Richard Achille Pittley was born in Brussels, Belgium, on the 22nd February 1877, the son of Richard and Virginia Pittley (née Singer). His parents would appear to have been travelling entertainers, perhaps circus performers, who married in the British Consulate in Geneva, Switzerland, on the 5th July 1873. When they married, they gave their occupations as equestrian artists! Richard was the eldest of six children in the family.
In support of the fact that his family frequently moved around Europe, his eldest sister, Anna Marie, was born in France, and the next sister, Jeanette Emilie, was born in Southampton, Hampshire. His younger two sisters, Lilian Virginia and Wilhelmina Victoria, were born in Manchester, Lancashire, and Liverpool, Lancashire, respectively. No trace can be found of the sixth child, who most likely died in infancy.
By 1891, the family were living in Liverpool, however his parents had separated, and Richard and his two younger sisters lived with his mother, while his older sisters lived with his father. Sometime prior to 1891, the family members began to use the family name “Lee”, but the reason for this is unknown, although in later years, his sisters returned to using their given family name.
By the time he was aged 14 years, Richard had left school and was working as an apprentice sugar boiler. He later became a barman, while his four sisters worked as variety artists in music halls.
Likely attracted by adventure and better wages, Richard Lee joined the British Mercantile Marine as a steward and waiter on passenger liners operating out of Liverpool.
On the 20th March 1909, he married Margaret Bremner Oag in Liverpool, and the couple went on to have four children, all daughters – Jeanetta, Mary, Elsa and Marjorie. Mary, who was born in 1917, died the following year.
Richard Lee engaged as a first class waiter in the Steward's Department on the Lusitania at Liverpool on the 12th April 1915 at a monthly wage of £4-5s.-0d. (£4.25p.), and joined her on
the morning of the 17th April 1915, before she left Liverpool for the last time.
Having safely crossed the Atlantic Ocean and arriving in New York on the 24th April, he was still on board and acting in the same capacity when the Lusitania left New York for her return voyage to her home port of Liverpool on the 1st May. Then, six days later, the liner was sunk by a torpedo discharged from the German submarine, U-20, while off the coast of southern Ireland, less than a day away from the safety of Liverpool. Richard Lee was fortunate to be counted amongst the survivors, and having been landed at Queenstown, he later managed to make his way home to his family in Liverpool.
Following his ordeal, Richard Lee never returned to sea and found a position as a dock labourer. He resided with his family at 31. Hartington Road, West Derby, Liverpool, for many years before later moving to 86. Littledale Road, Wallasey, Cheshire, where he resided for the remainder of his life.
Richard Lee died at his home on the 11th February 1940, aged 62 years. His remains were cremated at Landican Crematorium, Wirral, Cheshire, on the 15th February 1940. His wife, Margaret died in 1963.
Register of Births, Marriages and Deaths, UK Registers of Births, Marriages and Deaths from British Consulates 1810 – 1968, Liverpool England Church of England Marriages and Banns 1754 – 1935, 1891 Census of England, 1901 Census of England, 1911 Census of England, 1921 Census of England, 1939 Register, Liverpool England Crew Lists 1861 – 1919, Cunard Records, Liverpool Echo, PRO BT 100/345, Graham Maddocks, Geoff Whitfield, Lawrence Evans, Michael Poirier, Jim Kalafus, Cliff Barry, Paul Latimer, Norman Gray.
Copyright © Peter Kelly.
Revised & Updated –30th January 2023.