William Sterling Hodges was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in the United States of America, on 1st March 1882, the son of William C. and Mary Hodges (née Barker). His father was a glass designer, and he had a younger brother named, Newton.
From 1899, he was employed by The Baldwin Locomotive Works in Philadelphia, first as a draughtsman, then in sales, and finally becoming a mechanical engineer.
On the 2nd June 1905, he married Sara E. Griesemer, and in 1915, they lived at 2926, Lehigh Avenue, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, with their two boys, William Sterling Junior, better known as ”Billy“, born in 1907, and Dean Winston, born in 1909.
His work took him on regular visits all over the world and after visiting China and Japan in 1914; he spent three months at home before leaving for Paris. On his return to America, he was promoted to take charge of the company’s business in France and despite the war being fought there, and being devoted to his family, he decided to take them all with him when he returned to the French capital. His job there was to sell locomotives to the French government and to supervise the assembling of others sent there crated in pieces. A business meeting there planned for 10th May, meant that he had to book saloon tickets for them all on the
Lusitania’s May sailing, to be sure of making this meeting and this sailing was scheduled to leave New York on the morning of the 1st.
Accordingly, having left Philadelphia at the end of April the party of four arrived at the Cunard berth, at Pier 54 in New York harbour on that morning and boarded the vessel with ticket number 14677. Once on board, the family was escorted to its accommodation, Mr. and Mrs. Hodges sharing room A16, with the boys next door in A18. Both of these rooms were the personal responsibility of First Class Bedroom Steward John Perry who came from Seaforth on the outskirts of Liverpool.
The liner’s departure was delayed until after mid-day to take on passengers, cargo and crew from the recently requisitioned Anchor Liner Cameronia
and then, just six days later, on the afternoon of 7th May, the family was wiped out when she was torpedoed and sunk twelve miles off the coast of southern Ireland, by the German submarine
U-20. At that time, she was about 250 miles away from her Liverpool destination.
One report states that as the ship was sinking, Sara Hodges was heard to say: -
If we go down, we’ll all go down together!
So perhaps they were all together as the ship actually sank. Only the bodies of Sara and Billy Hodges were ever recovered and identified. Dean Hodges and his father’s body were never found and identified and as a consequence, have no known grave. William Hodges was aged 33 years.
Bedroom Steward Perry, who had looked after Mr. and Mrs. Hodges in room A16 also perished in the sinking and never saw his Seaforth home again.
After the War, Sara’s widowed father, Levi B. Griesemer, and William’s widowed mother, Mrs. Mary B. Hodges, filed claims for the loss of their respective children with the Mixed Claims Commission, claiming that they were both dependant on their off-spring.
Mrs. Hodges’ claim stated that since her glass stainer husband’s death in February 1914, she had been dependant on her two sons, who financially assisted her. William was contributing $750.00 annually to support her. Following William’s death, she had been paid $11,000.00 from his life assurance policies. She was now totally dependant on her sole surviving son.
On 21st February 1924, the Mixed Claims Commission awarded Mrs. Mary B. Hodges the sum of $9,000.00 compensation.
Pennsylvania and New Jersey Church and Town Records 1669 – 2013, Pennsylvania Births Certificates 1906 – 1911, 1900 U.S. Federal Census, 1910 U.S. Federal Census, U.S. Passport Applications 1795 – 1925, New York Passenger Lists 1820 – 1957, Cunard Records, Mixed Claims Commission Docket No. 274 & 481, New York Times, Philadelphia Public Ledger, Tragedy of the Lusitania, PRO BT 100/345, Deaths at Sea 1871 – 1968, Graham Maddocks, Stuart Williamson, Geoff Whitfield, Michael Poirier, Jim Kalafus, Cliff Barry, Paul Latimer, Norman Gray.
Copyright © Peter Kelly.