William Jones was born in Liverpool, Lancashire, England, in 1866, the son of John and Eliza Jones (née Thomas). It is thought that his mother was a widow who had been married to a man named Rogers, but this has not been fully determined due to the commonality of the three family names. His father was a labourer, and it is not known how many children were in the family.
As a teenager, after finishing his formal education, he became a shop porter before joining the Mercantile Marine.
He married Margaret Duggan in Liverpool on the 28th June 1888, and they had one child, a daughter named Bertha before Margaret Jones died in 1892.
William Jones began cohabiting with a woman named “Kathleen” after his wife’s death, and although they never formally married, Kathleen styled herself as Mrs. Jones and they had three children – Kathleen, William John, and Florence Margaret. In 1915 they lived at 9, S
William Jones engaged as an able seaman in the Deck Department on board the Lusitania at Liverpool on the 12th April 1915 and reported for duty on the morning of the 17th April before the vessel left the River Mersey for the last time. As an able seaman, his monthly rate of pay was £5-10s.-0d. (£5.50p).
He was killed three weeks later, when the vessel was torpedoed and sunk, one week out of New York. His body was not recovered and identified afterwards.
As a result of having no known grave, he is commemorated on the Mercantile Marine Memorial at Tower Hill, London. He was aged 49 years, although when he engaged, he gave his age as 51 years.
Register of Births, Marriages and Deaths, Liverpool England Church of England Marriages and Banns 1754 – 1935, 1881 Census of England, 1891 Census of England, 1901 Census of England, 1911 Census of England, 1921 Census of England, Cunard Records, Commonwealth War Graves Commission, PRO BT 334, PRO BT 351/1/73672, Deaths at Sea 1871 – 1968, Graham Maddocks, George Donnison, Geoff Whitfield, Michael Poirier, Jim Kalafus, Cliff Barry, Paul Latimer, Norman Gray.
Copyright © Peter Kelly.
Revised & Updated – 30th January 2024.