The Trader, The Film Star, & The Designer: Connecting family history onboard A Cunard Liner

A young Belfast businessman. A transatlantic crossing aboard a Cunard liner. Rita Hayworth on deck. Christian Dior among the passengers.

Nearly 80 years later, one family photograph has reopened a remarkable story from the golden age of ocean liner travel.

Recently, the Queen Mary Heritage Foundation worked with Peter Georgiakakis of Belfast, Ireland, who shared a photograph from his family archive belonging to his grandfather, Joseph Kavanagh (1917–2014). The image captures Kavanagh alongside Hollywood star Rita Hayworth during a 1947 crossing aboard Cunard’s RMS Queen Elizabeth, just moments adjacent to the famous press photographs taken of the actress on deck during the voyage.

Together, the Foundation and Peter were able to connect the details of the crossing through passenger lists, arrival manifests, newspaper archives, and historical timelines. Research confirmed that Joseph Kavanagh, Rita Hayworth (travelling under the name Margarita Welles) and fashion designer Christian Dior all arrived in New York aboard Queen Elizabeth on September 1, 1947.

Records indicate that Kavanagh travelled to New York to visit a friend in Brooklyn. Already known locally in Belfast through his trader business and the slogan “I Buy Anything,” he appears to have embraced the excitement and glamour of postwar ocean liner travel. Imagine the thrill of being a young traveler on his first journey to the United States, suddenly finding himself sharing the deck with one of the most famous women in the world at the height of her career. You never knew who you might meet aboard a Cunard liner.

Kavanagh would later become a well-known figure in Belfast’s Smithfield Market district, where he traded for 62 years. He was also remembered for his philanthropic efforts, including helping raise £1 million in support of a local hospital during a campaign to prevent its closure.

For the Queen Mary Heritage Foundation, stories like this are an important reminder that the great Cunard liners were more than engineering achievements. They were places where lives intersected with extraordinary moments in history.

As the Foundation continues its restoration and preservation efforts, we remain equally committed to preserving the human stories connected to these iconic ships and the people who sailed aboard them.

Photo credit: Family Collection of Joseph Kavanagh, Smithfield, Belfast.