(Updates 4 May 2015 01:28 GMT – Victoria events and details to Liverpool and Dublin exhibits added)
One month to go to the Lusitania sinking centennial, so if you are planning to go to any events, make your travel arrangements now! Below is a listing of some commemorative events that will be going on. If you are having a Lusitania memorial event, please provide the details by emailing lusitania1915@gmail.com (or post in the comments below!) and I will be updating this page as we get closer to the event.
NOTE: Because 7 May 2015 is a Thursday, some events will be held the weekend before. Please check your calendars so you do not miss these events!
Events may be subject to change by the organizers.
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Ireland
County Cork is having a large number of events surrounding the Lusitania centennial through 10 May, more than I can do justice by retyping here, so please check out their website: http://visitcorkcounty.com/Lusitania100Cork/
Cork
Schedule of Events – Wednesday, 6 May 2015
Lecture series: The Lusitania and the War at Sea, 1914-8
Location: Boole I Lecture Theatre, University College Cork
9:00 am Opening remarks Gabriel Doherty, School of History, University College Cork
9:10 am The Royal Navy’s reaction to submarine warfare Duncan Redford, Museum of the Royal Navy, Portsmouth
10:00 am The sinking of the Lusitania: the local relief effort Michael Martin, author of RMS Lusitania: it wasn’t and it didn’t
10:50 am Coffee break
11:10 am The response in Liverpool Dr Bryce Evans, Department of History, Liverpool Hope University
12:00 pm The Cunard Line in the First World War Dr Steve Cobb, independent scholar
12:50 pm Lunch break
2:00 pm The Lusitania: the personal stories Peter Kelly
2:50 pm The sinking of the Lusitania and the propaganda war Ann Murray, Department of Art History, University College Cork
3:40 pm Coffee break
4:00 pm Warship or passenger ship? The origins of the Lusitania revisited, Matthew Seligmann, Department of History, Brunel University
4:45 pm Break
5:00 pm The American response to the sinking of the Lusitania Speaker TBC
5:55 pm Closing remarks Professor David Ryan, School of History, University College Cork
Cobh
Schedule of Events – Wednesday, 6 May 2015
Dinner at the Commodore Hotel, where many Lusitania survivors were taken, which was also converted into a makeshift hospital as survivors recuperated. RSVP required. 30 euros per adult (not including drinks beyond tea and coffee) 15 euros per child. Book directly with The Commodore Hotel, Cobh by using booking form in the files section, or calling/faxing them your information.
4:00 pm: Rooftop Garden for Tea/Coffee, Walk to Cobh Museum in groups of 30
5:30 – 6:30 pm: Reception in O’Shea’s bar
6:30 – 8:30 pm: Dinner/Speakers
8:30 pm onwards: After dinner camaraderie
Schedule of Events – Thursday, 7 May 2015
7:00 am: Cunard’s Queen Victoria arrives at Cobh Cruise Terminal with 2,144 passengers on board a ‘Lusitania Remembered’ themed cruise.
10:00am: A special commemorative mass will be held in St Colman’s Cathedral, Cobh. Especially welcome will be relatives of those who died in the sinking of the Lusitania, relatives of those involved in the rescue efforts and relatives of survivors. Immediately afterwards there will be an opportunity for everyone to attend an informal gathering in Cobh Parish Centre which is adjacent to the Cathedral and to sign a special book of remembrance.
11:00 am: Cobh Museum in association with Cobh Library, will host a Lecture by historian Giollamuire O Murchu entitled: Siochain Ainm De/ And all her paths are peace – American Angels, Irish Rescuers: The true story of the Lusitania Peace Memorial 1925-1968.
