People on board

POWER, Percy

Percy Power was born in Manchester in 1899 to Frank Power and Margaret Lilley. He was the fifth of their six children, all boys except the eldest. Frank Power gave his occupation in the 1901 census as House Painter, and the family were living in Oram Street at the time. It would appear that Frank and Margaret both died in the following decade and the family was dispersed. Percy, aged thirteen, and his eleven year old brother Arthur were both in the Swinton Workhouse / Industrial Schools near Manchester. They were among the 933 ‘Inmates’ in the 1911 census, supervised by just forty-two officials.

Their older brother Francis had married Ada Lith in 1907 and they had their third child in 1914. Francis enlisted in the 9th Battalion of the Lancashire Fusiliers and died on the 8th of August in Gallipoli, two days after they had landed in Suvla Bay. Percy Power enlisted in the Westmorland and Cumberland Yeomanry and in October 1918 was with the 2/1st Regiment. This was a second line training regiment that had moved to Ireland in May 1918.

Returning to England he travelled on RMS Leinster on the 10th and did not survive the sinking. However his body was recovered and he was buried in Grangegorman Military Cemetery in Dublin. His entry on the Register of Soldiers’ Effects shows that he had requested that money due to him, £4 15s, would go to his brother Arthur and his sister-in-law Ada. His pension records show that his next-of-kin was his aunt, Sarah Bowker née Lilley, his mother’s sister.