Why no 3rd Class Memorial

[Don Tweed]

Is there a 3rd class memorial somewhere? If not there should be. We will never know all the stories which took place below decks that night.
And I am sure that every facet of human traits took place in steerage. Some simply resigned to the fact they were going to die and gave up, but I am sure some very heroic efforts were made as well. These never to be told stories deserve there own marker or memorial.
Wondering aloud, Don

 

[Dave Gittins]

I can't find a memorial to the third class in Brian Ticehurst's book, which is pretty complete.

The nearest thing I know is a monument near the wharf at Cobh. This commemorates the many Irish emigrants who sailed from that port. I suppose it could be taken to include the Titanic victims.

 

[X----- X-------]

Due to the lack of further evidence I cannot find any reference made with the Southampton Titanic Relief Fund.

However, this may come as a bolt out of the blue but the old Southampton Memorial Committee did at least twice turn to the newly formed Southampton Titanic Relief Fund Committee, and asked for the names of those who were lost. On both occasions, the Southampton Committee had no qualms about refusing their request. Why? That question remains unknown.

A.W.

 

[Shelley Dziedzic]

Titanic International presented a memorial plaque at Ellis Island in 1991 in memory of all those aboard in steerage who never made it through The Golden Door. It is on the wall on the first floor of the entry lobby, visitor's center. I will scan a photo of this to post.

 

[Vicki Logan]

Shelly, clicked over to your website to see the photo's of the memorials. Your website continues to be a source of enjoyment and reflection.
Vicki Logan

 

[rebecca heggs]

They were people too, and mostly all the kids who died were in 3rd class, and way more were lost.even if their bodies weren't found, there should be a memorial, because most of the victims were 3rd class.sometimes at night I just think of all the people who died and it brings me to tears,because they weren't very different from us in how we would have acted, and their souls are lost at sea forever.

 

[Marilyn Lena Penner]

I wonder if the reason there was no memorial built at the time to those lost in Third Class was that the people from Third Class had no money to pay for one. They had to pay for food and lodging and clothes.

Many families were entirely lost, so had no loved ones to remember them. Those who did mourn them, either at home or in North America, may have had just enough money to pay for a marker in the cemetery or a plaque in the church.

Others lost the breadwinner (the husband and father) and had to fend for themselves, with a little help from the Relief Fund. They were stranded in a new country, probably with no money and just the clothes they wore. Memorials would have been a luxury.

The Engineers Memorial was paid for by the engineers. Other professions paid for memorials to the 'brothers' in their respective professions.
Captain Smith got a memorial in his hometown and the crew living in Southampton got one from their hometown - just as there are memorials in every town and city to the local boys who died in the wars.

Which is probably why there is no memorial to the passengers - or is there memorials to the first and second class passengers, but not to the third?
They were not a 'profession'. They weren't bonded together by any other tie but that they were people on a ship's voyage.

 

[Mick Molloy]

"They weren't bonded together by any
other tie but that they were people on a ship's voyage."

Hi, 14 people left our Parish on the the Titanic, all 3rd Class, all knew each other very well. Eleven died, three survived and lived to a ripe old age in USA. They were economic migrants from a locality where migration was then a fact of life.

 

[Inger Sheil]

Referring to Dave's post above, there are two distinct memorials at Cobh (three if you include the incredibly powerful Lusitania memorial in this group). One, which I assume is what Dave refers to, is statue of Annie Moore and her brothers - the first immigrants to be processed at Ellis Island (where another version of the statue also stands). This memorial, standing outside the Heritage Centre, is the one that commemorates Irish immigrants who left the port (several of my own ancestors among them, although their destination was not America):



The other is Titanic specific, and located not far from the Lusitania memorial. It commemorates the Titanic's last port of call, and is "In special memory of the Irish immigrants and all those who lost their lives in this great tragedy." The memorial was erected by the Titanic Historical Society, the Irish Titanic Historical Society and the people of Cobh.
cork-guide.ie/cobh/images/105-0518_IMG.JPG

 

[Marilyn Lena Penner]

Hello Mick,

My statement: "They weren't bonded together by any other tie but that they were people on a ship's voyage."

Your reply: Hi, 14 people left our Parish on the the Titanic, all 3rd Class, all knew each other very well. ...

My reply: Good call! Your 14 people were bound together by race, parish, and acquaintanceship.
I assume there is a memorial to them in the parish.

What I meant was that there was probably no memorial raised soon after the sinking to all Irish, or all Jewish (unless there is one in the Jewish cemetery in Halifax), or all Armenian, or all American, etc. passengers or to all passengers of first, second and/or third class.

There are doubtless memorials to individuals raised by their loved ones, or to professions (eg. musicians, engineers, sailors) raised by their professional or trade union brothers and sisters, or to people like your 14 or like the one to the victims among the citizens of Southampton raised by the parish or town council.

I hope I did not offend.

 

[Jason D. Tiller]

Hi Marilyn,

(unless there is one in the Jewish cemetery in Halifax)

No, there is no memorial at the Baron de Hirsch cemetery. Only the ten graves.

 

[Holly Peterson]

There is a memorial to the Goodwin family, an English family of 2 parents - Augusta, 43, Frederick, 40 and their children Lillian, 16, Charles, 14, William 11, Jessie 10, Harold 9 and Sidney, 1, who all were third class and died in the sinking. This memorial is in St. Michael's and All Angel's Church. It reads,

"On Sunday April 14th, the S.S. Titanic on her first voyage to America, with 2, 207 souls on board, struck an iceberg, and sank in less than three hours, only 705 being saved. Among those who were drowned is an entire family from our parish, Frederick and Augusta Goodwin with their six children, Lillian, Charles, William, Jessie, Harold and Sidney. The children were all in the Sunday School and the three elder boys in the choir of this church. When thou passes through the waters I will be with thee."

It makes me happy that at least some thought was given to these poor, innocent souls who died on the S.S. Titanic. Seeing this memorial (well, a photo of it, anyway) brought tears to my eyes.

 

[Matthew Farr]

>>It makes me happy that at least some thought was given to these poor, innocent souls who died on the S.S. Titanic.<<

It makes me happy as well. it is a shame that most of the attention was given to the upper classes and members of the crew while the third class (who suffered the greatest losses) was all but forgotten.

 

[Holly Peterson]

I agree, Matthew. When my Mother first told me about the Titanic, I had no idea so many women and children were lost. Then one day, in a bookstore, I was so bored I started to look at a book about the Titanic. I flipped it open and saw a picture of the Goodwin family. I was shocked to see that all those children in that picture, so innocent looking, were dead. I resolved then and there to make sure none of the children, or any passengers, who died on the Titanic, were forgotten, by immemorializing (is that a word?) them through my research.