Walter Mullin was born in Liverpool, Lancashire, England, on the 3rd September 1884, the son of Thomas and Elizabeth Mullin (née Spender). His father was a dock labourer, and Walter was one of eight children in the family.
By the time he was aged 16 years, Walter Mullin was working as an errand boy in a coal yard before he joined the British Mercantile Marine as a fireman on steam ships.
On the 18th April 1910, he married Norah Cunningham, and by 1915, they lived at 9, Lilly Grove, Walton, Liverpool, with their three children, Elizabeth Jane, born in 1911, Nellie, born in 1912, and John born in 1915.
Walter engaged as a fireman in the Engineering Department on board the Lusitania, at Liverpool, on the 12th April 1915, at a monthly rate of pay of £6-10s.-0d. (£6.50p.). He had frequently sailed on this liner.
Having completed an uneventful voyage to New York, Walter was again on board on the 1st May, as the great liner left Pier 54 in New York harbour for the return voyage to Liverpool. Six days out of New York, on the afternoon of the 7th May, the Lusitania was torpedoed and sunk by the German submarine, U-20, within sight of the coast of southern Ireland and at best fourteen hours steaming time away from the safety of her home port! Walter Mullin was killed when she was sunk. He was aged 30 years.
His body was not recovered and identified afterwards and as a result he is commemorated on the Mercantile Marine Memorial at Tower Hill, London.
In August, Norah Mullin was given the balance of wages owed to her husband in respect of his service on board the Lusitania from the 17th April until the 8th May 1915, 24 hours after she had foundered. In addition, The Liverpool and London War Risks Insurance Association Limited granted her a yearly pension which amounted to £47-8s.-8d. (£47.43½p.) which was payable at the rate of £3-19s.-1d. (£3.95½p.) per month.
Cunard records erroneously show Walter Mullin’s surname to have been spelled Mallin.
Register of Births, Marriages and Deaths, Liverpool England Catholic Baptisms 1741 – 1919, England Select Marriages 1538 – 1973, 1891 Census of England, 1901 Census of England, 1911 Census of England, Cunard Records, Commonwealth War Graves Commission, UniLiv. PR 13/24, PRO BT 334, PRO BT 351/1/101723, Deaths at Sea 1871 – 1968, Graham Maddocks, Geoff Whitfield, Michael Poirier, Jim Kalafus, Cliff Barry, Paul Latimer, Norman Gray.
Copyright © Peter Kelly.
Revised & Updated – 19th January 2025.