The Riley family, survivors of the sinking of the Lusitania, Cobh (formerly Queenstown), Co. Cork
Photo by A. H. Poole
[graphic] /
| Main Creator: | |
|---|---|
| Summary: | Group of women and children in background, including a woman with a child in a pram. |
| In collection: | The Poole Photographic Collection |
| Format: | Photo |
| Language: | English |
| Published / Created: |
Saturday, 8 May 1915
|
| Subjects: | |
| Notes: | Research by our Flickr community identified these survivors of the sinking of the Lusitania as Annie and Edward Riley, and their twins, Sutcliffe and Ethel. They are pictured outside the Rob Roy Hotel in Queenstown (now Cobh), Co. Cork. The Rileys had been living in Massachusetts, USA and were travelling to visit relatives in England during World War I. Their ship, the Lusitania, was torpedoed by a German U-boat off the Irish coast. The Rileys were incredibly lucky, as few Lusitania families survived intact. They travelled on safely to their family in Bradford. Featured in the National Library of Ireland's "Photo Detectives" exhibition at the National Photographic Archive, Dublin, 2017-2018. Number etched on glass "D 2725". Original entry in Poole Index Book: 'cabs'. Forms part of: Poole Cabinet series. Additional information about this photograph is available on the National Library of Ireland's Flickr Commons photostream http://www.flickr.com/photos/nlireland/29518574043/ Physical description: 1 glass negative: in preservation envelope, in phase box. b&w ; 12 x 16.3 cm ; Indexes: Entry in Poole Index to Day Books: Index Book 90, page 245. more |
With thanks to our amazing contributors, it seems that this really is the Riley family: Annie and Edward Riley and their 4-year-old twins Ethel and Sutcliffe. Given that only 764 of the nearly 2000 souls aboard the Lusitania were saved (more than a few due to Irish rescue boats and fishermen), it’s very telling that this image seems to capture one of the few (and perhaps only) families to survive the Lusitania sinking “intact”. Other young families were not as fortunate. It is good to know that the Rileys continued their journey home to Bradford, where they lived the rest of their days....
Photographer: A.H. Poole Studio Photographer
Collection: Poole Photographic Collection
Date: Saturday, 8 May 1915
NLI Ref: POOLED 2725
You can also view this image, and many thousands of others, on the NLI’s catalogue at catalogue.nli.ie
Tags:
A.H. Poole, Arthur Henri Poole, Glass Negative, National Library of Ireland, Lusitania, sunk, U-Boat, Old Head, Kinsale, 1915, Cobh, County Cork, Queenstown, RMS Lusitania, Disaster, Survivors, Riley, Sinking, Torpedoed, Children, Twins, Head-scarf, Trompe-l'œil, Pub, Rescue, Edward Riley, Annie Riley, Explore, Poole Photographic Collection, The Lusitania, Ethel Riley, Sutcliffe Riley, Munster, Saturday, 8th, May, 1910s, People Identified, Location Identified, Date Established, 20th Century, Pocket, Watch
Comments
DannyM8
The following is a list of all survivors under 10 years of age. ANTILA, Master Carl4
MARICHAL, Miss Phyllis Renée4
RICHARDS, Master Cecil Harry4
RILEY, Miss Ethel4
RILEY, Miss Sutcliffe4
LEWIS, Miss Edith5
MARICHAL, Miss Yvonne “Eve”5
PEARL, Master Stuart Duncan Day5
SMITH, Miss Helen6
FRANKUM, Master Francis7
KAY, Master Robert Belsher7
MAINMAN, Master Edwin Richard7
MAINMAN, Miss Elizabeth7
RICHARDS, Master Thomas Percy7
BRAMMER, Miss Edith8
FISH, Miss Marion Enid8
SCOTT, Master Arthur, Jr.8
WILLIAMS, Miss Edith9
www.rmslusitania.info/people/lusitania-survivors/
Posted: 06.10.2016
B-59
I think the children could be 4 years old, and it's the Riley family:
www.geni.com/people/Edward-Riley/6000000021221438693
Posted: 06.10.2016
B-59
See www.encyclopedia-titanica.org/lest-we-forget-the-lusitani...:
Riley, Mr. Edward.
