Reverend Herbert Linford Gwyer

Reverend Herbert Gwyer, 32, was a British citizen living in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada, traveling aboard Lusitania with his wife Margaret Gwyer.  They had been just married on 15 April 1915.  Both Herbert and Margaret survived the Lusitania sinking.

Herbert Gwyer was born in 1883, the son of John Edward Gwyer.  Herbert was educated at Magdalene College at the University of Cambridge where he graduated in 1905.  The following year he was ordained by the Church of England to the curacy of Kirkburton.

In 1911 Gwyer went to Canada as a missionary as part of the Railway mission.  On 15 April 1915 he married Margaret Cairns.  They lived in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada.

On the Lusitania, Archie Donald mentioned becoming friends with Gwyer who he said stood tall at 6’4″.  Donald said that he and Gwyer used to play bridge withGeorge Bilbrough, Thornton Jackson and John Wilson most of the morning and all evening.  As a result, Herbert and Margaret did not spend much time together during the voyage.  On the last day, Herbert, Margaret, Archie, and Lorna Pavey were in the dining room when the torpedo struck Lusitania.  Herbert’s own words of the sinking were were:

“We were at dinner when the torpedo struck; there was remarkably little panic. The boat was listing badly to starboard. I shall never get the crash of all the crockery from the tables.”

Everyone in the dining room knew what had happened and got up from their seats.  Soon afterwards the lights went out.  Minor screams and people stumbling in the darkness ensued.  Reverend Gwyer put his hand on Donald’s shoulder and suggested in a calm voice, “Let us quieten the people.”

The two men moved to the door of the dining saloon and yelled at the top of their voices that everything was going to be all right and there was no need for panic.  Donald and Gwyer didn’t really believe what they were saying, but the crowd calmed down and filed out of the room quickly in an orderly fashion.

The Gwyers waited until the crowd thinned out before making their way up the stairs.  They had contemplated going to their cabin to get lifebelts but were afraid of being trapped.  Herbert escorted Margaret to a boat and helped her in along with three women and a baby.  In the melée, he did not realize that as Margaret looked up, she thought the funnels were going to fall on the lifeboat and climbed back on deck.  Herbert, meanwhile, jumped into the boat and began to row away.  He claimed to have seen the German submarine after the ship sank.

Herbert was rescued by the Flying Fish and was sobbing over the “loss” of his wife until she found him on the same rescue vessel, unrecognizable as she was covered in soot.  She had been sucked down one of the ship’s funnels and blown back out to the surface.  Another survivor described the meeting and said that after Gwyer recognized his soot covered wife she said, “Never mind, we’ve lost those awful wedding presents “.

To learn more about Gwyer’s later career, read “Lusitania: A View from the Stern” by Michael Poirier in Voyage #41, journal of Titanic International,<http://www.titanicinternational.org>

Contributor:
Michael Poirier
Judith Tavares
Hildo Thiel

References:
Hickey, Des and Gus Smith.  Seven Days to Disaster.  G, P. Putnam’s Sons, 1981.

Hoehling, A. A. and Mary Hoehling.  The Last Voyage of the Lusitania.  Madison Books, 1956.

The New York Times.  Tuesday, 11 May 1915, page 3.

Preston, Diana.  Lusitania:  An Epic Tragedy.  Berkley Books, 2002.

9 thoughts on “Reverend Herbert Linford Gwyer”

  1. Read this after seeing in Chichester (UK) the tombstone of Rev Herbert Linford Gwyer and his wife Margaret with the legend “Buried at Sea. May they rest in peace.”

  2. I found the entry on the Gwyers most interesting, as my grandparents were great friends with the Gwyers, my grandfather Theodore Gibson and Herbert Gwyer were both bishops in South Africa. My parents were married by Herbert Gwyer in 1952, by which time he was retired as Bishop of the diocese of George in South Africa. My mother often tells their story of how Mrs Gwyer was sucked under by the sinking ship, only to be blown up again by an exploding boiler. We both found it very interesting to read more details. Apparently later in life Margaret Gwyer was rather overweight, and when asked by her doctor if she had ever had a traumatic incident in her life, she replied: “No. Oh yes….. I went down with the Lucitania!”

  3. I found the entry on the Gwyers most interesting as they were great friends of my grandparents H.S. Kaye and his wife Dora, from the time they lived in Wakefield, Yorks. and ‘the Bish’ as we always called him, married my parents in St. Johns Church, Wakefield in 1936. The story of the sinking of the Lusitania and their part in it was well known in our family and I was in awe of Mrs. G and her account of being sucked into the funnel and being shot out, completely naked and covered in soot. As a child in the 40’s I thought how awful that must have been – never mind the sinking of the ship – being naked was what shocked me so! The Bish, towering over us, always pinched our cheeks and Mrs. G was always ready with her sweeties whenever they visited. We loved them dearly. On trips to England in the 60’s I often visited Mrs. G in her later years when she was living in the Close in Chichester and remember her telling me a little about the Lusitania tragedy and that the last time she saw her husband before being sucked into the funnel, he was giving his lifevest to someone else. She also told me that she didn’t know her husband had survived until they reached Ireland, which is a different tale from others I have read. I had many letters from her when I was newly married and living in Canada and somewhere or other I still have a photo she gave me of the Bish and herself walking out of the cathederal in George, SA, escorting the King George and Queen Elizabeth and the princesses, sometime in the late 40’s/early 50’s. She sent the photo knowing I had a scrapbook of all things royal! They were a really wonderful and inspirational couple.

    • I was much amused by your memories of the Gwyers and would love to see any images you have of them. My parents and we two daughters returned from Singapore in the mid-50’s to live in Amberley, West Sussex. The Gywers were at that time installed at The Rectory next to the beautiful ancient church. My father, an atheist, spent long hours talking to the Bishop – being very young, I have no idea of the content of these talks, but imagine that his experience of years of imprisonment on the Burma railway must have featured – something he never mentioned otherwise. After a year or so, my father suddenly announced that he was to be baptised by the Bishop and I remember it as a most moving occasion. And, of course, there were those cheek pinches. They hurt!

    • Hi Mike

      I will try to find a photo or two of the Gwyers – it may take some time as all my ancient photos are in the depths of the basement!

      Sue

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