antren
Member
It would be interesting to look at your photos. After moving, I could not find my flash drives with photos from Washington, which also contained such photos, but with me. It's a shame, but this is another reason to go there again)
Famous titanic places and memorials
Steven Christian
Member
When I get time I'll go thru my CD's. But the pics I have of the memorials are not really unique. The only exception might be of the pics I took during the 100th anniversary of the sinking in Belfast when they dedicated the Titanic Memorial Garden at city hall. That memorial is probably the best of all the one's I've seen. Low key in a way but done really well. Another one of my favorites was the Titanic Engineers Memorial in Southampton. That one was looking pretty weathered but understandable as it's over a hundred years old.
Arun Vajpey
Member
As Titanic memorials go, there are a few false ones around the world, usually due to an unintentional error on part of the contributor. One of them is in Aldinga, a small suburb of Adelaide, South Australia and has a very interesting story behind it.
As can be seen, the McRae family memorial includes one for Alan McRae (1889-1912), claiming that he was "missing on the Titanic". I did a bit of research into this because there was no one by the name of 'Alan McRae' on the Titanic; the nearest was a Second Class passenger named Arthur McCrae (no relation, note surname spelling difference). Arthur McCrae was also an Australian but from Sydney and died in the sinking; his body was recovered by the Mackay-Bennet and now Rests in Peace at Fairview Lawn Cemetery, Nova Scotia.
But there was a McRae on board the Titanic, a British crew member - a fireman named William McRae - who died in the sinking. His body was not recovered.
The original Alan McRae was also a ship's fireman and by 1912 was working on board the Student, a Harrison Line ship that sailed between Liverpool and Colon, Panama and he was working on board on that trip on March 1912. My research showed that while in Panama, McRae fell ill (no details at this time) and was eventually discharged on 16th March 1912. My source is uncertain whether he remained in Panama and died there on 5th April 1912 - 5 days before the Titanic even set sail out of Southampton - or whether he managed to return to Aldinga while still alive to die there. She also has no information on whether McRae died in Panama and his body was shipped to Australia posthumously.
So, it looks like someone got mixed up between 3 unrelated men - Arthur McCrae, an Australian Second Class passenger on the Titanic who died in the sinking and is buried in Canada, William McRae, an English ship's fireman on the Titanic who also died but his body never found and Alan McRae, an Australian ship's fireman who had nothing to do with the Titanic but died 10 days before the disaster in Panama.
There have been other such mistaken beliefs. First Class passenger Edgar Meyer died in the sinking - likely heroically because I have read a few accounts that he helped many women and children into lifeboats without trying to get into one himself. His body was never found but there is a Memorial for him in the family Mausoleum at Kensico Cemetery, Valhalla, NY. Obviously, that is just a memorial but recently some descendants and others suggested that Edgar Meyer's interred remains were actually within the Mausoleum. My research showed that Edgar's father Eugene Meyer actually bought the plot to erect the Mausoleum in 1924, 12 years after the Titanic disaster, which clearly indicates that there is a clerical error somewhere. For his interred remains to be within the Mausoleum built in 1924, Edgar Meyer would have had to survive the disaster. An obvious problem with that supposition would be that his wife Leila Meyer was a widow when she reached New York on the Carpathia and eventually remarried 2 years later.
As can be seen, the McRae family memorial includes one for Alan McRae (1889-1912), claiming that he was "missing on the Titanic". I did a bit of research into this because there was no one by the name of 'Alan McRae' on the Titanic; the nearest was a Second Class passenger named Arthur McCrae (no relation, note surname spelling difference). Arthur McCrae was also an Australian but from Sydney and died in the sinking; his body was recovered by the Mackay-Bennet and now Rests in Peace at Fairview Lawn Cemetery, Nova Scotia.
But there was a McRae on board the Titanic, a British crew member - a fireman named William McRae - who died in the sinking. His body was not recovered.
