Lewis Cross was born on a hot July afternoon in 1896 in the industrial heart of Newcastle upon Tyne, the second son of a coal miner and a laundress. His childhood was marked by the ever-present haze of coal dust and the clang of shipyards along the River Tyne. By the age of twelve, Lewis was already helping his father at the pithead, learning early the backbreaking rhythm of industrial labour.

He left school at thirteen, drawn not by books but by the lure of the sea. His older brother had joined the merchant navy, and tales of far-off ports and the roar of engines fascinated young Lewis.