CHURCHYARD CEREMONY – OLD CHURCH CEMETERY
12:00 pm: Wreath laying ceremony at the graves of Lusitania victims takes place at Old Church Cemetery by Chairman of Cunard & Chairman of Port of Cork
MAIN CEREMONY – PROMENADE
1:00 pm: Band 1 Southern Brigade playing on road in front of monument as crowds arrive/gather
1:15 pm: President Michael D Higgins arrives
1:35 pm: Speech of Welcome by Chairman of the Port of Cork, John Mullins
1:45 pm: Speech by President Michael D Higgins
1:55 pm: Speech by David Dingle, Chairman of Cunard
2:10 pm: Queen Victoria sounds whistle to mark the moment Lusitania was hit by torpedo. Naval vessel at anchor off promenade to respond
2:11 pm: Minute silence
2:12 pm: Blessings from clergy & hymns by Ryan Morgan/Amanda Neri/Joe Corbett with Concert Orchestra
2:28 pm: Queen Victoria sounds whistle to mark sinking of Lusitania. Naval vessel at anchor off promenade to respond
2:29 pm: Minute silence
2:30 pm: Captain of Queen Victoria to recite ‘Ode of Remembrance’ (second stanza only)
WREATH LAYING CEREMONY – LUSITANIA MONUMENT, TOWN SQUARE
2:32pm: Presidential party leaves promenade to lay wreaths at the Lusitania monument in town square
2:35pm: Wreath laying ceremony by President Higgins and British, German & US Ambassadors
OFFICIAL COMMEMORATION ENDS
2:45pm – 4:15pm: Musical performances on the main stage in promenade by Ryan Morgan, Amanda Neri & Joe Corbett with Concert Orchestra
3:00pm: Professor Angela John, Historian will give a talk in Cobh Library – A Survivor’s Story: Margaret Haig Mackworth & the Sinking of the Lusitania
4:00pm: Dr John Borgonovo, School of History, UCC will give a talk in Cobh Library – Lusitania, Cork Harbour and the Underwater War, 1914 – 1918
6:30pm: Queen Victoria departs Cobh
9:08pm: A flotilla of boats from Roche’s Point towards Cobh with each boat to be illuminated with white lights. This will include work boats, fishing boats & pleasure craft. The boats will symbolise the return to Cobh on 7 May 1915 of boats filled with victims & survivors.
Kinsale Town
Schedule of Events – Thursday, 7 May 2015
10:30am: Lusitania Town Walk from the Tourist office
2:10pm: Minute silence in all schools in Kinsale while church bells ring.
5:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m in Kinsale Museum: Mr Simon Coveney, T.D., Minister for Agriculture, Food, Marine & Defence will meet descendants of the 1915 Jury for re-enactment by Kinsale College Drama Students / Kinsale Rampart Players. (Numbers limited)
For more information: http://www.kinsale.ie/events/2015-05/
Old Head of Kinsale
Schedule of Events – Thursday, 7 May 2015
1:15 pm Public assemble at monument
1:40 pm Arrival of Coast Guard Air Sea Rescue Helicopter
1:45 pm Arrival of Guest & Simon Coveney T.D.
1:50 pm Speakers and platform party assemble.
2:00 pm Introduction and welcome by Raymond White, Master of Ceremonies.
2:00 pm Courtmacsherry Lifeboat over Lusitania wreck site; Courtmacsherry 1915 replica lifeboat at the Old Head Signal Tower.
2:10 pm Minute silence
2:11 pm Ecumenical prayer service followed by laying of wreaths at the monument
2:20 pm Lament especially composed by Linda & Irene Buckley
2.25 pm Last post on bugle
2:28 pm Address by:
- Alan Coleman, County Mayor
- Michael Dow, Grandson of Lusitania‘s Captain Dow
- Historian
- Stuart Williamson, Artist
- Simon Coveney, T.D.Minister of Agriculture, Food, Marine & Defence
2:45 pm Unveiling of commemorative plaque by Minister Coveney.
3:00 pm Official opening of restored signal tower. Signal tower open to the public from 3:30 pm.
Irish Coast Guard Helicopter open to public throughout the day.
For more information: http://www.kinsale.ie/events/2015-05/
Courtmacsherry
Schedule of Events – Wednesday, 6 May 2015
8pm Lusitania Centenary Commemoration Black Tie Dinner at Courtmacsherry Hotel. Special Guest speakers include Lusitania owner and renowned Lusitania technical diver Gregg Bemis. Evening Entertainment by the “Roaring 40’s”. Tickets cost €85 each (limited availability). Visit www.lusitaniacentenary.com for further details
Schedule of Events – Thursday, 7 May 2015
9.30am Morning Commemoration mass at Sacred Heart Church, Courtmacsherry
2.10pm Wreath Laying at exact site of Sinking of RMS Lusitania by RNLI Courtmacsherry Lifeboat; Release of 1201 balloons by local school children each one bearing the name of a Lusitania victim.
Dublin
Hugh Lane (1875 – 1915): Dublin’s Legacy and Loss
Through 4 October at the Dublin City Gallery The Hugh Lane. Free Entry. The exhibit celebrates Sir Hugh Percy Lane, the philanthropist and art dealer who presented a priceless collection of artworks to Dublin to establish a Gallery of Modern Art in 1908. Lane drowned aboard the Lusitania on 7 May 1915.