The original Alan McRae was also a ship's fireman and by 1912 was working on board the Student, a Harrison Line ship that sailed between Liverpool and Colon, Panama and he was working on board on that trip on March 1912. My research showed that while in Panama, McRae fell ill (no details at this time) and was eventually discharged on 16th March 1912. My source is uncertain whether he remained in Panama and died there on 5th April 1912 - 5 days before the Titanic even set sail out of Southampton - or whether he managed to return to Aldinga while still alive to die there. She also has no information on whether McRae died in Panama and his body was shipped to Australia posthumously.
So, it looks like someone got mixed up between 3 unrelated men - Arthur McCrae, an Australian Second Class passenger on the Titanic who died in the sinking and is buried in Canada, William McRae, an English ship's fireman on the Titanic who also died but his body never found and Alan McRae, an Australian ship's fireman who had nothing to do with the Titanic but died 10 days before the disaster in Panama.
There have been other such mistaken beliefs. First Class passenger Edgar Meyer died in the sinking - likely heroically because I have read a few accounts that he helped many women and children into lifeboats without trying to get into one himself. His body was never found but there is a Memorial for him in the family Mausoleum at Kensico Cemetery, Valhalla, NY. Obviously, that is just a memorial but recently some descendants and others suggested that Edgar Meyer's interred remains were actually within the Mausoleum. My research showed that Edgar's father Eugene Meyer actually bought the plot to erect the Mausoleum in 1924, 12 years after the Titanic disaster, which clearly indicates that there is a clerical error somewhere. For his interred remains to be within the Mausoleum built in 1924, Edgar Meyer would have had to survive the disaster. An obvious problem with that supposition would be that his wife Leila Meyer was a widow when she reached New York on the Carpathia and eventually remarried 2 years later.
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Steven Christian
Member
Yes. I remember you posted about this before. Good research you did. Maybe he meant that mausoleum as a memorial. In days past people had some strange ways of handling/honoring the dead. During the 1800's in was not uncommon to keep the dead around in a room for a considerable amount of time. Not sure how that worked with preservation and all. To nature people are just another source of protein if you get what I'm saying.
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Arun Vajpey
Member
That's a bit unnerving, to say the least.
In the case of the Meyers though, it is certain that Edgar Meyer died during the sinking of the Titanic and his widow Leila arrived alone to New York on the Carpathia. Edgar's body, if found, was never identified and certainly was not among the 59 RIPs whose remains were brought to North America on the Mackay Bennet and other recovery ships.
Leila Mayer remarried in 1914 to Louis Ranger.
Edgar's parents outlived their son; his mother died in 1922 and the father, Eugene Meyer, purchased a plot of family Mausoleum in 1924 and had it built. Eugene Meyer himself passed on the following year.
So, there is absolutely no way that Edgar Meyer's remains are within that Mausoleum. The fact that his name is mentioned means that it is either e clerical error or (more likely) just a Memorial without any remains.
Arun Vajpey
Member
There is a little known memorial in India for a Titanic victim Annie Funk, an American passenger and one of only 12 women from Second Class who died in the sinking. Miss Funk was a Mennonite Missionary from Pennsylvania and at the time had spent 5 years working in a Church at Janjgir, an obscure little town in what was then known collectively as "Central Districts" (now Chattisgarh) in India. During her tenure there, Miss Funk facilitated building of a school for girls, an orphanage etc. Upgraded versions of both the school and church still exist.
The original school during Annie Funk's time.
Contemporary images from the Church and school.
This ET link shows other memorials for Annie Funk outside India, mainly in her native Pennsylvania. Memorials to Annie C. Funk
However, there is one Memorial Plaque the current location of which I am unable to ascertain. It is quite possible that it is still displayed in Janjgir in India.
The original school during Annie Funk's time.
Contemporary images from the Church and school.
This ET link shows other memorials for Annie Funk outside India, mainly in her native Pennsylvania. Memorials to Annie C. Funk
However, there is one Memorial Plaque the current location of which I am unable to ascertain. It is quite possible that it is still displayed in Janjgir in India.
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