Basil Guildford Wickings-Smith

Drowned in the sinking of R.M.S. Lusitania* May 7th 1915, aged 29.

His brother, Cyril, wife & daughter Nancy (8 mths old) survived.

They were all returning to the UK from British Columbia (where they had emigrated), due to the start of the WWI

(Source: Bronwen Woods)

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• RMS Lusitania was an ocean liner owned by the Cunard Line and built by John Brown and Company of Clydebank, Scotland, torpedoed by a German U-boat on May 7th 1915.

The ship sank in 18 minutes, eight miles (15 km) off the Old Head of Kinsale, Ireland,

killing 1,198 of the 1,959 people aboard.

The sinking turned public opinion in many countries against Germany, and was instrumental in bringing the United States into World War I.

(source: Wikipedia)

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(Source: Phyllis 'Jane' Woods) Cyril Wickings-Smith is a survivor of the Lusitania sinking May 7th, 1915, as was his wife Phyllis and daughter Nancy. Cyril never spoke about the Lusitania sinking.

His brother Guildford Wickings-Smith was lost at sea at the time of the Lusitania sinking. Guildford was married to Beatrice (Bea).

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Richard Woods 28 April 2012: "My mother as an 8 month old infant(Nancy Eileen Fenn Wickings-Smith) and her parents (Cyril & Phyllis Wickings-Smith) were survivors of the sinking of the Lusitania, but Cyril’s brother (Basil Guildford Wickings-Smith) drowned and his body was never found.

My grandfather Cyril never talked about the sinking, but Basil’s wife Beatrice (my great aunt – she stayed over in New York and returned to the UK later) always blamed both the Germans and Churchill for the sinking."