William George McArthur was born in Bootle, Liverpool, Lancashire, on the 15th March 1894, the son of William and Emily Jane McArthur, (née Stephens). He was the eldest of five children, and his father worked at various times as a barman and a mason’s labourer. The family home was at 22, Elm Drive, Seaforth, Liverpool, Lancashire.
On completing his education, William became a barman.
Whether or not he was a full-time member of the Mercantile Marine is not known, however, he was employed as Assistant Pastry Cook on the Lusitania, in the Stewards' Department in time for her departure to New York on the 17th April 1915. He was still on board, employed in the same capacity, when the great liner set out on the return voyage to Liverpool on the 1st May.
When the Lusitania sank on the 7th May, he did not survive, and his body was not recovered and identified afterwards. As a consequence, he is commemorated on the Mercantile Marine War Memorial at Tower Hill, London. He was aged 21 years.
When the records of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission were being compiled after the War, William McArthur’s mothers name before her marriage is recorded as ‘Arches’ but this is erroneous, and her name was ‘Stephens’.
Register of Births, Marriages and Deaths, Liverpool England Church of England Baptisms 1813 – 1919, 1901 Census of England, 1911 Census of England, 1921 Census of England, Cunard Records, Commonwealth War Grave Commission, PRO BT 334, PRO BT 351/1/90566, 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 November 2024.