James McKechan, 6, was traveling aboard Lusitania with his mother Elizabeth and brother Campbell. He was a dual British subject and American citizen living in Gillespie, Illinois, United States. James was lost in the Lusitania sinking of 7 May 1915, but his mother survived. His brother Campbell survived the sinking but died the following September in the United States of injury from the sinking and a lingering illness, presumably from exposure.
James was the older son of Robert McKechan and Elizabeth Ballantyne. Robert was the secretary of a cooperative society conducting a general mercantile establishment at Gillespie, Illinois. James had two older sisters, Martha and Anna, aged 13 and 10 years respectively at the time of the Lusitania disaster. James’ younger brother Campbell was born in the summer of 1914. Another sister, Elizabeth, was born after James’ death.
Robert McKechan made a claim against Germany in the Mixed Claims Commission on James’s behalf. The Mixed Claims Commission awarded Robert $5,000.00 and Elizabeth $12,000.00 in personal injury and mental anguish, and the further sum of $1,200.00 for property lost in the sinking.
Related pages
The McKechans at the Mixed Claims Commission
References:
Docket Nos. 430, 431, & 432. Mixed Claims Commission, pg 416.
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