Next time I go to Liverpool, I will try to take some better photographs of this moving memorial, commissioned by the White Star Line of Liverpool and the Institute of Marine Engineers.
All 244 engine room staff lost their lives when the Titanic sank in the Atlantic on 15 April 1912, after hitting an iceberg. All of them remained at their posts, supplying electricity and other amenities for as long as they could, so that others might survive. The Titanic was built at the Harland and Wolff shipyard in Belfast, departed from Southampton, calling at Cherbourg and Queenstown en route to New York and Halifax. She never came to Liverpool, but was owned by the White Star Line, (headquarters Albion House on the corner of James Street and the Strand, Liverpool), registered in Liverpool, and had many crew and passengers from Liverpool - and bore the name 'Liverpool' on her stern.
When the memorial was unveiled in May, 1916, it was dedicated to:
"All Heroes of the Marine Engine Room".
The designer of the memorial was Sir William Goscombe John. It is one of the first monuments in England to specifically honour the sacrifice of working men.
As well as providing funding towards this memorial, the Institute of Marine Engineers set up a charity that became the Guild of Benevolence. Its purpose was to assist widows, orphans and dependants of the engineers who had died at their posts. It is the only registered charity in operation today that has a direct link with RMS Titanic.
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