James ‘Jim’ Ledger was born at 34. Norway Street, Waterloo, Liverpool, Lancashire, England, on the 25th November 1895, the son of George and Augusta Olivia Vincent Ledger (née Ledger). His father was a domestic gardener and James was the second youngest of the six children in the family. The family later lived at 12, Sycamore Road, Waterloo, Liverpool, Lancashire.
He was educated at St. John’s Church of England Primary School, Denmark Street, Waterloo, Liverpool, and after leaving school, he began an apprenticeship at a hatter and hosiery manufacturer. He then joined the Mercantile Marine as a waiter on passenger ships.
He engaged as a third class waiter in the Stewards' Department on board the Lusitania at Liverpool at a monthly rate of pay of £4-5s.-0d. (£4.25p.) and reported for duty on the morning of the 17th April, before the liner left her berth at Liverpool Pierhead for the last time, bound for New York.
Having completed the first leg of her voyage to New York, he was on board on the early afternoon of the 1st May when she left there to begin what became her last trans-Atlantic crossing. Six days later, however, she was torpedoed and sunk by the German submarine U-20, off the coast of southern Ireland and only about fourteen hours steaming time away from the safety of her home base. Waiter Ledger was lost as a result of this action. He was aged 19 years.
His body was not recovered and identified afterwards and as a consequence, his name is embossed on the Mercantile Marine War Memorial at Tower Hill, London.
Register of Births, Marriages and Deaths, 1901 Census of England, 1911 Census of England, Cunard Records, Commonwealth War Graves Commission, National School Admission Registers and Log Books 1870 – 1914, Crosby Herald, Liverpool Echo, PRO BT 100/345, 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 – 1st March 2024.