The Eight Heroic Musicians of the Titanic
The eight men who provided the music on ‘The Titanic’ were aged between 21 and 40 and from various places with differing social backgrounds. Some had other careers before becoming musicians and others were trained to the peak of their craft. During the week before Titanic sailed most of the musicians had spent some time in Liverpool, arriving in from other ships and signing contracts with their agent C.W & F.N Black at no. 14 Castle Street, Liverpool.
The men played in two separate groups on board Titanic; a quintet in the 1st class dining lounge and a trio in the Café Parisian restaurant. On the night of the disaster the leader, Wallace Hartley, called them all together to play as one group ... for the first and last time.
The Quintet
Wallace Henry Hartley
‘Wally’ was a 33 year old band leader and violinist from Colne in Lancashire. Engaged to Maria Robinson (30) and due to marry in the summer of 1912. Wally, whose parents worked in the cotton mills, was from a working class Methodist background. He did not attend a music college but instead learned violin in school from aged 11 and joined Cunard in 1909 for a career on the transatlantic ships, Lucania, Lusitainia and Mauretainia .
Wallace’s body was recovered by the ship Mackay Bennett almost two weeks after the disaster, brought back to Liverpool and taken by carriage to a heroes burial in his home town. A mystery still remains about his violin which was reputedly in the case found strapped to his body ... rumours abound regarding its existence and no doubt it would become the most sought after piece of Titanic memorabilia if the true article ever came to light.
John Law Hume
‘Jock’ was a 21 year old violinist from Dumfries, Scotland. The liveliest and cheekiest member of the band, he left home at sixteen and despite his age he had worked on more ships than any other musician on The Titanic.
Remembered as tall and slim with fair curling hair, a huge grin and appetite for life, professionally ambitious with a love of practical jokes.
He was planning to marry his steady girlfriend Mary Costin from Dumfries, after Titanic’s maiden voyage, as she was pregnant with his child.
Jock’s body was recovered by the ship Mackay Bennett and is buried in Nova Scotia, Canada.
John Frederick Preston Clarke
‘Fred’ was a 28 year old double bass and violist from 22 Tunstall Street,
Smithdown Road
, Wavertree, Liverpool. He regularly played at the Argyle Theatre, Birkenhead and The Kardomah Cafe in Liverpool. This was his first trip at sea.
His reason for taking work on Titanic was to get to New York to sort out the effects of his estranged father who had been the victim of a house fire.
Fred’s body was recovered by the ship Mackay Bennett and is buried in Nova Scotia, Canada.
John Wesley Woodward
‘Wes’ was a 32 year old cellist from Oxford. One of six brothers and two sisters born to a working class family of foundry workers in the Black Country (West Bromwich ). He was described as being easy going and having a positive attitude, amiable, good natured and modest and a easy equable temper.
Outside of music he had an interest in photography and building primitive internal combustion engines - a technology still in its infancy. He was planning to leave ship life at the end of summer 1912 to join his girlfriend and an orchestra in Eastbourne, Sussex.
His body was never recovered.
Theodore Ronald Brailey
‘Theo’ was a 24 year old pianist from London who, like Hartley, was engaged to be married and planning to give up the sea. At age 14 he joined the army (Royal Lancashire Fusiliers) and served in South Africa and Ireland.
After military service he joined the pier Pavillion Orchestra in Southport for two years where he met his
His father, a renown clairvoyant and obviously not an overprotective parent, was reported to have asked his son not to sail on ‘The Titanic’. His body was never recovered.
The Trio
Percy Cornelius Taylor
Percy was the oldest of the group (40) and the only one married. He became a professional pianist late in life and was the least known.
There were no personal obituaries or appreciations for him when he died and he has never been individually honoured. When he was described by the press in 1912 they even got his name wrong.
In a failing marriage he took the Titanic job in the hope of picking up work in New York and starting a new life leaving his past behind him.
This was his first trip at sea. His body was never recovered.
Roger Marie Bricoux
Roger was a 20 year old cellist from Lille, France and the youngest and most formally trained musician of the eight.. Remembered as a ‘very handsome young fellow, although his gait was somewhat marred by a limp, the result of a motorbike accident’.
He was trained at the same academy as Mozart in Bologna, Italy, possessed many friends and was known for his ‘joviality and friendliness’.
Though earning low wages at the beginning of his career, he had stated in letters that ‘he dreamed of a time he could afford a wife and start his own family’.
This was only his third voyage on a ship. His body was never recovered.
Georges Alexandre Kring
George was 23 and born in Paris, but studied violin at the Liege Conservatoire in Belgium.
A prize winning player who played all the theatres in Paris before moving to The Ritz in London.
His father had talked him out of an earlier career in the army telling him to stick to music ...as it was far safer.
This was his first trip at sea. His body was never recovered.