Peter McBride was born in Rampark, in the parish of Lordship, also known as Ravensdale, County Louth, Ireland, in January 1860, the son of Patrick and Mary McBride (née Kelly). His family were farmers, and Peter was the second eldest of six known children in the family. He was unmarried.
At some time, Peter and other members of his family immigrated to Liverpool, Lancashire, England, in search of work. Many of them worked as casual labourers, but when unable to find work on land, they signed on as trimmers and firemen on steam ships. Being a single man, Peter stayed in lodging houses or with married siblings when not at sea.
He engaged as a trimmer in the Engineering Department on board the Lusitania on the 12th April 1915 at Liverpool at a monthly wage of £6-0s.-0d. and he was killed when she was sunk. He was aged 55 years.
His body was not recovered from the sea and identified afterwards and as a result his name is embossed on the Mercantile Marine War Memorial at Tower Hill, London.
Irish Catholic Parish Registers 1655 – 1915, , 1901 Census of Ireland, 1911 Census of England, Cunard Records, Commonwealth War Grave Commission, PRO BT 334, Deaths at Sea 1871 – 1968, Graham Maddocks, Robert McBride, Geoff Whitfield, Michael Poirier, Jim Kalafus, Cliff Barry, Paul Latimer, Norman Gray.
Copyright © Peter Kelly.
Revised & Updated – 2nd November 2024 .