Victor E. Shields was born in Charleston, West Virginia, in the United States of America, on the 1st December 1870, the son of Joseph and Fredericka Shields (née Schieldesheim). He was one of eight chi
liquor. While he was still a child, his family moved to Cincinnati, Ohio.
On the 1st October 1896, he married Retta Cohen in Cincinnati. By 1915, they lived at 3406, Burnet Avenue, Avondale, Cincinnati. They had no children. Victor Shields ran a wholesale liquor business at 119 to 121 East Pearl Street, Cincinnati, and in the spring of 1915, he decided to travel to Great Britain to further his business.
Consequently he booked saloon passage for himself and his wife to Liverpool on the May sailing of the Lusitania, which was scheduled to leave New York on the morning of 1st May 1915. The arrangements for their passage were made by the First National Bank of Cincinnati and when they boarded the liner, they were allocated room D53, which was the personal responsibility of First Class Bedroom Steward Edwin Huther who came from Liverpool. Victor Shields was assigned berth 2 and his wife berth 1.
The liner’s sailing was delayed until the early afternoon as she had to take on board passengers, crew and cargo from Anchor Liner Cameronia which the British Admiralty had requisitioned for use as a troop ship at the end of the previous month. Then, six days later, on the afternoon of 7th May, the Lusitania was torpedoed and sunk by the German submarine U-20 off the southern coast of Ireland, when she was only hours away from her destination.
Both Victor Shields and his wife were killed as a result of this action. He was aged 44 years at the time.
Photographs of both of them, with descriptions of each on the back were sent to the Cunard offices in Queenstown, from Cincinnati, to help with any possible identification and although Retta Shields body was never recovered and identified, that of her husband eventually was.
On 17th July 1915, over two months after the disaster, it was washed up on the beach at Kilcummin Strand, Brandon Bay, County Kerry, six miles west of Castlegregory and about 150 miles from where the Lusitania had gone down.
As might have been expected after such a long immersion in the sea, it was much decomposed and was thus described after its discovery: -
Very decomposed; had watch bearing initials V.O.E.S. and papers and knife marked Victor E. Shields; coat and buttons marked Levy and Freedman, Cincinnatti; (sic) wearing portion of lifebelt and near it other portion marked “LUSITANIA”; also letter addressed Mr. Victor Shields care of Steamer “LUSITANIA” New York, bearing date April 30th, also paper marked V. E. Shields & Co., Cincinnatti, (sic) Ohio, and portions of entertainment programme held in “LUSITANIA”.
Another badly decomposed and unidentifiable body was also washed onto the beach at the same time and both bodies were buried on the beach, above the high water mark where they had been found, on 19th July, under the instructions of the local Police. Mr. Shield’s body was one of the last from the disaster to be recovered and it was given the reference number 252.
By this time, Victor Shield’s uncle, a Mr. Dessauer, of Nottingham, Nottinghamshire, England, was handling any affairs to do with his nephew and he expressed satisfaction with the burial arrangements. However, they could not have satisfied the family in Cincinnati, for they then sought an exhumation of the body for re-burial at home. The
local police were not in favour of this, however, for reasons of hygiene, and probably because they would be given the gruesome task.
However, after pressure from the American Consul at Queenstown, Mr. Wesley Frost, it was disinterred and on 31st July 1915, it was despatched to New York, on board the S.S. St. Paul. It was eventually received by Doctor E.H. Shields, of 505, Forest Avenue, Cincinnati, and buried in Walnut Hills Jewish Cemetery, Evanston, Cincinnati. Property recovered from the body had already been despatched to Mr. Frost at Queenstown for eventual repatriation, on 26th July.
Bedroom Steward Huther who had looked after the Shields in room D53 also perished in the sinking and never returned to his Liverpool home.
On 8th May 1907, Retta and her husband made wills in which they named each other as sole beneficiaries. Both had extended families, and following their deaths a legal battle ensued between both families over their estates. Victor’s estate amounted to $100,000.00, and life insurance of $40,000.00, while Retta’s estate amounted to $20,000.00 and $10,000.00 life insurance. It is not known how their estates were divided, but both extended families also filed a claim for compensation for their deaths with the Mixed Claims Commission. As none of the claimants were dependant on either of the deceased, no award was made.
West Virginia Births Index 1804 – 1938, Ohio U.S. County Marriage Records 1774 – 1993, 1880 U.S. Federal Census, 1900 U.S. Federal Census, 1910 U.S. Federal Census, U.S. Passport Applications 1795 – 1925, Cunard Records, Mixed Claims Commission Docket No. 404 & 405, Ohio Wills and Probate Records 1786 – 1998, New York Times, Owensboro Messenger, PRO 22/71, PRO BT 100/345, UniLiv.D92/1/6, UniLiv D92/2/258, UniLiv. PR13/6, Deaths at Sea 1871 – 1968, Graham Maddocks, Geoff Whitfield, Michael Poirier, Jim Kalafus, Cliff Barry, Paul Latimer, Norman Gray.
Copyright © Peter Kelly.