorkshire Alehouse Licences 1771 – 1962, Bradford Daily Telegraph, Lancaster Standard and County Advertiser, Liverpool Echo, PRO BT 348, PRO BT 349, PRO BT 350, PRO BT 351/1/61545, Graham Maddocks, Geoff Chadwick, Geoff Whitfield, Michael Poirier, Jim Kalafus, Cliff Barry, Paul Latimer, Norman Gray.
Copyright © Peter Kelly.
Revised & Updated – 7th January 2024.