Peter Cooper was born in Liverpool, Lancashire, England, on the 5th January 1892, the illegitimate son of Julia Cooper, who at the time of his birth was working as a domestic servant. After his mother married Peter Kehoe, a Liverpool dock labourer, in 1894, he took on his stepfather’s surname for the remainder of his life and it is not known if Peter Kehoe was his actual father or formally adopted him.
His mother and stepfather had two children – Denis and Bridget, before his mother died in 1896, aged 24 years. His father married Margaret Rodney (née Cavanagh), a widow with four children, in 1905, and the couple had three more children, one of whom died in infancy. By 1915, the family resided at 86. Leeds Street, Liverpool.
On completing his education, Peter also became a dock labourer, but sometimes served as a fireman on steam ships. While serving in the Mercantile Marine, Peter Kehoe spelt his family name as ‘Keogh’!
He engaged as a fireman in the Engineering Department on board the Lusitania, at Liverpool, on the 12th April 1915. His rate of pay in this job was £6-10s.-0d. (£6.50p.) and £1-0s.-d. of this was paid to him at the time. He reported for duty at 7 a.m. five days later, before the liner left the River Mersey for the last ever time. His half-brother, Denis Kehoe was also a member of the crew, serving as a trimmer.
Having completed the Lusitania’s trans-Atlantic voyage to New York, he was on board her when she left there in the early afternoon of the 1st May 1915, as was his half-brother, Denis, to commence her return journey to Liverpool - still serving in the same capacity. When the liner sank on the 7th May, Peter Kehoe was fortunate to survive the sinking; however, Denis Kehoe perished and no trace of him was ever found.
Peter Kehoe returned to his home in Liverpool, where no doubt he had to inform his family of Denis’ loss. He continued to serve in the Mercantile Marine until at least 1921.
On the 3rd August 1919, he married Bridget ‘Delia’ Manley (née Kenny) in Liverpool. His wife was a widow, whose first husband, Seaman John Manley, was lost at sea when his vessel, the s.s. Umgeni, sank in a gale in the mid-Atlantic Ocean on the 9th November 1917, with the loss of all thirty crew.
Peter Kehoe and his wife had four children and for many years resided at 53a. Denison Street, Liverpool. By 1939, Peter Kehoe was working as a fitter’s labourer in an engineering works. In later years, the family moved to 17. Dumbrees Road, Liverpool.
Peter Keogh died in Newsham General Hospital, Liverpool, following a long, but unspecified illness, on the 14th March 1951, aged 59 years. His wife had died six months earlier. He was interred in Ford Cemetery, Liverpool, beside his wife, on the 19th March.
Register of Births, Marriages and Deaths, Liverpool England Catholic Baptisms 1741 – 1919, Liverpool England Catholic Marriages 1754 – 1933, Liverpool England Catholic Burials 1813 – 1985, 1911 Census of England, 1921 Census of England, 1939 Register, Cunard Records, Liverpool Echo, PRO BT 100/345, PRO BT 350, PRO BT 351/1/76260, Graham Maddocks, Pauline Campbell, Geoff Whitfield, Michael Poirier, Jim Kalafus, Cliff Barry, Paul Latimer, Norman Gray.
Copyright © Peter Kelly.
Revised & Updated – 8th February 2024.