Mr. Charles Aindow, Night Watchman

Charles Aindow Night Watchman Lost
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Born	Charles Aindow 18 February 1878 Formby, Lancashire, England, United Kingdom
Died	7 May 1915 (age 37) At sea, RMS Lusitania
Age on Lusitania	37
Body number	170
Interred	Formby, England, United Kingdom, Our Lady of Compassion Roman Catholic Church, Plot B, Row 4, Grave 8
Citizenship	British (English)
Residence	Formby, Lancashire, England, United Kingdom

Charles Aindow (1878 – 1915), 37, of Formby, Lancashire, England, United Kingdom, was a night watchman aboard the Lusitania. He was lost in the sinking, but his body was recovered, #170, and taken to his hometown for burial.

Life

Charles Aindow was born on 18 February 1878, one of 13 children born to John, a fisherman, and Catherine (née Norris) Aindow of Formby, Lancashire, England, near Liverpool. Both parents were natives of Formby, born around 1838. John and Catherine had married 30 January 1860 in the church of St. Marie in Southport, Lancashire. His brothers and sisters included Alice (born around 1862), Henry (born around 1864), John (born around 1865), Robert (born around 1867), Thomas (born around 1868), Mary (born around 1870), Joseph (born around 1872), William (born around 1876), Catherine “Kit” (born around 1880, Margarita (born around 1884), and Margery (no date given). They lived at the family home at Ashburton, West Lane, Formby. Charles was a Catholic and was educated at Our Lady’s Schools. He belonged to the Catholic Club in Three Tuns Lane, Formby. 

In April 1881, the family had resided at Liverpool Road, but also at different times lived at Lifeboat House at Andrews Lane and 22 Queens Road, all in Formby. Charles’s grandfather had been the coxswain of the Formby lifeboat from 1862 to 1885, and his father John held the same position until 1918 when the lifeboat station there closed. Charles had also been second coxswain of the lifeboat. The Aindows were a family of fishermen, and the censuses of 1901 and 1911 note that Charlie was also a fisherman at that time. For many years he worked at Liverpool Docks for Messrs John Glynn and Company, before joining Cunard in 1914.

Lusitania

On 12 April 1915 he signed on as a night watchman for the victualling (stewards) department on board Lusitania at Liverpool. Although he was actually 37, his paperwork claimed that he was 34. His monthly rate was £4-5s-0d, (£4.25p). On previous voyages of the ship, he had signed on as a steward. He reported for duty in the early morning of 17 April 1915 before Lusitania left Liverpool for the last time. The ship arrived in New York without incident, and he was still serving as night watchman on the return leg of the voyage when the German submarine U-20 torpedoed and sank Lusitania off the Old Head of Kinsale, Ireland, on 7 May 1915.

His body was recovered from the sea, taken to Queenstown (now Cobh), and laid in one of the city’s temporary mortuaries with the reference number 170. His brother Robert and his sister Catherine identified his body on Sunday 8 May, after they had traveled from Formby. According to The Cork Examiner of Thursday, 12 May 1915, when Catherine recognized the body as Charles’s, “she gave way to unrestrained grief and had to be taken away.”

In Cunard’s records, Charles is described as: “about 45 years, light brown hair, sandy moustache, blue eyes, long nose, long red face, high forehead, bald on top, light brown eyebrows, medium build, about 6’ in height. Steward’s uniform with brass buttons, black tie and white collar, black boots and brown socks, white drawers.” He had also been described by his family as being over six feet two inches in height and had a round chin.

The Formby Times of Saturday 15 May stated that Aindow “was one of the best swimmers in Lancashire” and that he was lost “as the result of a severe knock on the head, a terrible bruise pointing to this conclusion.”

Burial

On 14 May 1915, Charles Aindow’s body was shipped from Queenstown to Liverpool, to Messrs John Waugh and Sons, funeral directors in Liverpool and nearby Waterloo. A motor hearse carried Aindow’s body from Liverpool to Formby, and he was buried the next day in the churchyard of Our Lady of Compassion Roman Catholic Church. In addition to his family, among the mourners were representatives from Formby Council and the Formby Section of the National Lifeboat Institution. Reverend Father Gardner conducted Requiem Mass, assisted by Father Hotherstall, and members of the Formby Lifeboat Institution carried the coffin to the family grave, in Plot B, Row 4, Grave 8. A sandstone cross on the plot stands as his memorial, the inscription reading:

CHARLES AINDOW VICTIM OF THE LUSITANIA DISASTER MAY 7TH 1915.

Formby’s municipal war memorial also commemorates him, only some yards away from where he is buried.

After

In August 1915, Cunard paid his family the balance owed to him from 17 April 1915 until 8 May, 24 hours after the Lusitania sinking. On 11 August, probate of his will was granted to his father, his effects totaling £238-0s-0d. Property recovered from his body was also sent to the family home, which included silver and copper coins valued at £0-0s-9d, (£0.40), four keys, a corkscrew, a pair of cuff studs, a cigarette case and six spoons.

Charles’s sister Catherine corresponded with the family of Richard Preston Prichard, who was looking for information concerning Prichard’s last moments and the possibility that his body may have been recovered.

Charles’s mother Catherine died in May 1916 at age 77, while his father lived for another ten years before passing away in September 1925 at age 86. Both parents are buried in the same grave as Charles. 

Related pages

The Prichard Letters: Letter from Catherine Aindow, dated 20 December 1915

Contributors
Peter Engberg-Klarström

References
Engberg-Klarström, Peter. “Aindow, Charles.” Peter’s Lusitania Page. Web. 22 June 2017. Accessed 18 May 2020. <https://lusitaniapage.wordpress.com/2017/06/22/aindow-charles/>.

Gillon, Geoffrey. “Charles Aindow.” Find a Grave. Web. 23 May 2012. Accessed 18 May 2020.<https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/90627174/charles-aindow>.

Letter from Catherine Aindow, dated 20 December 1915. Imperial War Museum Collection.

“We Remember Charles Aindow.” Lives of the First World War. Imperial War Museums. Accessed 18 May 2020. <https://livesofthefirstworldwar.iwm.org.uk/lifestory/7678567>.