Percy Lawson was born in Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, England, on the 1st May 1882, the son of William George and Rebecca Davies Lawson (née Newman). His father was a fisherman, and Percy was one of eleven children in the family.
As a young man, he went to Liverpool where he found work as a carter, before joining the Mercantile Marine as a ship’s steward.
In the summer of 1910, Percy Lawson married Marcella Jane Gilchrist in Liverpool and they lived with Marcella’s family at 18. Mount Avenue, Bootle, Liverpool.
In the summer of 1911, Marcella Lawson died shortly after giving birth to their son, Percy George, who also died shortly after his birth.
He engaged as a first class waiter in the Steward's Department on the Lusitania at Liverpool on the 12th April 1915 at a monthly wage of £4-5s.-0d. (£4.25p.) and joined her at 7 a.m. on the 17th April 1915, before she left the River Mersey for the last time.
Having completed her voyage to New York, he was on board in the early afternoon of the 1st May when she left that city to begin what became her last trans-Atlantic crossing. Six days later; however, 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 and only about fourteen hours steaming time away from the safety of her Liverpool base.
Waiter Lawson survived the sinking and having been rescued from the sea he was landed at Queenstown, from where he eventually made it back to Liverpool. There, at the Cunard office in Water Street, he was given the balance of pay owed to him in respect of his service on board ship from the 17th April 1915 until the 8th May, 24 hours after the Lusitania had foundered.
In early 1918, Percy Lawson married Maud Marion Bebington in Liverpool. Maud was a ship’s stewardess and is likely to have worked with him on passenger liners as she also worked for the Cunard Steam Ship Company. They had no children, and Maud died on the 2nd July 1927.
Percy Lawson continued to serve in the Mercantile Marine until his death, aged 46 years, on the 4th March 1929. He was serving as a First Class Waiter on board the Cunard cruise liner RMS Carinthia, which was at that time navigating the Suez Canal. Apparently, Percy Lawson committed suicide by ingesting a fatal dose of oxalic acid. Probate was granted to John Ashton, described as a solicitor, and John Stephen, described as a cashier, on the 28th August 1929. His effects amounted to £2,259-12s.-0d. (£2,259.60p). This was later re-sworn and increased to £2,302-8s.-8d. (£2,302.43½p).
Register of Births, Marriages and Deaths, Norfolk England Transcripts of Church of England Baptisms, Marriage, and Burial Registers 1600 – 1935, Liverpool England Catholic Baptisms 1741 – 1919, 1891 Census of England, 1901 Census of England, 1911 Census of England, Liverpool England Crew Lists 1861 – 1919, New York Passenger Lists 1820 – 1957, Cunard Records, Liverpool Echo, Probate Records, PRO BT 334, PRO BT 348, PRO BT 350, Deaths at Sea 1871 – 1968, Graham Maddocks, Geoff Whitfield, Michael Poirier, Jim Kalafus, Cliff Barry, Paul Latimer, Norman Gray.
Copyright © Peter Kelly.
Revised & Updated – 20th February 2024.