Robert Anderson Mackenzie was born in Nairn, Nairnshire, Scotland, on the 25th August 1874, the son of John Taylor and Mary Mackenzie (née Moir). His father was a Sheriff Officer at Nairn, and Robert was one of six known children.
Robert Mackenzie was a grocer, having served his time in Nairn, and at some time before the outbreak of the Great War, he had gone to ply his trade in Manchester, Lancashire. He married Bertha Milne in Bury, Lancashire, in the summer of 1898, and by 1901, the couple were living at 10. Trentham Place, Hunslet, Yorkshire, where the first of their three children was born. Their children were – Mary Milne, born in 1901, Donald Milne, born in 1903, and Leonora Milne, born in 1905.
Sometime between 1906 and 1911, the family moved to Belfast, County Antrim, Northern Ireland, before they finally moved south to Dublin, Ireland, where the family finally settled. Robert operated as a grocer, and a fish and poultry merchant at 3. Cavendish Row, Dublin. The family home was at 32. Hollybank Road, Drumcondra, Dublin.
In the course of this trade, in the spring of 1915, he left Ireland and travelled to Liverpool, where he took third class passage on the Lusitania for New York, N.Y., in the United States of America, arriving there on 3rd February 1915. He travelled extensively while in America before deciding to return to his Dublin home.
For his return home, he had again booked third class passage on the May sailing of the Lusitania, purchasing ticket No. 1807 at Cook’s Office, 5th Ave., New York, and joined her on the morning of 1st May 1915, at Pier 54 in New York port, in time for her scheduled 10 o’clock sailing. This was then delayed until 12.27 p.m., because she had to embark passengers, crew and cargo from the Anchor Liner Cameronia, which had been requisitioned by the British Admiralty for war service as a troop ship, at the end of April.
Then, six days later, on the afternoon of 7th May, she was torpedoed and sunk by the German submarine U-20, off The Old Head of Kinsale in southern Ireland, only about 250 miles hours away from her Liverpool home port and destination. Having survived this action, Robert Mackenzie was lucky enough to be rescued from the sea and landed at Queenstown from where he eventually made it back to Dublin.
He narrated his account of the disaster to a correspondent from the Irish Times, which was published on 10th May:-
A DUBLIN MAN’S EXPERIENCE
Mr. Robert A. Mackenzie, fish and poultry merchant, of 3. Cavendish Row, Dublin, arrived home on Saturday evening after a tour of 12,000 miles. He was absent for about three months, and having transacted business in New Orleans, he made a round tour visiting Meridian, Birmingham, Chattanooga, Cincinnati, Chicago, Detroit, Niagara Falls, Toronto, Buffalo, Syracuse, and back to New York.
He travelled out by the Lusitania and arranged his trip to return by the same vessel. He says he was in his stateroom of the second cabin when
the torpedo struck the ship. The first intimation he received was the dull thud with which the torpedo struck the side, and there seemed to be an explosion in the hold, though there was very little noise and the shock was slight when he was standing.
He at once made his way to the first cabin deck, which at the time was practically deserted except for a few stewards. There was no panic, and the stewards seemed quite confident that the vessel would reach the shore, towards which she was headed.
It was just after lunch, and most of the first-class passengers were either in the smoke rooms or their own berths, and the second lot of second cabin passengers were at lunch at the time. There was an unusual number of those on board, as after the Lusitania had left the slips in New York she was recalled to embark the first and second class passengers of a vessel which was being diverted to another port for a different cargo.
This vessel was the Anchor Lines Cameronia which was requisitioned by the British Admiralty as a troop carrier earlier on that date. Some of her passengers and crew, and her cargo were transferred to the Lusitania, thus delaying her departure. The article continues: -
This over-taxed the capacity of the Lusitania, so that the second class passengers had to be dined in two lots. It also threw an extra burden on the crew, especially the stewards, and the impression of the passengers was that the vessel was very short-handed.
They travelled at the average speed of about 20 knots, and their best days run was 501 miles. There was a heavy haze over the Irish coast all Friday morning, and the foghorn was continually sounded and bearings taken. They only sighted the Irish coast about a half an hour before the vessel was struck, and when the torpedo was fired they were travelling at about 15 knots. He did not see the submarine at all.
