Memorial To Heroes Of The Marine Engine Room

This list entry was subject to a Minor Amendment on 17/01/2018

SJ3390 27/1075 ST NICHOLAS PLACE (west end) L3 Memorial to "heroes of the marine engine room"

14.3.1975

GV II* Monument. 1916. By Sir William Goscombe John, originally designed to commemorate the engineers of the SS Titanic.

Banded granite obelisk, 14.5 metres high rising from a pedestal set on a tall square chamfered plinth. On the east and west faces of the pedestal are carved life-size figures of the Engine Room Heroes - stokers on the east face and engineers on the west. On the corners at the foot of the obelisk, at a level above the heads of the figures are carved representations of Water (north west), Earth (north east), Fire (south east), and Air (south west). Between these, stylised waves in low relief, from which, on each face, a rising sun emerges. At the top of the obelisk, on each face, a draped female form, depicting the sea. The figures grasp between them breech buoys, and thus form an encircling group of figures set beneath the gilded torch flame which crowns the monument. An inscription on the south face of the pedestal reads; THE BRAVE DO NOT DIE/ THEIR DEEDS LIVE ON FOREVER/ AND CALL UPON US/ TO EMULATE THEIR COURAGE/ AND DEVOTION TO DUTY'

On the north face, the inscription reads; IN HONOUR OF/ ALL HEROES OF THE/ MARINE ENGINE ROOM/ THIS MEMORIAL/ WAS ERECTED BY/ INTERNATIONAL SUBSCRIPTION/ MCMXVI'.

HISTORY: The memorial was originally intended to commemorate the 32 engineers of the Titanic who remained at their posts to allow the greatest number of passengers to escape from the sinking liner. However, spaces were to be left to record other heroic deeds done by sea-going engineers. However, because of the very high loss of life at sea during the progress of the First World War, it was thought appropriate to dedicate the monument to all maritime engine room fatalities. The memorial had a considerable influence upon the design of post 1919 war memorials, particularly in respect of the portrayal of the ordinary man or woman, rather than of members of social or military elites. It is thought to be one of the most artistically significant memorials to the Titanic disaster on either side of the Atlantic.

Listing NGR: SJ3374490386

This List entry has been amended to add sources for War Memorials Online and the War Memorials Register. These sources were not used in the compilation of this List entry but are added here as a guide for further reading, 27 January 2017.