Stewart Southam Mason was born in Suffolk, England, on 5th February 1885, the son of Hebert Wilberforce and Agnes Fanny Mason (née Southam), of Sproughton Manor, near Ipswich, Suffolk. His father was a director and owner of an oil seed crushing company, and Stewart was the second youngest of four children.
Stewart was educated at Charterhouse School from 1899 to 1903, after which he went to Christchurch College, Oxford, to read for a Bachelor of Arts degree.
Like his father, Stewart Mason was a merchant, and worked for the family firm G. Mason Limited of Cake Mills, Ipswich, making regular visits to the United States of America. Whilst on business in Boston, Massachusetts, in the United States of America, he met Miss Lesley Lindsey, the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. William Lindsey, who were prominent local citizens, and lived in a stone built mansion overlooking the Charles River.
Soon after, Stewart and Miss Lindsey became engaged and they married on 21st April 1915 at Emmanuel Church, Boston. They intended to live in Bayswater Road, Boston, but before that, they decided to honeymoon in England and subsequently booked saloon passage for the journey, on the Lusitania. Having boarded the liner, at the Cunard berth at Pier 54 in New York port, (with ticket number 1295), they were allocated room B77, which was the personal responsibility of First Class Bedroom Steward James Collins, who came from Formby, a small town along the Lancashire coast from Liverpool.
The liner’s scheduled 10.00 a.m. departure was then delayed whilst she embarked passengers, cargo, and some crew, from the Anchor Lines vessel Cameronia, which the British Admiralty had requisitioned as a troop ship. She finally got under way just before 12.30 p.m., and six days later, on the afternoon of 7th May 1915, the newlyweds were both killed when the ship was torpedoed and sunk by the German submarine U-20. At that time, she was twelve miles off the coast of southern Ireland and only hours away from her Liverpool destination..
In the 10th May 1915 edition of The East Anglian Daily Times, fellow saloon passenger and scenic director of the Boston Opera House, Oliver P. Bernard described how he met Leslie Mason on the deck of the sinking ship aimlessly seeking her husband. His account stated: -
The last passenger I spoke to before the vessel went down was Mrs. Mason, a young American, who was on a honeymoon trip to England. She was the daughter of Mr. William Lindsey, a well known Boston manufacturer of military equipment.
Mrs. Mason rushed up to me exclaiming “Have you seen my husband?” I advised her to remain on the port deck as I was certain Mr. Mason would come up to find her.
Bernard then went below to 'B' Deck to the Masons' cabin in case Stewart Mason was there, but found no sign of him. When he returned to the deck, Leslie Mason was gone and he never saw her again.
The bodies of both husband and wife were eventually recovered from the sea, however, although not at the same time or place. Stewart Mason's body was washed ashore and brought to Queenstown where it was given the reference number 59 in one of the temporary mortuaries there. It was described there as: -
Man, 40 years, fair hair, thin face slight build.
It must have been recognised there, however, as there was no property found on it to help with its identification, and it was then buried on 10th May 1915, in The Old Church Cemetery, Queenstown, in Mass Grave B, 1st Row, Lower Tier, where it lies to this day. It was on this day that most of the victims of the disaster were buried after a long funeral procession which began on Lynch’s Quay, outside the offices of the Cunard Steam Ship Company.
Leslie Mason's body was also recovered and after being embalmed, it was sent back to Boston on the Red Star Liner S.S. Lapland, on 19th May 1915, for burial there.
Property recovered from Stewart Mason's body was handed to a Mr. T.C. McCay of Phoenix Oil Mills, Rumford Street, Liverpool, Lancashire, on 21st January 1916, on behalf of Mr. Hubert Wilberforce Mason, to be delivered to him at Room X, Admiralty Offices, Whitehall, London.
Administration of his estate was granted to his father at London on 9th October 1915, and his effects amounted to some £2,063-15s-00d, (£2,063.75).
Bedroom Steward Collins, who had looked after the couple in room B77, survived the sinking and eventually made it back to Formby.
Register of Births, Marriages and Deaths, Massachusetts U.S. Marriage Records 1840 – 1915, 1891 Census of England & Wales, 1901 Census of England & Wales, 1911 Census of England & Wales, UK Outward Passenger Lists 1890 – 1960, New York Passenger Lists 1820 – 1957, Cunard Records, Charterhouse Register 1872-1931, Dictionary of American Biography, East Anglian Daily Times, Last Voyage of the Lusitania, Probate Records, UniLiv. PR13/6, Deaths at Sea 1871 – 1968, Graham Maddocks, James Maggs, Joe Devereux, Geoff Whitfield, Michael Poirier, Jim Kalafus, Cliff Barry, Paul Latimer, Norman Gray.
Copyright © Peter Kelly.