Lusitania mystery - told Great Grandfather died on ship, but he's not on records

[keyboard86]

Hi again,  the good thing and correct thing you have done is to have ordered the marriage certificate to confirm his fathers name & occupation , his birth if him was Frederick James Kerslake Sept qtr 1878 St Olave 1d 251
Keyboard86

[Galium]

If you are using Ancestry and search 1911 for "Fredk* Fredck Jas Keeslake" you should see a likely person.

*correction to original message. (Thanks Larkspur!)

[larkspur]

"Fredk Jas Keeslake"

Fredck Jas Keeslake

[avm228]

He was a member of a trade union, the Amalgamated Society of Carpenters and Joiners.  He signed up originally as Fred J. Kerslake in South Shields (1902-1907 - he was excluded at least 3 times in this period for arrears) but was later admitted to the union's Rotherham branch on 27 Nov 1911 and then transferred to Belfast on 14 December 1911 and Govan on 28 September 1912.

Records of the same union then show a Fred Kerslake of the right age admitted to its Merthyr Tydfil lodge in December 1914 and transferred to Bristol in December 1926 and Cardiff in January 1927.  It is not clear whether this is the same person. Added: in fact it looks likely this was a different person from Fred J. Kerslake, as other union records show plain Fred Kerslake already affiliated with the Merthyr Tydfil branch in 1911-12 when Fred J was elsewhere.

[giblet]

Just a thought but i wonder if it could be worthwhile contacting the below cemetery.

"Many victims of the disaster are buried in mass graves in the Old Church Cemetery."

https://www.awesomestories.com/asset/view/VICTIMS-AND-SURVIVORS-Lusitania-Sinking

Most bodies were never recovered. Some of the victims could not be identified.

[giblet]

Not sure if the below link will have anything helpful in the indexes

http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/results/r?_st=adv&_ep=Lusitania&_dss=range&_sd=1915&_ed=1915&_ro=any

[Ruskie]

He's not listed here although it does list crew - I did look for variants of the surname:
http://www.lusitania.net/passengerlist_htm_files/lusi%20spread%20sheet.pdf

(someone else may find it useful though)

PS. My OH's great uncle is on the list - he was "Saved" 

[TreesieA]

He was a member of a trade union, the Amalgamated Society of Carpenters and Joiners.  He signed up originally as Fred J. Kerslake in South Shields (1902-1907 - he was excluded at least 3 times in this period for arrears) but was later admitted to the union's Rotherham branch on 27 Nov 1911 and then transferred to Belfast on 14 December 1911 and Govan on 28 September 1912.

Records of the same union then show a Fred Kerslake of the right age admitted to its Merthyr Tydfil lodge in December 1914 and transferred to Bristol in December 1926 and Cardiff in January 1927.  It is not clear whether this is the same person. Added: in fact it looks likely this was a different person from Fred J. Kerslake, as other union records show plain Fred Kerslake already affiliated with the Merthyr Tydfil branch in 1911-12 when Fred J was elsewhere.

Thanks AVM, I'm not aware of him being a carpenter, but obviously doesn't meant it's not true. The financial side could tie in as well as I know he was a sailor, did do other work once he got married so that he wasn't away from home as much, but wasn't very business minded so had to return to sea.

I was always told he had a tobacco/newsagents store at some point and I did find some evidence of this on business records in Ancestry.

[TreesieA]

Just a thought but i wonder if it could be worthwhile contacting the below cemetery.

"Many victims of the disaster are buried in mass graves in the Old Church Cemetery."

https://www.awesomestories.com/asset/view/VICTIMS-AND-SURVIVORS-Lusitania-Sinking

Most bodies were never recovered. Some of the victims could not be identified.

Thanks giblet, will follow up on that.