Riley, Mrs. Annie.
Riley, Miss Ethel. 4.
Riley, Master Sutcliffe. 4.
(www.geni.com/people/Emily-Riley/6000000021221483732 gives the name of the daughter as Emily)
Posted: 06.10.2016
B-59
The same woman and the two children are visible in sites.google.com/site/thegreatlusitania/survivors
Posted: 06.10.2016
DannyM8
I think this is the building?
www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.8504289,-8.2944663,3a,75y,282.1...
Posted: 06.10.2016
sharon.corbet
[https://www.flickr.com/photos/79549245@N06] You can see it here the Rob Roy Hotel.
Posted: 06.10.2016
Owen J Fitzpatrick
Fabulous shot from the archives. Here's to happy lives.
Posted: 06.10.2016
B-59
"Surely all struggled with the randomness of life's lottery. Which might explain the uneasy expressions of parents Annie and Edward Riley and their two children, Ethel and Sutcliffe. Apparently they were the only full family to survive the tragedy intact."
www.independent.ie/irish-news/good-souls-are-neither-sain...
Posted: 06.10.2016
ɹǝqɯoɔɥɔɐǝq
Belt and braces! I suppose you would go for double safety after such a traumatic event.
Posted: 06.10.2016
j.coffey78
The family were from Bradford, West Yorkshire.
Posted: 06.10.2016
sharon.corbet
"Elizabeth also remembered that the twins Ethel and Sutcliffe Riley were thrown in the boat, but their parents couldn’t get in as the boat was already lowering." From an account by Elizabeth Hampshire.
Posted: 06.10.2016
sharon.corbet
Among all of this tragedy here was also those who had survived the atrocity such as a family from Great Horton. They were Mr and Mrs Eddie Riley and their young twin children.
For several years the Riley’s had been living in Lawrence, Massachusetts which is located 25 miles north of Boston, and was built in the 1840's as the USAs first planned industrial city.
The massive mill buildings lining the Merrimack River, produced both woollen and cotton textiles for the American and European markets and many families from the North of England emigrated there as both living standards and wages were much better than could be expected back in England.
For reasons unknown the Rileys boarded the Lusitania to return to Bradford and, having made several previous crossings of the Atlantic, were not too worried about the threat from enemy submarines as both passengers and crew did not believe the Germans capable of committing a felony against a civil passenger liner.
Thoughts of and attack seemed to fade as the ship began its home run and everyone was in high spirits prior to the torpedo finding its mark.
The Rileys were fortune to be placed in one of the first life boats which was launched successfully. Minutes later and they would have perished as the ship began to list preventing more boats from been launched.
Having witnessed the scenes of men, women and children screaming for help, and the whole sea strewn with human beings and floating wreckage, the family were naturally in a state of shock when they arrived at the house of Mr Timothy Taylor, the father of Mrs Riley, at 33, Ewart Street, Great Horton the following Monday.
After not sleeping for three nights, Mr Riley remarked that it felt grand to be back home again, surrounded by their friends and family.
From Telegraph and Argus, May 6 2015.
Posted: 06.10.2016
DannyM8
[https://www.flickr.com/photos/66311327@N05] I would agree with your identification of the family.
Posted: 06.10.2016
B-59
"Mr and Mrs Edward Riley and their twin children, Ethel and Sutcliffe Riley, aged 4, whose home is at 10 Camden st. were passengers on the Lusitania. They were going to England to visit relatives for a few months."
