Mr. James Alexander McCubbin, Chief Purser

James McCubbin (1852 – 1915), reported as age 50 but actually 62, was Chief Purser of the Lusitania. He was in charge of the safekeeping of passengers’ valuables and the head of the victualling department. His job was to ensure that the passengers under his care were comfortable, entertained, and content.

After his service with Cunard, McCubbin had planned to retire to a farm he had bought in Golders Green, just outside of London, England. McCubbin was a friend of Florence Sullivan. When the Lusitania was sinking, James Leary attempted to get his valuables from McCubbin without success. Isaac Lehmann also saw McCubbin smoking a cigarette with Dr. James McDermott. McCubbin was lost in the Lusitania sinking. His body was recovered, #91, and buried in Liverpool.

Life

James McCubbin was born in 1852, in the Parish of St. Peters, Liverpool. He was the son of Alexander McCubbin and Ann McWilliams. In 1876, at age 24, James married his cousin, Annie McCubbin, daughter of Peter and Susan Hill McCubbin. At the time, James was a Purser’s Assistant working for the Cunard Company. James and Annie lived at the family home of his uncle David and aunt Anne in 30 Lower Mersey, View Street, Bootle, West Derby, Lancashire.

Five years later in 1881, at age 28, James appeared on the Liverpool census as a Corn Factory Director. He and Annie were then living at 79 Sutton St, West Derby, Lancashire. This seems to have been a rather temporary job, as James spent the rest of his life working for Cunard.

His wife Annie and their infant child predeceased him. Afterwards, James devoted his time to local charities in Liverpool. He continued to advance in the Cunard Company, and when not at sea, he lived with his family at the Lower Mersey View.

James took some time to visit relatives in the southern hemisphere. In December 1893, he arrived in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, aboard the Orotava. He was 42 years old then. He spent time with the part of his family in Melbourne and then visited more family living in New Zealand before returning to Liverpool.

James McCubbin was an accomplished flautist and sometimes performed for the entertainment of the passengers. However, on one voyage of the Cunarder Saxonia, someone put flour inside his flute just before a concert. On the first note, both he and the Bostonian matron accompanying him were covered in a white cloud of flour. After that incident, McCubbin refused to perform in public again.

In his service aboard Lusitania, McCubbin was an affable man who entertained the reporters who boarded the liners at Quarantine in New York. He would provide them with breakfast and serve whiskey while he sent bellboys to retrieve millionaires and passengers embroiled in scandal so that the reporters could interview them. Contrast this with Captain Rostron, who refused reporters permission to board the Carpathia, then carrying the survivors of the Titanic disaster.

McCubbin’s mother’s family, the MackWilliams, was from London. Perhaps with this in mind, McCubbin purchased a farm in Golders Green, then on the outskirts of London, for his retirement. His death in the sinking of the Lusitania, however, prevented him from enjoying the property that he had purchased.

The last voyage of the Lusitania

McCubbin was a friend of Florence Sullivan, who was returning to Ireland with his wife Julia. McCubbin had promised them the best cabin and dining seating in second cabin if they boarded the ship early enough. The Sullivans did, and McCubbin fulfilled his promise.

McCubbin also took the Sullivans for a tour of the ship and showed them a place to sit in the saloon (first class) lounge and music room where they would be unnoticed, as they held second-cabin tickets.

On the day of the disaster, just before the torpedoing, Flor Sullivan asked McCubbin to borrow his binoculars. Julia used the binoculars to scan the coast of Ireland.

After the Lusitania was torpedoed and was sinking, saloon passenger James Leary came up to him, asking, “How about my valuables?”

McCubbin answered, “Young Man, if we get to port you will get them, and if we sink you won’t need them.”

Saloon passenger Isaac Lehmann saw McCubbin on B deck with the ship’s doctor, James McDermott. McCubbin and McDermott told Lehmann that there was not a chance for the Lusitania to sink, that Lehmann should remain calm, and said that Lehmann was foolish to have my life preserver on. Lehmann did not take very much notice of this and laughed at them, saying it was better to be prepared if anything did happen.

McCubbin and McDermott were lost in the Lusitania sinking. In the days that followed, McCubbin’s body was recovered, #91, and he was buried in Toxteth Park Cemetery in Liverpool.

McCubbin had been variously reported as being 50 years of age, but since he had been born in 1852, he was 62 at the time of his death as a mathematical certainty. This has been verified by the age inscribed on his memorial.

Links of interest

The ‘Cub’ Report – November 2009

Contributors
Penny McColm (great-grandniece of James McCubbin)
Cliff Barry

References
Kalafus, Jim and Michael Poirier (2005) Lest We Forget Part 2:  As the Lusitania Went Down ET Research. <http://www.encyclopedia-titanica.org/lusitania-lest-we-forget-2.html>

McColm, Penny. “A Tragedy at Sea.” The ‘Cub’ Report. McCubbin Family History Association. November 2009. Web. 27 July 2011. <http://www.mccubbinfamily.com/Genealogy/THE%20CUB%20REPORT%202009.htm>.

“Used His Revolver on the Lusitania.” The New York Times, 2 June 1915.