TITANIC DISASTER NEARLY DESTROYED SOUTHAMPTON

When the Titanic sank and with it the elite of the Edwardian era it made great headlines. Not many newspapers wrote about Southampton which was most affected. Shortly before the disaster Southampton was declared as the main port before it was Liverpool. The White Star was the only ones in the area recruiting people. The jobs on offer were firemen or stokers earning £6 a month and stewards earning £3 15s a month.

At the time of the Titanic disaster there was a miners’ strike and many men were eager to join the ship. Southampton had 100,000 inhabitants and 538 of the crew members were from Southampton. Apparently the worst hit area was Northam. The Northam school children of which a 100 lost a relative.

When they heard of the disaster everybody was hoping that their father and/or son would have survived and picked-up by the nearby ship Carpathia.

The telegrams which were sent to the families stating nothing more than “Much regret, name, not saved”. What an incredible heartless way of telling the family they lost their breadwinner. Let’s face it the elite, although just as tragically, did not have the loss of their income as well as their loved ones.

These families stood there with nothing to neither feed their children nor clothe them. At a time when they had hard times already. They had to pawn their furniture and relied on handouts to feed their children and themselves. The relief fund accumulated to £412,000 which would be today’s £20m even so in those days it was a huge sum. The Mayor of Southampton George Bowyer launched his own appeal.

Widows of non-salaries crew received nothing and that from a highly profitable White Star Line. They were completely dependent on the relief fund to keep them out of the workhouse. A fireman’s widow received a weekly 12s 6p plus 12s 6p for every child and an officer’s widow £2 per week.

The Salvation Army’s “slum officers” brought milk, tea, sugar and bread for the needy.

The historian Stephanie Barczewski wrote a book about the tragedy titled “A Night Remembered” and stated upon his finding that the film couldn’t have been more removed from the reality. He stated that Southampton was the place of the real tragedy.

The report from the Daily Mirror in 1912 gives a full view of the impact the disaster had on the town.

Mrs May across the way lost her husband and oldest son.....the son married a year ago and his wife had baby six weeks ago ...Mrs Allen round the corner lost her husband George....and the young girl in black is Mrs Barnes... she lost here brother ...the woman going into the shop is Mrs Gosling ... she lost her son ...and Mrs Preston of Princess Street, a widow lost her son too...

Nothing shows more clearly than that person's report. How close the losses were.