Patrick McShane was born in a miner’s settlement in the vicinity of Avonhead Colliery, New Monkland, Lanarkshire, Scotland, on the 20th February 1871, the son of Michael and Mary McShane. At birth, his name was recorded as ‘McCheyne’! His father was a coal miner, and Patrick was the eldest of eight known children in the family.
It is not known when he moved south to Liverpool, Lancashire, England, but by 1908, he was a professional seaman in the British Mercantile Marine, serving as a waiter on passenger liners.
In 1910, he married Emily Fildes in Liverpool, and it is not thought that they had any children. Emily was a widow, having previously been married to a man named David John Killeen, who died in April 1909. She had no children from this marriage either. The couple resided at 49. Emery Street, Walton-on-the-Hill, Liverpool.
Patrick McShane engaged as a first class waiter in the Stewards' Department on board the Lusitania at Liverpool in April 1915, in time for her last trans-Atlantic crossing, and having reached New York without incident, was serving in the same capacity for her return voyage on the 1st May. When the liner sank on the 7th May, he was fortunate to be counted among the survivors.
Having been landed at Queenstown, he eventually managed to return to his wife in Liverpool.
Cunard Records record his name as McSane, but this is an error.
Emily McShane died in Liverpool on the 12th June 1936, and it is believed that he was still alive at this time, but nothing is known about him after this.
Register of Births, Marriages and Deaths, 1881 Census of Scotland, 1891 Census of Scotland, 1911 Census of England, 1921 Census of England, Liverpool England Crew Lists 1861 – 1919, Cunard Records, PRO BT 351/1/95724, Graham Maddocks, Geoff Whitfield, Michael Poirier, Jim Kalafus, Cliff Barry, Paul Latimer, Norman Gray.
Copyright © Peter Kelly.
Revised & Updated – 7th January 2025.