Robert Belsher ‘Robbie’ Kay, was born in Cowley Hill, St Helens, Lancashire, England in 1907, the son, and only child, of James and Marguerita Kay (née Belsher) of St. Helens, Lancashire. His father was a joiner/builder.
In March 1912, his father had gone to New York City, in the United States of America, to look for work and find a suitable home for the family. Within a few weeks, he had established himself there and sent word to his wife to have them join him. His mother had initially intended to take passage to New York City on the S.S. Baltic, departing from Liverpool on the 30th June; however, she deferred their departure to the following voyage which left Liverpool on the 18th July. The family established their home at 852, Rhinelander Avenue, Bronx, New York City.
In early 1915, Robbie's mother was expecting her second child, and decided to return to St. Helens for the birth of her baby. She decided to bring Robbie with her, and as a consequence, they set sail from New York on 1st May, as second cabin passengers on what would be the Lusitania's final voyage, leaving his father at home. As if the ordeal to come was not enough, Robbie contracted measles on the journey across the Atlantic and was still suffering, when the ship was sunk.
As the liner went down, he and his mother were both flung into the water and Robbie suffered the terrible experience of seeing her washed away to her death.
Eventually, however, against all the odds for any young person on the liner, he was fished out of the sea and taken onto the top of an upturned lifeboat by a fellow second cabin passenger, The Reverend H. W. Simpson, of Roseland, British Columbia. This action undoubtedly saved his life. Eventually, the occupants of the lifeboat were picked up by a trawler, probably the Royal Naval Trawler H.M.S.
Indian Empire, and late on the evening of 7th May, were landed at Queenstown. Robbie Kay was taken from the quayside, firstly to The Imperial Hotel, and later to hospital for treatment for both his ordeal and his measles.
On the following day, he was able to provide information which enabled The Cunard Steamship Company to telegraph his grandfather Mr. Robert Belsher of Cowley Hill. The first telegram said: -
ARE YOU EXPECTING MRS. KAY & BOY
Mr. Belsher immediately wired back to say that he was expecting his daughter and her son, only to receive the tragic reply on Monday 10th May: -
DEEPLY REGRET MRS. KAY MISSING, BOY HERE.
Mr. Belsher immediately set out for Queenstown to collect Robbie and search for his daughter, but no trace of her, dead or alive, was ever found.
The Imperial Hotel, to where Robbie Kay was taken, and which accommodated many other
Lusitania's survivors, still stands today and is now called The Atlantic Inn.
From a letter written to Robbie’s aunt Daisy, (his mother’s sister) by her employer, (which still exists today), he was obviously looked after by Daisy immediately after the disaster, but what became of him after that is mere conjecture.
Soon after his arrival in St. Helens, his grandparents applied for financial help to The Lusitania Relief Fund, which had been set up after the sinking by The Lord Mayor of Liverpool and other local dignitaries to help survivors and dependants of those killed, who had suffered financial loss as a result of the sinking. The awards committee made the Belchers a grant of £4-0s-0d., to pay the medical expenses incurred at the hospital in Queenstown whilst treating his measles.
Robert Kay remained in England until September 1923, when he returned to the United States of America, ironically, on board the same liner he had travelled to New York City with his mother in July 1912 – the S.S.
Baltic! No doubt he had been cared for by his grandparents and aunts over the eight years he remained in England, and had attended school and received his education there.
He went to live with his father, who had re-married, and his second wife had two sons by her first marriage, Robert Nelson and William Clifford, who had taken his step-father’s surname – Kay, as their own, therefore Robbie now had a step-brother named Robert!
Robbie became a salesman and later established his own company – Robert B. Kay Inc., at 1860. East 7th Street, Brooklyn, New York City. On the 7th September 1934, he married Ida Wallis in Manhattan, New York City.
Robbie Kay died in Maspeth, Queens, New York City, on the 30th December 1981, aged 74 years.
Register of Births, Marriages and Deaths, 1911 Census of England & Wales, New York Passenger Lists 1820 – 1957, UK Outward Passenger Lists 1890 – 1960, Cunard Records, Liverpool Record Office, U.S. WWII Draft Cards Young Men 1940 – 1947, St. Helens Newspaper & Advertiser, Last Voyage of the Lusitania, White Star Journal, PRO 100/345, UniLiv D92/2/348, Deaths at Sea 1871 – 1968, Graham Maddocks, Jane Campbell, Robert O'Brien, Geoff Whitfield, Michael Poirier, Jim Kalafus, Cliff Barry, Paul Latimer, Norman Gray.
Copyright © Peter Kelly.