Civilian
Charles Edwin PAYNTER
Mercantile Marine
Died: 7th May 1915 - Age: 64

Commemorated:

1. Memorial:Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial, Flanders
2. Book:The (1921) Masonic Roll of Honour 1914-1918Pg.131
3. Memorial:The (1940) Scroll - WW1 Roll of Honour1C GQS
4. Memorial:Liverpool Masonic Hall War MemorialCol.3. Hope St.
    

Awards & Titles:

 

Early Life :

Find-a-Grave: "Charles Paynter, 63, was born on 5 June 1851 in Amlwch, Wales to William Cox Paynter and Emma Ellin Dyer. Charles was baptized at St. Eleth on 29 October 1851. He was one of five children. Only his two younger sisters would survive into adulthood, but they and Charles' four daughters never married, that Paynter line died out. The Paynter family came originally from the Redruth area of Cornwall, England. Jonathan Paynter and Elizabeth Perks moved to Anglesey with their four sons some time after 1740 when copper mining was established at Parys Mountain, near Amlwch. They had been involved in tin mining in Cornwall. In the nineteenth century, several members of the Paynter ‘clan' moved to the Wirral, Liverpool and Widnes, all places which had close connections through trade.

Charles' father William was a prosperous member of the community, at various times an engineer, shipbuilder and timber merchant. Charles appears on the 1861 census in Amlwch as being 7 years old (wrong age). He was educated privately and became an apprentice with the Liverpool timber firm of Farnworth and Jardine in 1867. In 1881 he was a lodger at a boarding house on Huskisson Street in Liverpool and was shown as a timber salesman, so he had obviously followed in his one of his father's interests. In 1873 he joined Alfred Dobell and Company and was at one time President of the Liverpool Timber Trade Association. He also sat on the Liverpool Chamber of Commerce. He was a Freemason. In 1911, Charles was elected to the Liverpool Dock Board.

Charles Paynter married Emily Jane Seager in Scarborough in 1882. She was the daughter of Lieut. General Sir Edward Seager, C.B. They seem to have spent most of their married life in the Birkenhead area, eventually settling at 17 Kingsmead Road South, Oxton some time after 1906. They had four daughters, none of whom married. Violet Florence was born in 1883, followed by Irene Emily, Evelyn Frederica "Freda", and Kathleen.
Charles' wife Emily died in 1912 and was buried in the churchyard at Bidston. There is a large family memorial which also includes Charles Edwin and Florence Violet (d. 1951). Charles visited North America several times. Once was in 1902. In November 1907 he was in transit to Canada and booke the Lusitania. In March 1914, he and Freda traveled on the Mauretania en route to Mobile, Alabama. In March 1915 Charles and Irene booked the Adriatic to go to New York.

Returning home to Britain, Charles and Irene booked saloon (first) class on the Lusitania. They sat at Charles Bowring's table in the dining saloon. During the day they played games in the lounge with Dwight Harris and friends. He found his daughter packing in her cabin when the ship struck. Mr. Bowring tried to help her with her lifebelt, but Ralph Moodie eventually adjusted it for her. Charles and Irene went down together. She was under the impression that her father was struck by wreckage and that is what killed him. She believed that she was in the water for over three hours and was unconscious when she was rescued. She was badly bruised, but not otherwise injured. Charles Bowring escorted Irene home. Charles Paynter's body washed up at Queenstown"

See also: Peter's Lusitania Page, which also displays a photograph. The portrait photo for this legend is sourced from Find-a-Grave.

Service Life:

Campaigns:

Unit / Ship / Est.: SS Lusitania 

Cunard Line Steamer.

Action : RMS Lusitania, Sinking of 

The Royal Navy had blockaded Germany at the start of World War I. Having completed her voyage to New York on 24 April, the Lusitania left the Cunard berth at Pier 54 just after midday on 1 May 1915 on the return voyage to Liverpool. When RMS Lusitania left New York for Britain, German submarine warfare was intensifying in the Atlantic. Germany had declared the seas around the United Kingdom a war zone, and the German embassy in the United States had placed a newspaper advertisement warning people of the dangers of sailing on Lusitania.

Six days later, on the afternoon of 7 May the German U-boat U-20, captained by Kapitaenleutnant Walther Schwieger torpedoed Lusitania, 11 mi (18 km) off the southern coast of Ireland and inside the declared war zone. A second, unexplained, internal explosion sent her to the seabed in 18 minutes, with the deaths of 1,198 passengers, including almost a hundred children, and crew.

Because the Germans sank, without warning, what was officially a non-military ship, many accused them of breaching the internationally recognised Cruiser Rules. It was no longer possible for submarines to give warning due to the British introduction of Q-ships in 1915 with concealed deck guns. (Lusitania had been fitted with 6-inch gun mounts in 1913, although she was unarmed at the time of her sinking.) [Wikipedia]

Detail :

Charles Edwin Paynter. Died at Sea, on the R.M.S. Lusitania. His body washed up at Queenstown and is buried at St. Oswald's Churchyard, Bidston, Merseyside.

Masonic :

TypeLodge Name and No.Province/District :
Mother : St George's Lodge of Harmony No. 32 E.C.West Lancashire
Joined : Lathom No. 2229 E.C. West Lancashire
Joined : Lodge of Perseverance No. 155 E.C. West Lancashire
Joined : Sylvanus No. 3670 E.C. West Lancashire

Initiated
Passed
Raised
25th April 1894
29th September 1894
29th November 1894
 

He was a Past Master of St. George's Lodge of Harmony. The contribution record of this lodge shows that he "Died 7.5.15," with references to 155, 3670 and 155.

He joined Lathom Lodge No. 2229 at Southport on the 31st January, 1910, when listed as a Merchant from Liverpool. He is shows "Died May 1915." He joined Lodge of Peserverance No.155 at Liverpool later in the same year, listed as a Timber Broker, and having "Died 7th May/15."

He further joined Sylvanus Lodge No. 3670 at Liverpool as a petitioning and founder member at its consecration, 29th April, 1913. He is shown to have "Drowned in Lusitania."

Source :

The project globally acknowledges the following as sources of information for research across the whole database:

Additional Source:

Last Updated: 2020-12-28 12:19:51