The RMS Lusitania Ocean liner, part of the Cunard Line, was launched in 1906. It operated on the transatlantic passenger route holding at different times the distinction of being the largest passenger ship and the fastest to cross the Atlantic.

The Lusitania  was reserved for conversion as an armed merchant cruiser during WWI, but was not commissioned and continued as a transatlantic passenger liner. 

The passenger liner was travelling from New York to Liverpool. The ship sank in 18 minutes with the loss of 1,198 of the 1,960 people on board.

Only 289 bodies were recovered, with the largest number laid to rest in the Old Church (Clonmel) Cemetery in Cobh. Others were interred in cemeteries in Cork city, Curraghkippane and Kinsale. Thousands from Cobh lined the streets to pay their respects as the funeral procession sombrely processed through the town on 10^th May 1915. A.H. Poole, a photography firm from Waterford documented the funeral.

The Local Studies Library would like to extend our gratitude to the National Library for allowing us to display copies of the photographs from the Poole Collection.

Cobh Graveyard Records

The register of Old Church (Clonmel) Cemetery has been digitised and is searchable by name and year of death and address if this information was included on the headstone.  

Courtesy of the National Library of Ireland

NOTE: A further 80 unnamed victims are buried in these plots under coffin numbers only.
The rest of the victims are buried in private graves in section “B” and “D” of the cemetery.