Wilfrid Keeble was born in Camberwell, Dulwich, England, outside London, on the 18th December 1883. His parents were Henry and Jane Keeble (née Tree), and the family home was at 13. Windsor Road, Camberwell, London. Both his parents were solicitors, and Wilfred was the youngest of nine children.
On completing his education, Wilfrid became a commercial clerk, and then, in 1910, he went to work and live in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, as the manager of the Oxo Company. He remained in this position for about three years, before he became the London manager for A. McKim Advertising Agency Limited, a Montreal, Quebec, based company.
In the summer of 1914, he returned to London and married Fannie Maud Goldsbrough, a music artiste, whose father, Dr. Giles Forward Goldsbrough, was an eminent medical doctor.
In January 1915, the couple travelled to Canada on their honeymoon, and for their return to London, they booked as saloon passengers, through agents A. F. Webster & Son, of Toronto, on the May sailing of the
Lusitania from New York to Liverpool.
Having arrived at the Cunard berth at Pier 54 in New York on the morning of 1st May 1915, they boarded the liner with ticket number 10864 and were escorted to their accommodation in room A7. This was the personal responsibility of First Class Bedroom Steward Charles Randall - who came from Gateacre, on the outskirts of Liverpool.
The Lusitania did not actually sail from the port until just after mid-day, as she had 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. Then six days out of New York, on the afternoon of 7th May, she was torpedoed and sunk by the German submarine
U-20, whilst steaming past The Old Head of Kinsale in southern Ireland, only 250 miles away from her Liverpool destination.
Happily, both Wilfrid and Fannie Keeble survived the action and having been rescued from the sea, were landed at Queenstown from where they were eventually able to reach their home in London.
Bedroom Steward Randall, who had looked after them both in room A7, also survived the sinking and also eventually made it back to his Gateacre home.
In the Cunard Archive in The University of Liverpool, there is a document which records a telegram sent from Cunard offices in Queenstown to Liverpool at 11 p.m. on 10th May 1915 which gives the progress of those passengers who had received treatment in hospital. One small portion of it states: -
Wilfred Kennaway suffering shock, bruises, progressing satisfactorily will be in hospital some days.
As there was no-one on board the Lusitania named Kennaway and the only person on board with the forename
Wilfrid was Mr. Keeble, it would seem likely that the hospitalised passenger was he!
Wilfrid and Fannie lived for the remainder of their lives in the London area of England and had three children. They were very much involved in amateur dramatics and often appeared in local plays. Wilfrid Keeble died in Maidstone, Kent, England, on the 6th February 1957, aged 73 years. His wife, Fannie, had predeceased him by a few weeks, having passed away on the 16th of January 1957.
Register of Births, Marriages and Deaths, 1891 Census of England & Wales, 1901 Census of England & Wales, 1939 Register, New York Passenger Lists 1825 – 1957, U.S. Border Crossings from Canada to U.S. 1895 – 1960, Cunard Records, Ottawa Citizen, PRO 22/71, PRO BT 100/345, UniLiv.D92/1/8-10, Graham Maddocks, Geoff Whitfield, Michael Poirier, Jim Kalafus, Cliff Barry, Paul Latimer, Norman Gray.
Copyright © Peter Kelly.