May 8, 1915 - The Boston Daily Globe from Boston, Massachusetts · Page 9
www.newspapers.com/newspage/56927625/
Posted: 06.10.2016
Niall McAuley
Sutcliffe Riley
Birthdate: 1911
Birthplace: Bradford, West Yorkshire, UK
Death: Died 1967 in Bradford, West Yorkshire, UK
Immediate Family:
Son of Edward Marlton Riley and Annie Riley
Husband of Alice Riley
Brother of Emily Riley
www.geni.com/people/Sutcliffe-Riley/6000000021221449798
Posted: 06.10.2016
Niall McAuley
Emily Riley
Birthdate: 1911
Birthplace: Bradford, West Yorkshire, UK
Death: Died March 6, 1966 in Bradford, West Yorkshire, UK
Immediate Family:
Daughter of Edward Marlton Riley and Annie Riley
Wife of James Jeffery
Sister of Sutcliffe Riley
Posted: 06.10.2016
Niall McAuley
Edward Marlton Riley
Birthdate: 1885
Birthplace: Bradford, West Yorkshire, UK
Death: Died 1954 in Bradford, West Yorkshire, UK
Immediate Family:
Son of Sutcliffe Riley and Martha Ann Riley
Husband of Annie Riley
Father of Sutcliffe Riley and Emily Riley
Occupation: Waste Merchant
Posted: 06.10.2016
Niall McAuley
Annie Riley (Taylor)
Birthdate: 1886
Birthplace: Sheffield, South Yorkshire, UK
Death: (Date and location unknown)
Immediate Family:
Daughter of Timothy Taylor and Hannah Taylor
Wife of Edward Marlton Riley
Mother of Sutcliffe Riley and Emily Riley
Posted: 06.10.2016
Niall McAuley
We can narrow the date down considerably, too, as, per Sharon's article: they arrived at the house of Mr Timothy Taylor ... the following Monday.
The Lusitania was torpedoed on Friday May 7, 1915, in the afternoon. By Monday 10th the Rileys were in Yorkshire.
Posted: 06.10.2016
DannyM8
[https://www.flickr.com/photos/129555378@N07] Sharon, indeed it is, If I ever own a pub I will paint it just like Rob Roy's!!
Posted: 06.10.2016
guliolopez
According to this survivors list, the two younger Riley children were rescued by a vessel named the "Stormcock" (Perhaps this trawler, although apparently there was a tug out of Queenstown of the same name...) Unsurprising, if they weren't on the [same] lifeboat, that the parents' rescuer vessel isn't listed - as they were likely rescued separately, and only reunited later. Doesn't bear thinking about really...
Posted: 06.10.2016
philfluther
Charmed lives' ['chance' embellishment].
Posted: 06.10.2016
ɹǝqɯoɔɥɔɐǝq
Whoever painted thatTrompe-l'œil on the pub did a great job; you have to look close to see that it isn't 3D, particularly right of frame.
Voting for Saturday May 8th, 1915.
Posted: 06.10.2016
National Library of Ireland on The Commons
Amazing stuff as usual all. Brilliant to ring the "subject identified" klaxon on this one. Such a tragic and harrowing incident - a small mercy that this family managed to survive such a terrible event. Description, map, etc all updated
Posted: 06.10.2016
dorameulman
What a brilliant photo and story. Thanks for sharing.
Posted: 06.10.2016
ɹǝqɯoɔɥɔɐǝq
For anyone interested in Lusitania photos, there is an amazing collection of 58 views of the ship (spookily without passengers) on Flickr - www.flickr.com/photos/smu_cul_digitalcollections/albums/7...
via [https://www.flickr.com/photos/smu_cul_digitalcollections/]
For example - [https://www.flickr.com/photos/smu_cul_digitalcollections/9008463747/in/album-72157647351186054/]
Posted: 07.10.2016
ɹǝqɯoɔɥɔɐǝq
Also via [https://www.flickr.com/photos/yournlireland/]
[https://www.flickr.com/photos/yournlireland/5720155964/]
Posted: 07.10.2016
Pietro Latrino
There is nothing quite like those old monos where the subjects leap out of their background in such fine detail and focus. There is a reality that doesn't show up in digital or even modern film.
Posted: 07.10.2016
Stephen Rees
I am currently in the middle of reading "Lusitania: Saga and Myth" by David Ramsay 2001
Highly recommended
Posted: 08.10.2016
elainsor
There has long been a story in my family that my Great Grandfather was fishing near Dingle, Co Kerry shortly after the sinking and that they found the body of a young child. Recently I decided to see whether there was any evidence to support the story and found an article detailing the finding of the child and that the child had come from the Lusitania.
Posted: 09.11.2016
National Library of Ireland on The Commons
Thanks [https://www.flickr.com/photos/77523735@N05] - very poignant.
Posted: 09.11.2016
