Charles Paynter, 63, was born
on 5 June 1851 in Almwch, Wales to William Cox Paynter and Emma Ellin
Dyer. Charles was baptized at St. Eleth on 29 October 1851.
He was one of
five children. Only his two younger sisters would survive into
adulthood, but they and Charles' four daughters never married, that
Paynter line died out.
The Paynter family came
originally from the
Redruth area of Cornwall, England. Jonathan Paynter and Elizabeth
Perks moved to
Anglesey
with their four sons some time after 1740 when copper mining was
established at
Parys Mountain, near Amlwch. They had been involved in tin mining
in
Cornwall.
In the nineteenth century, several members of the Paynter ‘clan’
moved to
the Wirral, Liverpool and Widnes, all places which had close
connections
through trade.
Charles' father William was a prosperous member of the community, at various times an engineer, shipbuilder and timber merchant. Charles appears on the 1861 census in Amlwch as being 7 years old (wrong age). He was educated privately and became an apprentice with the Liverpool timber firm of Farnworh and Jardine in 1867.
In 1881 he was a lodger at a boarding house on Huskisson Street in Liverpool and was shown as a timber salesman, so he had obviously followed in his one of his father’s interests. In 1873 he joined Alfred Dobell and Company and was at one time President of the Liverpool Timber Trade Association. He also sat on the Liverpool Chamber of Commerce. He was a Freemason. In 1911, Charles was elected to the Liverpool Dock Board.
Charles Paynter married Emily
Jane
Seager in
Scarborough in 1882. She was the daughter of
Lieut. General
Sir Edward Seager, C.B. They seem to have spent most of their
married
life in
the Birkenhead area, eventually settling at 17 Kingsmead Road South,
Oxton some
time after 1906. They had four daughters, none of whom
married. Violet Florence was born in 1883, followed by Irene
Emily, Evelyn Frederica "Freda", and Kathleen.
Charles' wife Emily died in 1912 and was
buried in the
churchyard at Bidston. There is a large family memorial which
also
includes
Charles Edwin and Florence Violet (d. 1951).
Charles visited North America
several times. Once was in 1902. In November 1907 he was in
transit to Canada and booke the Lusitania.
In March 1914, he and Freda traveled on the Mauretania en route to Mobile,
Alabama. In March 1915 Charles and Irene booked the Adriatic
to go to New York.
Returning home to Britain,
Charles and Irene booked saloon (first) class on the Lusitania. They sat
at Charles
Bowring's table in the dining saloon. During the day they
played games
in the lounge with Dwight Harris and friends. He found his
daughter
packing in her cabin when the ship struck. Mr. Bowring tried to
help
her with her lifebelt, but Ralph Moodie
eventually adjusted it for her. Charles and Irene went down
together. She was under the impression
that her father was struck by wreckage and that is what killed
him. She
believed that she was in the water for over three hours and was
unconscious when she was rescued. She was badly bruised, but not
otherwise injured. Charles Bowring escorted Irene home.
Charles Paynter's body washed up at Queenstown, number 37.
Charles’ death
was
extensively reported in the local papers and there was a very
well-attended
funeral on 11 May 1915, at which Bowring was also present.
Descriptions and reports can be
found in
the Birkenhead News, Liverpool Journal of Commerce,
Post and Mercury,
etc.