My interest in the Titanic stems from my engagement with the life of one of the deceased passengers, author, social reformer and journo William T. Stead. He was editor of the Pall Mall Gazette in the 1880s after previously editing the Northern Star in the 1870s.
One of his greatest friends was my biographical subject, Vicwardian feminist Elizabeth Wolstenholme Elmy - although they certainly didn't see eye to eye on everything their friendship endured through his imprisonment and her atheism!
Stead is a fascinating figure, and there is a good biography of him entitled "Muckraker" by W. Sydney Robinson (2013) that's well worth a look. For those especially interested in military history, Stead took a pacifist stance during the Second Boer War (1899-1902), publishing a periodical entitled "War Against War in South Africa". I often wonder what he would have thought/written if he had been alive in 1914.
I enjoyed a TV program that the AC presented on the Titanic, talking about the fire in the coal storage hold that had been burning for days & had possibly weakened the ships plates….. & I get to draw Miss Restoration like one of my French girls 🫡
I used to be a postie in Godalming and I had a delivery in Farncombe and those shops in your picture were on my route, nothing to do with the Titanic but I thought I'd share with you.
Telling that his memorial is the largest to an individual, do you know if it was it financed by grateful survivors Alex, did the gratitude extend to his parents?
One of the most fascinating things I've watched on Titanic was a docudrama "Titanic: The Aftermath", it focused on the recovery of the dead and the work of Halifax, Nova Scotia Registrar John Henry Barnstead who created a process to record as much detail of each body including photographs, a process that I believe is still used in mass fatality events like the Twin Towers attack. Sadly it's made clear that there was a difference on the recovery ships of the treatment of the bodies of higher class passengers and lower class that may make your blood boil.
The Docudrama is available on YouTube and well worth the hours watch IMHO.
I know a wee bit about the sinking of the RMS Titanic (now I don’t want Kate J shouting at me, is it just RMS Titanic?) Bride and Phillips were courageous young men. I believe the individual on the Carpathia that heard Titanic’s first distress signals was the Edwardian equivalent of an IT geek, playing with the set while the regular operator slept. Happy to be corrected. When screen savers were a thing mine was floating text, CQD MGY, all stations distress Titanic. And A Night to Remember is the only movie to watch.
There's a small exhibit in the Science Museum dedicated to the Titanic radio and Jack. One of the outcomes of the disaster was that larger ships had to have their radios manned 24/7 (as iirc a ship closer than the Carpathia missed the signal as its radio was not manned).
My interest in the Titanic stems from my engagement with the life of one of the deceased passengers, author, social reformer and journo William T. Stead. He was editor of the Pall Mall Gazette in the 1880s after previously editing the Northern Star in the 1870s.
One of his greatest friends was my biographical subject, Vicwardian feminist Elizabeth Wolstenholme Elmy - although they certainly didn't see eye to eye on everything their friendship endured through his imprisonment and her atheism!
Stead is a fascinating figure, and there is a good biography of him entitled "Muckraker" by W. Sydney Robinson (2013) that's well worth a look. For those especially interested in military history, Stead took a pacifist stance during the Second Boer War (1899-1902), publishing a periodical entitled "War Against War in South Africa". I often wonder what he would have thought/written if he had been alive in 1914.
For the link to my work on Mrs Elmy see:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/s?k=Wolstenholme+elmy&crid=1S1ZSNGZNBPZM&sprefix=wolstenholme+elmy%2Caps%2C74&ref=nb_sb_noss
Have you seen the memorial along the Thames on the Embankment?
No! I must look the next time I'm up in town.
Hope to see you at Chalke Festival.
I enjoyed a TV program that the AC presented on the Titanic, talking about the fire in the coal storage hold that had been burning for days & had possibly weakened the ships plates….. & I get to draw Miss Restoration like one of my French girls 🫡
Thanks for this incredibly story...👏👏👏👏👏
More than 100 years later, the tragedy of the Titanic is still mesmerizing!! Thank you for Jack’s story!!
I used to be a postie in Godalming and I had a delivery in Farncombe and those shops in your picture were on my route, nothing to do with the Titanic but I thought I'd share with you.
Telling that his memorial is the largest to an individual, do you know if it was it financed by grateful survivors Alex, did the gratitude extend to his parents?
One of the most fascinating things I've watched on Titanic was a docudrama "Titanic: The Aftermath", it focused on the recovery of the dead and the work of Halifax, Nova Scotia Registrar John Henry Barnstead who created a process to record as much detail of each body including photographs, a process that I believe is still used in mass fatality events like the Twin Towers attack. Sadly it's made clear that there was a difference on the recovery ships of the treatment of the bodies of higher class passengers and lower class that may make your blood boil.
The Docudrama is available on YouTube and well worth the hours watch IMHO.
From memory it was public subscription, but locals...
I know a wee bit about the sinking of the RMS Titanic (now I don’t want Kate J shouting at me, is it just RMS Titanic?) Bride and Phillips were courageous young men. I believe the individual on the Carpathia that heard Titanic’s first distress signals was the Edwardian equivalent of an IT geek, playing with the set while the regular operator slept. Happy to be corrected. When screen savers were a thing mine was floating text, CQD MGY, all stations distress Titanic. And A Night to Remember is the only movie to watch.
There's a small exhibit in the Science Museum dedicated to the Titanic radio and Jack. One of the outcomes of the disaster was that larger ships had to have their radios manned 24/7 (as iirc a ship closer than the Carpathia missed the signal as its radio was not manned).
Love a Titanic story. Been interested in it ever since I saw “A Night to Remember “ as a kid. Kenneth Griffith played Jack.