The vessel began to settle down almost immediately after the first torpedo struck her, and within a few minutes there was a heavy list to starboard, which rendered it almost impossible to launch the boats from that side. Most of the boats had been hung out on their davits at boat drill on the Thursday morning, and left there ready for lowering.
Had it not been for this, it is extremely doubtful if so many passengers would have been saved, as a large number of the crew were at the time involved in the transfer of the mails and luggage from the holds to the main decks prior to the disembarkation at Liverpool. By the time these men reached the decks, the vessel had well settled down, and it was too late to get many of the boats off, and those at the starboard side could not be launched as the vessel was almost on her side.
In fact, none of the crew who had descended to the baggage room survived. The article continues: -
He saw a good many boats get off on the port side, but many of them were at once swamped. He and other passengers helped launch some of the boats, and one of these got swamped by a funnel as the vessel was heeling over. He jumped six feet into the last boat, and before it got clear it got entangled in the wireless [lines], but they were able to get free before the vessel finally went down.
They escaped between two funnels and rescued some women and children who were clinging to the bottoms of two overturned collapsible boats. They rowed some distance to a fishing smack, which was becalmed at the time, and so unable to render any assistance. They were put aboard the drifter, and the crew rowed back to the scene of the calamity to pick up any survivors.
They were taken off the drifter by a tug boat about 7 o’clock, and brought to Queenstown. The Lusitania went down almost straight on her bow.
Amongst those in the boat which he got off by was the wireless operator [Robert Leith]. He learned that when the torpedo exploded, the main apparatus was put out of order, as was also the emergency apparatus used for sending the messages for help.
The report is incorrect when it states that the backup radio system failed. The main radio was powered by electricity generated by the ship, the electricity failing shortly after the torpedo detonated. However, the back-up radio was powered by batteries and this set was immediately brought in to action when the power failed. Robert Leith stated after his rescue that he was broadcasting distress messages on the back-up radio until the water reached the radio room, when he abandoned ship.
For a while, however, Robert Mackenzie’s widowed mother in Scotland was not certain that he had been saved, as his name did not appear in the first lists of survivors.
Life had a further tragedy in store for him; however, for after his return, he carried on running his provision shop in Cavendish Row, Dublin, but there, at mid-day on the 27th April 1916, just under a year after his Lusitania ordeal, he was shot in the chest and killed, during the Easter uprising, by republican forces fighting against the British Crown! The book Rebellion Handbook, states: -
Mr. Mackenzie was one of the survivors of the Lusitania having had the remarkable experience of being rescued from that great disaster dryshod.
The Times, in the edition of 4th May 1916 reported his death, thus: -
A provision merchant named Mackenzie, who refused the rebels the use of his premises and provisions, was at once shot dead. He was a passenger on board the Lusitania when she was torpedoed.
For many years, it was believed that his remains were interred in Glasnevin Cemetery in Dublin; however, no record of this could be found, and it was presumed that due to the number of people killed, and requiring burial in the aftermath of the Easter Rising in 1916, the site of his grave had not been recorded and was lost. Then, in 2019, it
was learned that his remains had been buried in St. George’s Church Cemetery, Dublin, where they lie today. His wife, Bertha, was interred beside him when she died in 1955.
Robert Mackenzie’s name is inscribed on the Glasnevin Memorial Wall at Glasnevin Cemetery, which lists all 454 known casualties of the Easter Rising in 1916.
Register of Births, Marriages and Deaths, Scotland Select Births and Baptisms 1564 – 1950, 1881 Census of Scotland, 1891 Census of Scotland, 1901 Census of England & Wales, 1911 Census of Ireland, New York Passenger Lists 1820 – 1957, Cunard Records, Aberdeen Daily Journal, Dundee Advertiser, Irish Times, The Grocer, The Times, Rebellion Handbook, PRO BT 100/345, UniLiv D92/2/153, UniLiv D92/2/423, Graham Maddocks, David Seeney, Geoff Whitfield, Michael Poirier, Jim Kalafus, Cliff Barry, Paul Latimer, Norman Gray.
Copyright © Peter Kelly.