Kenneth Luck, 8, was traveling with mother Charlotte, and brother Elbridge, 12. Their home was in Worcester, Massachusetts, but his father Arthur Luck was a mining engineer whose business took him to England. The Luck family’s ticket number was 10541 and they stayed in cabin D-61. Kenneth, Elbridge, and Charlotte were all lost when the Lusitania was torpedoed and sunk on 7 May 1915. None of their bodies were recovered or identified.
Life
Kenneth was the younger son of Arthur Courtlandt Luck and Charlotte Field. He had an older brother, Elbridge. When Arthur was abroad on business, Charlotte took her sons with her to live with her mother, Frances Lapham Field, in San Francisco, California.
At the time of the deaths of Elbridge, Charlotte, and Kenneth, Frances was past 70 and Arthur was 40.
Lusitania
While traveling aboard Lusitania‘s last voyage, the Lucks were acquainted with fellow passengers Blish and Maude Thompson.
When the ship was sinking, the Thompsons had just reached the boat deck with their lifebelts and saw Harry and Mary Keser and Charlotte, Elbridge, and Kenneth Luck.
Blish Thompson saw that Charlotte Luck did not have a lifebelt, so he gave her his. A crewman went past them shouting, “the ship is perfectly safe. You are all right”.
Maude also heard someone calling from the bridge, “lower no more boats.”
None of the members of the Luck family traveling aboard Lusitania survived the sinking
When body #243, male, age 4 years, 1st Class passenger was recovered, Arthur Luck went to court to claim the body as Kenneth’s, as Beatrice Witherbee had identified the body as her son, Alfred. Beatrice won the case, and the body was buried in the Old Church Cemetery as Alfred Scott Witherbee in private grave #616.
Arthur Luck and Frances Field took their cases to the Mixed Claims Commmission, where Mr. Luck was awarded $20,000 for the loss of his family. Frances was awarded $5,000 for the loss of her daughter’s financial support.
Related pages
Charlotte, Elbridge, and Kenneth Luck at the Mixed Claims Commission
Links of interest
Encyclopedia Titanica – Lest We Forget: Part 1
Contributors
Jim Kalafus, USA
Michael Poirier, USA
References
Mixed Claims Commission. Docket No. 7, page 355.
Kalafus, Jim and Michael Poirier (2005) Lest We Forget : Part 1 ET Research. <http://www.encyclopedia-titanica.org/lusitania-lest-we-forget.html>
Kenneth Field Luck was 7.5 years old, born on 6 June 1907.