Ronald Greenwood, 11, of South Boston, was a United States national traveling second cabin aboard Lusitania on his way to Northowram, Halifax, Yorkshire, England to be with his late mother’s side of the family. Ronald was killed when the Lusitania was torpedoed on 7 May 1915 by the German submarine U-20. His body was either not recovered or not identified.
Ronald Greenwood was the son of Ellis Wilson Greenwood and attended the Lincoln School. Ronald’s mother had died the previous September, and the child had entered a state of melancholy since then. His mother’s family, in Halifax, England, wrote Robert’s father Ellis saying that if Ronald wished for someone to take his mother’s place that he was welcome to stay with them in England. Ronald had read the letter before Ellis did and pleaded with his father to let him go back to England. Ellis tried to persuade Ronald to wait until the weather was warmer, so in mid-April, Ronald pleaded with Ellis again. Ellis agreed and had one of Ronald’s uncles, a Mr. Spencer of Lawrence, Massachusetts, book second cabin passage on Lusitania for Ronald.
Ellis arranged for a second cabin steward to look out for his son on his upcoming passage aboard Lusitania. The day of departure from New York, 1 May, Ellis was unable to go aboard Lusitania, so his son said goodbye to him on the pier. Ronald had told his father, “Well, never mind, dad, I’ll go aboard alone and find the steward.” When Ronald reached the top of the gangplank, he stopped, turned around, and called back an affectionate “Goodby, dad!”
This was the last time Ellis and Ronald saw each other. Ellis did not know of the warning the German Embassy had published in the newspapers that morning against sailing aboard Lusitania.
In the Boston Globe of 8 May, Ellis still expressed hope that Ronald was safe, but this was not to be.
Links of interest
Ronald Greenwood at Lest We Forget – Encyclopedia Titanica
Contributors
Cliff Barry, UK
Jim Kalafus, USA
Peter Kelly, Ireland
Michael Poirier, USA
References:
Kalafus, Jim, Michael Poirier, Cliff Barry and Peter Kelly (2013) “Lest We Forget : The Lusitania.” Gare Maritime. (ref: #10962, accessed 27th April 2015 03:24:39 PM)
URL : http://www.encyclopedia-titanica.org/lest-we-forget-the-lusitania.html
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