Mr. Henry Augustine Bruno

Henry A. Bruno, 45, was a British subject living in Montclair, New Jersey, United States traveling aboard Lusitania with his wife Annie Bruno.  Henry was traveling for business, and Annie was to visit friends while in Europe.  When the Lusitania was sinking, Henry and Annie entered a port-side lifeboat that upset or was dragged under and were lost. Both of their bodies were recovered.

Life and Lusitania

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Henry and Annie Bruno resided at 123 Elm Street, Montclair, New Jersey, United States.  Even though the couple had lived in the United States for several years, they retained their British citizenship.  They had two sons, Henry A., Jr., of Greenwich, Connecticut, and Frank of Montclair.  Henry A., Jr., the elder of the two sons, was the advertising manager for the Greenwich News and Graphic in 1915.

Bruno was a marine partner of the insurance firm of Rogers and Carr in New York City.  Henry and Annie were members of the First Baptist Church in Montclair, and Henry sang in the choir there.  Two weeks prior to the last voyage of the Lusitania, Henry had returned from England “where he had transacted successful business affairs.”  He and Annie were sailing on the Lusitania on business, in which he would be abroad for two weeks.  Annie had planned to visit friends until Henry was ready to return to America.  Prior to sailing, the Brunos were in Greenwich and stayed with their son at the Elms on Putnam Avenue.

From The Greenwich Press, Wednesday, 12 May 1915:

[Henry A., Jr.] said in an interview with The Press yesterday that his father knew of the danger in which the Lusitania was, for just before sailing he went to the captain’s cabin for a short conference with Captain Turner, and when he returned he was “white as a sheet.”  Mr. Bruno thinks in his interview his father learned of the presence of the cargo of ammunition on the ship.

Aboard the Lusitania, their ticket number was 46146 and they stayed in cabin A-17.

During the sinking, George Kessler saw Henry and Annie Bruno (erroneously printed as Mr. and Mrs. BERTH) get into a lifeboat; however, as neither of the Brunos survived, one would probably surmise that their lifeboat swamped or was dragged under.

As of Tuesday, 11 May both Brunos were still missing.  Some had hoped survival was possible because “the first class cabin occupied by the Montclair couple was on the side of the ship not struck by the torpedoes [port side].”

Henry Bruno’s body was recovered and identified as of Friday, May 14th.  Annie’s was identified later.  Per the list of interments in the Old Church Cemetery in Queenstown (now Cobh), Ireland, Mr. Henry A. Bruno was body #212, age 45 years, grave #590. Mrs. H. Bruno was body #147, age 45 years, Common Grave B.

Contributors
Carole Lindsay
Judith Tavares

References
Greenwich News and Graphic.  Tuesday, 11 May 1915, page 1.

The Greenwich Press.  Wednesday, 12 May 1915, page 1.