Cyril Elmore Pells, 24, from Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, was aboard the Lusitania with his wife, Mary Anita, and infant son, John. The family had emigrated to Canada in March 1914, but they were returning to England where Cyril was to join his regiment as a Second Lieutenant. By his account, he and Mrs. Pells were in the second class dining saloon at the time of the torpedoing.
Cyril and Mary returned to their E Deck cabin to retrieve John, and Cyril made a second trip below for lifebelts. Not expecting to survive, they took seats together somewhere on one of the upper decks and sank with the Lusitania. Infant John was pulled away from Mr. Pells and lost, but Cyril and Mary managed to make it to an overturned lifeboat together. Neither his nor her account says by which boat they were eventually rescued.
The Pells were living in Kensington as of July 1915, but shortly thereafter Cyril rejoined his regiment. Mary received a note stating his safe arrival in France, but after that he was never heard from again. His given date of death was May 27, 1918, at age 27.
Contributor:
Jim Kalafus
Hi. I’m (Cyril) Elmore’s great niece and researching his and Mary Anita’s story. Can you tell me where I can find a transcript of their original survivor statements? Also, I’m wondering why you believe that following his initial note saying he’d arrived in France, that he was not heard from again since it was another 3 years before he was killed in action and it seems odd that he would not have written or had leave at some point? Many thanks, Rebecca Pells