Walter Reinhold Hermann Storch was born in Woolwich, London, England, in 1885, the son of Johann Max Eduard and Sophia Auguste Christine Storch. Both his parents were emigrants – his father from Germany and his mother from Denmark. Walter was the second eldest of five children in the family, and his father was a leather merchant.
By the time he was aged 15 years, he was working as a mercantile clerk, and on the 20th May 1909, he patented an improvement to paper clips!
On the 18th February 1910, he boarded the Otway at London and sailed to Melbourne, Australia. On boarding, he gave his profession as being an engineer, and found employment as a clerk with the Pacific Phosphate Company on the phosphate-rich island of Nauru, which was annexed by Germany in 1888. On the outbreak of war in 1914, the island was captured by Australian troops.
From August to December 1914, Storch gave evidence on behalf of his employer in the Admiralty Court in Sydney, Australia, regarding the seizure of the Zambesi, a British-registered cargo ship that had been chartered by his employers, but had been seized by the Royal Navy on the outbreak of the War. At various times during the hearing, Walter Storch was described as being a clerk, confidential clerk, and the acting representative of the Pacific Phosphate Company on Nauru.
In March 1915, he arrived in San Francisco, California, in the United States of America, having left the Pacific Phosphate Company and sailing from Sydney. From there, he travelled by rail to New York City as he had decided to return to England to enlist in the British Army.
As a result, he booked second cabin passage on the May sailing of the Lusitania from New York to Liverpool and he arrived at the Cunard berth at Pier 54 on the west side of New York, on the morning of 1st May 1915, in time for the liner’s scheduled 10 o’clock departure. Once on board, however, he had to wait until just before 12.30 p.m. before the liner actually sailed, because she had to embark passengers, crew and cargo from the Anchor Lines vessel the S.S. Cameronia which the British Admiralty had requisitioned for war service as a troop ship at the end of April.
Then, six days out of New York on the afternoon of 7th May, and within sight of the coast of southern Ireland, the Lusitania was torpedoed and sunk by the German submarine U-20. At that stage of her return voyage, she was only about 250 miles away
from the safety of her home port.
Walter Storch had been in the company of Mrs. Florence Herbert and Miss Mary Lovett just before the torpedo struck, but neither of these ladies survived. While immersed in the water, he was present when Miss Polly Nicol drowned.
Walter Storch survived the sinking, however, although he injured his ribs during the course of the action and as a result, having been rescued from the sea, he was landed at Queenstown and taken straight to hospital there. He was discharged from there after having been bed ridden for some days and then made his way to his family home at 21. Carholme Road, Forest Hill, London.
Walter and two of his brothers enlisted in the British Army during the course of the War. Walter served as a Staff Sergeant with the 47th Norfolks, with the serial number 241540, and in 1916, he and another man, named Cecil Wallace Davis, patented a “hand grenade thrower”.
His brothers, 2nd Lieutenant Herbert A. Storch, M.C., served with the 13th Yorkshires, and Lieutenant Frank H. Storch served with the 19th London Regiment. Whereas Walter and Frank survived the War, their brother Herbert died of wounds while serving with the 1st Bn. East Yorkshire Regiment on the 24th August 1918, aged 31 years. His remains are interred at Serre Road Cemetery No. 1, Pas-de-Calais, France.
On the 26th December 1924, Walter Storch married Gertrude Wilhelmine Eckhold in Lewisham, London, and the couple had no children.
Walter Storch died in Berlin, Germany, on the 30th May 1936, aged 50 years. His address at the time of his death was 14. Boelckestrasse, Zehlendorf, Berlin, where he was dealing in imports and exports.
On the 23rd November 1936, in London, administration of his estate was to his widow and widowed mother. He left an estate of £1,657-1s.-1d. (£1,657.05½p.).
Register of Births, Marriages and Deaths, Berlin Germany Deaths 1874 – 1955, 1891 Census of England & Wales, 1901 Census of England & Wales, UK Outward Passenger Lists 1890 – 1960, Fremantle Western Australia Passenger Lists 1897 – 1963, California U.S. Passenger Lists 1882 – 1959, Cunard Records, Commonwealth War Graves Commission, UK Absent Voters Lists 1918 – 1925, International Patents 1890 – 2020, The Argus, Daily Telegraph (Sydney), Probate Records, PRO BT 100/345, UniLiv.D92/1/8-10 UniLiv D92/2/252, Graham Maddocks, Geoff Whitfield, Michael Poirier, Jim Kalafus, Cliff Barry, Paul Latimer, Norman Gray.
Copyright © Peter Kelly.