Richard Kenneth Davies was born in Liverpool, Lancashire, England, in 1897, the son of John and Elizabeth Alice Davies (née Rogers) of Egremont, Wallasey, Cheshire. Richard's father, who was a commercial traveller, died in 1905. In May 1915, the family home was at 56, Blantyre Road, Liverpool, Lancashire. Richard was the youngest of two known children.
Nothing is known of his childhood, but he joined the British Mercantile Marine as a steward after he finished his education.
He engaged at Liverpool as an assistant engineer's mess steward in the Stewards' Department on what would prove to be the final voyage of the Lusitania at a monthly wage of £4-5s.-0d. (£4.25p.) and reported for duty on the morning of the 17th April 1915.
Having arrived safely in New York, he was killed three weeks later when the vessel was sunk on her return to Liverpool, by the German submarine, U-20. At that time, she was some twelve to fourteen hours sailing away from her home port, off the Old Head of Kinsale in southern Ireland. As his body was never found and identified, his name is embossed on the Mercantile Marine Memorial at Tower Hill, London. He was aged 18 years.
He is also commemorated on a family grave in Rake Lane Cemetery, Wallasey, Merseyside. The grave contains his father and an infant older brother and although the grave memorial probably originally consisted of a sandstone cross on a stepped base, all that remains now is the base itself. The inscription on this states: -
In Memory of
RICHARD KENNETH DAVIES, .....
WHO LOST HIS LIFE BY THE SINKING
OF THE "LUSITANIA" 7TH MAY 1915,
AGED 18.
"THEY SHALL BE MINE,
WHEN I MAKE UP MY JEWELS"
Richard Davies had his life insured with The Liverpool and London War Risks Insurance Association Limited, the beneficiaries of which were both the Seaman’s Orphanage and the Liverpool Orphan Asylum. Each received £16-0s-4d. (£16.01p.) per year which was payable at the rate of £4-0s-1d. (£4.00½p.) per quarter.
Register of Births, Marriages, and Deaths, 1901 Census of England, 1911 Census of England, Cunard Records, Commonwealth War Graves Commission, Liverpool Echo, Wallasey News (Photo 15/05/1915, p.3 col.6), PRO BT 334, UniLiv. PR 13/24, Deaths at Sea 1871 – 1968, Graham Maddocks, Geoff Whitfield, Michael Poirier, Jim Kalafus, Cliff Barry, Paul Latimer, Norman Gray.
Copyright © Peter Kelly.
Revised & Updated –20th February 2023.