United Kingdom
Liverpool
Schedule of Events – Thursday, 7 May 2015
12:30 pm Church service at St. Nicholas’ Church on the waterfront
2:00 pm Procession to the Lusitania Propeller on the Albert Dock for the annual remembrance ceremony with wreath laying, prayers, short speeches, and more. Reception at a building adjacent to the Merseyside Maritime Museum follows with tours of the exhibition, Lusitania: Life, Loss, Legacy.
7:30 pm Formal dinner at St. George’s Hall. Tickets are £48 per seat.
More information on the dinner at St. George’s Hall: http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/whats-on/arts-culture-news/three-queens-liverpool-2015-st-8948605
Lusitania: Life, Loss, Legacy @ the Merseyside Maritime Museum
Throughout 2015 the Merseyside Maritime Museum. Free Entry. This new exhibition marks the centennial of the Lusitania sinking, highlighting the people involved in the Lusitania story. The display also considers the role of Liverpool’s ships in the First World War.
Marlow
Schedule of Events – Thursday, 7 May 2015
3:00 pm Wreath laying by town mayor with various readings in remembrance of Lusitania victims at the Charles Frohman Memorial.
Prayers and poems will be read and a wreath laid on behalf of the town by our mayor to honour the memory of all those who died in this infamous and tragic act of war. All are invited including especially anyone who has lost a friend or loved one at sea or is just a fan of Peter Pan.
Glasgow
Program of Events – Friday, 8 May 2015
7:30 pm – 10:00 pm: An evening of words and music commemorating the centenary anniversary of the sinking of the Lusitania. At the Tall Ship at Riverside, 150 Pointhouse Place. For more information, click the image below and/or contact Fiona McDonald at fiona@glenart.co.uk or 07980 631 110.
Isle of Man
Peel – Home of the rescue vessel Wanderer (Peel 11)
Program of events – Sunday, 3 May 2015
12:00 pm A service of commemoration will take place at the RNLI station led by Bishop Paterson, and in the presence of His Excellency the Lieutenant Governor Adam Wood. Then a flotilla of craft will sail out of the bay to a point behind the breakwater where poppies will be placed on the sea. As the craft depart the bay led by Peel RNLI lifeboat, a lone piper will play from the point of the breakwater.
3:30 pm A lecture on the event will be presented by Manx National Heritage staff in the Centenary Centre, Atholl Street, Peel.
7:00 pm Meal and musical entertainment will be held in a marquee situated on the former swimming pool site, Marine Parade, Peel. This event will be ticketed and any profit after expenses will go to the Peel Lifeboat Station. The event will not only commemorate the loss of life through the sinking of the “Lusitania” a hundred years ago, but will also host a celebration of life will take place that evening in a marquee erected at the former swimming pool site, Marine Parade.
For more information, visit: http://www.thewanderer100.com/
Editor’s note: books such as Hoehling and Hoehling’s The Last Voyage of the Lusitania and Diana Preston’s Lusitania: An Epic Tragedy have erroneously assigned Wanderer the registration number of “Peel 12” (even saying that the trawler was from Glasgow instead of Peel!), but Manx historians have confirmed that Wanderer‘s registration number was indeed “Peel 11” and not 12.
United States
East Aurora, New York – Home of Elbert and Alice Hubbard
Schedule of Events
Friday, 1 May 2015
7:00 pm Talk by Diana Preston, author of Lusitania: An Epic Tragedy at Parkdale Elementary School. $10. Tickets available at www.aurorahistoricalsociety.com and at the door.
Saturday, 2 May 2015
1:00 pm -4:00 pm Opening of the Lusitania exhibit at the Elbert Hubbard Roycroft Museum, 363 Oakwood Avenue. The exhibit will be part of the museum tour throughout the 2015 season.
7:00 pm Talk by Dr. James A. Morone of Brown University, author of Hellfire Nation: The Politics of Sin in American History at Parkdale Elementary School. Dr. Morone will discuss the postal laws that led to charges against Elbert Hubbard for sending “immoral matters” through the mail. $10. Tickets available at www.aurorahistoricalsociety.com and at the door.
Sunday, 3 May 2015
4:00
pm Film—Sinking of the Lusitania: Terror at Sea at Parkdale Elementary School. $6 for Roycroft Film Society members; $8 for non-members.
