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Canadian Virtual War Memorial

Eliza Kennedy

In memory of:

Stewardess Eliza Kennedy

September 4, 1915
North Atlantic

Military Service


Age:

66

Force:

Merchant Navy

Unit:

Canadian Merchant Navy

Division:

S.S. Hesperian (Glasgow, Scotland) (124266)

Additional Information


Born:

January 1, 1849
Tranmere, Merseyside, England

She was born under the name Drake.

Daughter of John Dean Drake and Eliza Pate. Wife of Andrew James Kennedy, of Bootle, Lancashire, England. Mother of Lilian Elizabeth Kennedy.

Her name (Kennedy) is also commemorated on a plaque on the wall of an old octagonal bandstand in Veterans Park in Langford, British Columbia.

On 4 September 1915, the Hesperian was en route from Liverpool, England, to Montreal, Quebec, when it was torpedoed at 8:30 a.m. by the U-20 off the coast of Ireland, 85 miles (137 km) southwest of Fastnet Rock, southeast of Ireland in the North Atlantic. The attack resulted in the death of 32 people, as the ship was carrying 653 passengers. Remaining afloat, she was towed 35 miles (56 km) before sinking 130 miles (209 km) off Queenstown, England, on 6 September. This U-20 will sink the Lusitania.

Commemorated on Page 40 of the Merchant Navy Book of Remembrance. Request a copy of this page. Download high resolution copy of this page.

Burial Information


Cemetery:

TOWER HILL MEMORIAL
London, United Kingdom

Grave Reference:

N/A

Location:

THE TOWER HILL MEMORIAL stands on the South side of the garden of Trinity Square, a hundred yards East of Mark Lane Station, and just within the boundaries of the Metropolitan Borough of Stepney and the Liberty of the Tower. It is at the hub of maritime England. Behind it are Trinity House and the offices of the Port of London Authority, and the Thames stretches before it; the wide space of Great Tower Hill, leading down from it to the river, is the traditional forum of merchant seamen and their fellow workers. Lloyd's is on the North, the Custom House and Billingsgate Market are near it on the West, and beyond the Tower, Eastwards, is the long line of the Docks the greatest dock system in the world.

Digital Collection

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  • Memorial Plaque– Stewardess Kennedy is also commemorated on a memorial plaque affixed to a new eight sided old-fashioned bandstand  in Veteran's Park in  Langford, British Columbia.  The plaque was unveiled by ex-merchant mariner Tom Osborne and Barbara Duncan on May 19, 2002 as a bugler sounded Reveille.  It is believed to be the first war memorial anywhere in the world dedicated to women merchant mariners who died at their posts in the two world wars.
  • Ribbon Cutting Ceremony

Learn more about the Canadian Virtual War Memorial

To learn more please visit our help page. If you have questions or comments regarding the information contained in this registry, email or call us. For inquiries regarding the names and information found in the RCMP Honour Roll, please email the RCMP.

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