Peter McFadden was born in Flurrybridge, Jonesborough, near Newry, County Armagh, Northern Ireland, on the 13th May 1880, the son of Bernard and Sarah McFadden (née White). He was the eldest of ten children, and his father worked as a labourer.
For some unknown reason, the family changed their name to “McNulty” sometime between 1882 and 1885, and the birth names of some of his younger siblings were even recorded as “McAnulty”!
On completion of his education, he became a labourer, and then, on the 3rd March 1899, enlisted in the 3rd Bn. of the Royal Irish Fusiliers at Newry. As 6545 Private Peter McNulty he served in South Africa during the Boer War, spending almost a year in South Africa, before returning to Newry in early 1901, where he was discharged as being medically unfit to serve further, on the 15th December 1901. The reason for his medical discharge is not known.
Following his military service, he then went to Liverpool to find work. On the 27th September 1908, he married Ethel White in Liverpool, and they subsequently had three children. For a time, the family resided in Glasgow, Lanarkshire, Scotland, where their eldest child was born, before returning to Liverpool where they resided at 3, Parr Street, Litherland, Liverpool, Lancashire. Sometime after his return to Liverpool, Peter McNulty joined the Mercantile Marine as a trimmer and fireman on steam ships.
Having served previously on the Canadian Pacific steamer Missanabie, 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. He joined the vessel before she left Liverpool on her last ever crossing to New York, on the morning of the 17th April.
Three weeks later, he was killed after the vessel was torpedoed and sunk. He was aged 34 years. As his body was not recovered and identified afterwards, he is commemorated on the Mercantile Marine Memorial at Tower Hill, London.
His brother, Steve, was also on board the Lusitania’s final voyage, but as a third class passenger. He also perished in the sinking, but unlike his brother, his body was recovered and identified afterwards, and, on the 10th May 1915, it was buried in one of the mass graves, Common Grave C, in The Old Church Cemetery, Queenstown.
This left their dependent parents without any immediate means of support, although Ethel McNulty was later able to claim some compensation under The Workmen’s Compensation Act, for the loss of her husband. In August 1915, she was also paid the balance of wages owing to her husband in respect of his sea service from the 17th April until the 8th May 1915 - 24 hours after the liner had gone down. In addition, The Liverpool and London War Risks Insurance Association Limited granted her a yearly pension to compensate her for the loss of her husband which amounted to £57-0s.-5d. (£57.02p.), and which was payable at the rate of £4-15s.-1d. (£4.75½p.) per month.
Peter McNulty’s parents, Bernard and Sarah McNulty, were also given some financial aid by The Lusitania Relief Fund, which had been established after the sinking by The Lord Mayor of Liverpool and other local dignitaries.
On the 1st February 1919, Ethel McNulty married Evan Thomas Jenkins in Liverpool and had a further two children. She died in Coventry, Warwickshire, on the 5th February 1946, aged 57 years.
Register of Births, Marriages and Deaths, Liverpool England Church of England Marriages and Banns 1754 – 1932, 1901 Census of Ireland, 1911 Census of Ireland, 1911 Census of Scotland, Cunard Records, Commonwealth War Graves Commission, UK British Army World War I Service Records 1914 – 1920, Liverpool Record Office, PRO BT 100/345, UniLiv D92/11, UniLiv D92/2/272, UniLiv. PR 13/24, 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 – 6th January 2025.