Thursday, 7 May 2015
7:00 pm “An Evening Aboard the Lusitania.” Cocktail hour at 6 p.m., dinner at 7 p.m., at The Roycroft Inn. Experience an authentic menu and music of the RMS Lusitania, and learn the stories of those who traveled aboard the last voyage. Reservations required. $60. Tickets available at www.aurorahistoricalsociety.com or by calling 716-652-4735. Any questions, please contact luh@hagrec.com
Thursday, 14 May 2015
7:00 pm “East Aurora After Lusitania” at The Roycroft Chapel, Main and South Grove Streets. Aurora Town Historian and Aurora Historical Society Director Robert Lowell Goller will discuss the impact of the Lusitania tragedy—and the deaths of Elbert and Alice Hubbard—on the Roycroft movement and the East Aurora community. Free; donations accepted.
Saturday, 23 May 2015
3:00 pm Memorial Procession and Service. On 23 May 1915, East Aurora and the Roycrofters held a procession down South Grove Street and a memorial service at the Roycroft Pavilion in Hamlin Park to honor Elbert and Alice Hubbard. Precisely 100 years later, the Aurora Historical Society will lead a second memorial procession down South Grove Street and the memorial service at the Roycroft Pavilion, which is now home to Aurora Players community theater. The procession will begin outside The Roycroft Chapel.
For more details, check out the East Aurora Historical Society page: http://www.aurorahistoricalsociety.com/pages/roycroft-and-the-lusitania
New York City
Program of events – Thursday, 7 May 2015
10:00 am – 10:45 am Wreath-laying ceremony at Pier A in Battery Park, with honored guests and descendants of Lusitania passengers. The location houses the first dedicated memorial to World War One in the United States. Further, the location overlooks the Statue of Liberty, and is not far from Pier 54, where the RMS Lusitania departed on her final voyage one hundred years ago.
Indoor location will be available in case of rain. Event is free and open to the public. For more information, please visit: http://www.worldwar1centennial.org/index.php/lusitiana-event.html
Washington, D.C.
Program of events – Thursday, 7 May 2015
6:30 pm The United States World War One Centennial Commission will host a panel discussion with noted historians at the National Press Club. Panel includes:
- John Maxwell Hamilton from Louisiana State University, a senior scholar at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars
- Professor Richard Striner from Washington College, an expert on President Wilson
- RADM Samuel Cox (USN, Retired), the Director of the U.S. Navy History and Heritage Command.
The panel will be moderated by noted national correspondent Gil Klein. Discussion will focus on the wartime role of Lusitania, the worldwide reaction to her tragedy, and the impact of Lusitania’s sinking on public opinion in the United States.
For more information, please visit: http://www.worldwar1centennial.org/index.php/lusitiana-event.html
Long Beach, California – Aboard RMS Queen Mary
Program of events – Saturday, 2 May 2015
1:00 pm in Caronia Room Steamship Historical Society of America lectures featuring topics about the Queen Mary in media.
3:15 pm on Sun Deck, by Boat 26 (last boat facing the harbor) Boat lowering ceremony to remember those on board the Lusitania.
Any questions, please contact steamer@pacbell.net
Canada
Victoria
Saturday, 9 May at 2 p.m. and Sunday, 10 May at 10:30 a.m.: Walking tours of anti-German riots in Victoria, B.C., following the Lusitania sinking, lead by historian Diana Pederson. The tours will start at the corner of Blanshard and Johnson streets, across from the Kaiserhof Hotel where the riots began, and visit sites targeted by the angry mobs that stormed through the streets pursued by hundreds of soldiers and police.
Sunday, 17 May at 2 p.m.: Historian Diana Pedersen will lead a tour of Ross Bay Cemetery for the Old Cemeteries Society. Highlights will include the family plot of James and Laura Dunsmuir who lost their 21-year-old son and heir on the Lusitania, as well as the graves of the mayor of Victoria, the chatelaine of Government House, the editor of the Daily Colonist, the owner of a vandalized plumbing business, and the bartender of the German Club. Meet outside Oregano’s at Fairfield Plaza.
Thursday, 28 May at 7 p.m.: Lecture – Victoria and the Sinking of RMS Lusitania. Diana Pederson will examine the Lusitania’s eight-year career as viewed from Victoria, the sinking of the ship and the fates of the 14 Victoria passengers, and Victoria’s anti-German riots and their aftermath. The lecture will follow the AGM at the James Bay New Horizons, 234 Menzies St.
Wish I could attend any/all of these events. Hopefully some of you who attend will post about things you learned. 🙂