John Lewis Harris was a British subject who lived at 280, Belgrave-road, Balsall-Heath. He had a brother who lived with him in Birmingham, England, United Kingdom. John was an assistant butcher aboard Lusitania. He had been working aboard Lusitania for 12 months before he was lost when the ship was torpedoed and sunk on 7 May 1915. He was well-known in the meat market and among the butchers of Birmingham.
According to a newspaper report, Harris “previously had a similar situation” traveling on a ship from Canada to England.
Contributors:
Michael Poirier
The only butcher who survived the Lusitania sinking was Thomas Archibald Crawford. John Harris along with all the other butchers except for Crawford got into an elevator that was used to transport meat up to the kitchen deck. They all took the meat lift hoping to beat the crowed whilst Crawford ditched and took the staircases. The lift stopped moving when the power went out and Harris and the other btjchers were trapped and died. But Crawford eventually made it up to the deck and escaped the ship.
Sadly, the following year he was either a butcher or steward on board the HMHS Brittanic when she struck a mine and sneak and this time Crawford’s luck ran out and he was lost when the ship sank.
I found out that my fraternal grandmother’s ancestor, died on the Luisitania. He was butcher on this ship; Walter Bird.
Ever so sorry, to find out how he died. Most tragic. He left behind a wife named Catherine, who lived in Liverpool.