People on board

UNSWORTH, John Robert

John Robert Unsworth was born in Salford, Manchester in 1890. He was the first child of Robert and Susan Unsworth who had married in 1889. In 1911 they had 6 children, 4 sons and 2 daughters, with three of the older children working in a cotton factory in the industrial area of Manchester. The father, Robert, was working in a Jam and Pickle factory and John was staying with grandparents, also in Salford, and working in a Lead Pipe factory.
In December 1912 John Robert married Ada Brocklehurst, in St. Simon’s Church, Salford. Ada had been born in Warrington in 1889. The family including Ada, an older sister and a younger brother, had moved to Salford where her father had died in 1899 at the age of 38.  Ada’s mother had remarried in 1904.

In September 1914, both John Robert Unsworth and a younger brother, George, enlisted in the King’s (Liverpool Regiment), their service numbers showing that they enlisted together. John was enlisted in the 13th (Service) Battalion and was soon in action in France. He was promoted rapidly and by September 1915 he held the rank of Sergeant.

John was wounded in May 1916 and spent 5 months in hospital. He was again wounded in April 1918, being discharged from hospital on 20th May 1918.

His younger brother, George, was also in the 13th (Service) Battalion, was wounded at the Battle of the Somme in July 1916. George, then a Lance Corporal, remained in France with the 13th Battalion and on 13th April 1918, at the age of 21, died of wounds at Henin and was interred at Etaples Cemetery.

In July 1918, John was awarded the Military Medal. On the 19th July 1918 he was posted to the 3rd (Reserve) Battalion of the King’s (Liverpool Regiment) which was stationed in Cork. Presumably he was going on leave to his wife in Salford on the RMS Leinster on 10th October 1918 and died in the sinking. He is buried in Grangegorman Cemetery, Dublin.

John’s widow, Ada, emigrated to Canada in 1920 on the S.S. Melita. Her passage was paid for by the Overseas Settlement Committee which was established in 1919 in response to the number of unemployed women after the end of the War.  Ada had £15 pounds and stated that she was travelling to Brampton, Ontario.