Winifred Annie Frankum was born in Detroit, Wayne County, Michigan, in the United States of America, on the 14th July 1914, the daughter of Joseph William and Annie Maria Booth Frankum (née Watson). Her parents had emigrated from England, and had first settled in London, Ontario, Canada, before going to Detroit, Michigan, in the United States of America, and then returning to London, Ontario, again! Her father was a carpenter.
Winifrid had two brothers - Francis born in 1908 in Detroit, and a Frederick, born in London, Ontario, Canada, in 1910.
Perhaps because the outbreak of the Great War had seriously depressed the manufacturing industries in America, the family decided to return to Aston in early 1915, and consequently booked as third class passengers on what was to become the
Lusitania's final voyage.
Having left Detroit some time in April, the family arrived at the Cunard berth at Pier 54 on the west side of New York city on the morning of 1st May 1915 in time to board the liner - they were accommodated in room H17 - for her scheduled 10.00 a.m. departure. This was then postponed until the early afternoon whilst the liner loaded cargo and took on board passengers and crew from Anchor Liner the S.S.
Cameronia which the British Admiralty had requisitioned as a troop ship.
Then, six days later, on the afternoon of 7th May, the Lusitania was torpedoed by the German submarine
U-20, twelve miles off The Old Head of Kinsale in southern Ireland and sank within eighteen minutes. As a result of this action, baby Winifred, her mother and brother Frederick were killed. Only Francis and her father survived.
Mr. Frankum later related his terrible experiences on his eventual return to Aston and these were published in
The Birmingham Daily Post on 10th May 1915: -
At the time of the disaster, we were sitting down forward having a cup of tea. As soon as the explosion occurred I gripped my two boys while my wife took charge of the little girl. We made our way along the deck. In the hurry I dropped my little boy who dropped about 6ft., but I picked him up again, and we made our way towards one of the lifeboats. Then leaving my wife and children alongside a boat, I went downstairs to get lifebelts. When I got on deck, I found that my wife and children had not got places.
We clung to one another as the ship went down. I stuck to my wife and children as long as I could but as we sank, we were separated. After a great struggle I came to the surface. I could find no traces of my wife nor any of my children. Seeing an overturned lifeboat nearby, I struck out, and climbed on the keel. .....
We were picked up and brought to Queenstown. I thought I had lost all my family, but judge of my surprise when I came across my eldest boy, seven years of age, in the hotel this morning. He and my wife and the other children had got into a boat which turned turtle. However, the boy clung to the boat and was rescued.
The bodies of Winifred, her mother and brother Frederick were never found and identified afterwards. Winifred was only ten months old.
Her father later filed a claim for compensation which was considered after the war by the Mixed Claims Commission. The compensation was sought for the loss of Winifred’s mother. As Joseph Frankum was a citizen of Great Britain, and therefore no American citizen suffered loss, injury, or damage, as a result of Annie’s death, no award was made.
Cunard Records, Mixed Claims Commission Docket No. 2188, Smethwick Telephone, Birmingham Daily Gazette, Birmingham Daily Post, PRO BT/100/345, Deaths at Sea 1871 – 1968, Graham Maddocks, Geoff Whitfield, Michael Poirier, Jim Kalafus, Cliff Barry, Paul Latimer, Norman Gray.
Copyright © Peter Kelly.