Owen Owens (1850 – 1915), 65, was an able seaman in the Lusitania‘s deck department on the ship’s final voyage. Owens was lost in the Lusitania sinking, one of the oldest crew members to perish in the disaster.
Biography
Owen Owens was born in Holyhead, Anglesey, Wales, in 1850, the son of Owen and Mary Owens. His father was a stoker in the mercantile marine, and Owen followed him to sea.
On the 25 December 1873, he married Catherine “Kate” Lloyd in Holyhead and they had a number of children. Some time afterwards the family moved to Liverpool, Lancashire, in the pursuit of employment, and Kate died there in 1899. At the time of her death, the family resided at 13. Moore Street, Bootle.
In 1903, he married Anne King (née Gilroy), who was a widow. They set up home at 4, Chancel Street, Easby Road, Kirkdale, Liverpool, Lancashire.
On 14 April 1915 at Liverpool, he engaged as an able seaman in the Deck Department on board the Lusitania at a monthly wage of £5-10s-0d., (£5.50p), He then reported for duty at 7 a.m. on 17 April 1915, before the vessel left Prince’s Landing Stage on the River Mersey, for the last time. It was not his first voyage on the Cunarder.
Three weeks later, he was killed when the liner was torpedoed and sunk, twelve miles off the coast of southern Ireland on her return journey to her home port. At 65 years of age he was one of the oldest crew members to perish that day.
His body was never found and identified afterwards and consequently, his name is embossed on the Mercantile Marine War Memorial at Tower Hill, London.
In August 1915, his widow Anne was given the balance of wages owed to him in respect of the last voyage of the Lusitania, which was reckoned to be from 17 April to 8 May, 1915, 24 hours after the great liner had gone down.
Links of interest
Owen Owens at the Merseyside Maritime Museum
Contributors
Peter Kelly, Ireland
Ellie Moffat, UK
References
Register of Births, Marriages and Deaths
1851 Census of England and Wales
1861 Census of England and Wales
1881 Census of England and Wales
1891 Census of England and Wales
1901 Census of England and Wales
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Cunard Records
PRO BT 100/345
PRO BT 334.
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