McDermott, Thomas

Thomas McDermott, age 39. He was a fireman on the Lusitania and was the son of the late William, an iron labourer (?), and Annie McDermott. He was born at Manchester and his birth seems to have been registered there in early 1875. There is a chance his parents were the William McDermott and Ann Beaty (born ca. 1850 at Manchester) who had married 14 December1869 at Manchester Cathedral in the Church of England tradition. His mother seems to have passed away in the late 1870s. Very likely, in 1881, Thomas lived at Caledon Street in Manchester with his widowed father William, a cooper born ca. 1845 at Manchester, and sister Elizabeth, b. ca. 1871, in the household of Manchester-born iron labourer John Harrison, 62, and his wife Bridget, 50, a native of Sligo, Ireland. He was the husband of Rebecca McDermott (nee Lawson; born 1 March 1878 at Liverpool), of 14 Court, 2 House, Hygena Street, West Derby Road, Liverpool. Thomas McDermott married Rebecca Lawson at Liverpool in 1898. In 1901, his wife was described as a charwoman living in the Holy Trinity parish of Liverpool with their daughter Mary Elizabeth, b. 1899, in the houseold of Mrs. McDermott’s mother Elizabeth Lawson, a charwoman born ca. 1856 at Liverpool. Also present in the household were two sisters of Mrs. McDermott’s, Elizabeth Lawson, 19, described as a servant, and Jane Lawson, 7. Thomas McDermott was apparently elsewhere at the time. In 1911, they lived in West Derby Western, Liverpool, and had an infant daughter, Jane. There were two boarders living with them as well. Thomas McDermott was described as a bricksetter labourer in the building trade aged 36. It is not immediately known when he joined the Cunard Company. He did not survive the sinking of the Lusitania. His wife may have been the Rebecca McDermott who passed away in the spring of 1956 at Birkenhead, aged 79 (?). The material presented on this page has been researched by Peter Engberg-Klarström. Copyright 2017 Peter Engberg-Klarström. Feel free to use the research, but please refer to my research if used in publications or if published or posted on other pages on the Internet