Thomas Walter Rumble, always known as ‘Walter’, was born in Vaughan, Ontario, Canada, on the 22nd June 1886, the son of Robert and Mary Elizabeth Rumble (née Goodwill). His father was a farmer, and Walter was one of the youngest children in the family.
He became a warehouseman, and then a buyer for the John MacDonald Company of Toronto, which necessitated him travelling to Europe on a regular basis on behalf of his employers.
On the 8th October 1913, he married Minnie Cooper at St. Anne’s Church, Toronto, and in September 1914, their daughter, Helen Mary, was born. The family lived at 65. Kendall Avenue, Toronto.
In March 1915, he had returned from a buying trip to Europe, and almost immediately he made plans to return there again. Consequently, he booked a return saloon passage on the May sailing of the Lusitania through local agents A. F. Webster & Son, of Toronto, for the voyage from New York to Liverpool.
Arriving in New York, and having ticket number 10870, he boarded the vessel on the morning of 1st May 1915, in time for her scheduled 10.00 a.m. departure from the Cunard berth at Pier 54. He was then escorted to his accommodation in room B3, which was the personal responsibility of First Class Bedroom Steward Robert Morse, who lived in Rock Ferry, a district of Birkenhead, Cheshire, which was on the opposite side of the River Mersey from Liverpool. England.
The liner’s sailing was delayed until the early afternoon, however, as she had to wait 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. The Lusitania finally left port just before 12.30 p.m. and just six days later, on the afternoon of 7th May, she was torpedoed and sunk by the German submarine U-20. At that point, she was within sight of The Old Head of Kinsale in southern Ireland and only about 250 miles away from her ultimate destination.
Nearly 200 saloon passengers on board perished as a result of this action and Walter Rumble was unfortunately one of those. As his body was never recovered from the sea and identified afterwards, he has no known grave. He was aged 28 years.
Bedroom Steward Morse, who had looked after Thomas Rumble in room B3, did survive the sinking, however and eventually made it back to his Rock Ferry home.
His wife, and his unmarried sister, Elizabeth, submitted claims with the Canadian Commission seeking compensation for the loss of his life and personal possessions in the sinking of the Lusitania. The Commission awarded his wife $35,000 in
compensation for the loss of her husband’s life, and an additional $15,000 for the education of his daughter, who was only 7 months old at the time of her father’s death. His sister was awarded $850 in compensation for the loss of Walter Rumble’s personal effects as she was the executrix of her late brother’s estate, and also awarded her $5,000 as she was partially financially dependent on him.
Ontario Canada Births 1832 – 1914, Ontario Canada Marriages 1826 – 1938, 1891 Census of Canada, 1901 Census of Canada, 1911 Census of Canada, Canadian Passenger Lists 1865 – 1935, New York Passenger Lists 1820 – 1957, Cunard Records, Canadian Claims Case No. 787 and 788, PRO 22/71, PRO BT 100/345, Deaths at Sea 1871 – 1968, Graham Maddocks, Geoff Whitfield, Michael Poirier, Jim Kalafus, Cliff Barry, Paul Latimer, Norman Gray.
Copyright © Peter Kelly.