Wallace H. Hartley's Band. Heroes of the Titanic. They Played Until The Bitter End

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Wallace Hartley's Titanic Band.

Illustration of the sinking of the Titanic.

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Blog Created: 9-14-2023

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Wallace Henry Hartley (2 June 1878 – 15 April 1912) was an English violinist and bandleader on the Titanic during its maiden voyage. He became famous for leading the eight-member band as the ship sank on 15 April 1912. Along with the rest of the musicians, he went down with the ship.

Wallace Hartley, bandmaster and violinist on board the Titanic.

Life and career ~

Hartley was born and raised in Colne, Lancashire, England. Hartley's father, Albion Hartley, was the choirmaster and Sunday school superintendent at Bethel Independent Methodist Chapel, on Burnley Road where the family attended worship services. Albion himself introduced the hymn "Nearer, My God, to Thee" to the congregation. Wallace studied at Colne's Methodist day school, sang in Bethel's choir and learned to play the violin from a fellow congregation member.

After leaving school, Hartley started work with the Craven & Union Bank in Colne. When his family moved to Huddersfield, Hartley joined the Huddersfield Philharmonic Orchestra. In 1903, he left home to join the municipal orchestra in Bridlington, where he stayed for six years. He later moved to Dewsbury, West Yorkshire and in 1909, he joined the Cunard Line as a musician, serving on the ocean liners RMS Lucania, RMS Lusitania and RMS Mauretania.

While serving on the Mauretania, the employment of Cunard musicians was transferred to the music agency C.W. & F.N. Black, which supplied musicians for Cunard and the White Star Line. This transfer changed Hartley's onboard status, as he was no longer counted as a member of the crew, but rather as a passenger, albeit one accommodated in second-class accommodation at the agency's expense. It later transpired that neither the shipping company nor the music agency had insured the musicians, with each claiming it was the other's responsibility.

In April 1912, Hartley was assigned to be the bandmaster for the White Star Line ship RMS Titanic. He was at first hesitant to again leave his fiancée, Maria Robinson, to whom he had recently proposed, but Hartley decided that working on the maiden voyage of the Titanic would give him possible contacts for future work.

Sinking of the Titanic ~

After the Titanic hit an iceberg on the night of 14 April 1912 and began to sink, Hartley and his fellow band members started playing music to help keep the passengers calm as the crew loaded the lifeboats. Many of the survivors said that he and the band continued to play until the very end. None of the band members survived the sinking, and the story of them playing to the end became a popular legend. A newspaper at the time reported "the part played by the orchestra on board the Titanic in her last dreadful moments will rank among the noblest in the annals of heroism at sea."

And the band played on.

Though the final song played by the band is unknown, "Nearer, My God, to Thee" has gained popular acceptance. Walter Lord's book A Night to Remember (1955) popularized wireless officer Harold Bride's account of hearing the song "Autumn". Ellwand Moody, a musician on the Mauretania alongside Hartley, claimed that Hartley had said he would play either "Nearer, My God, to Thee" or "Our God, Our Help in Ages Past" if he were ever on a sinking ship. If "Nearer, My God, to Thee" was played, it is uncertain which version Hartley used. His father used the "Propior Deo" version, by Arthur Sullivan, at church, and his family were certain that he would have used that version. It is this tune's opening notes that appear on Hartley's memorial and that were played at his funeral.

After the sinking ~

Hartley's body was recovered by the Mackay–Bennett almost two weeks after the sinking. Several press reports confirmed that Wallace was found "fully dressed with his music case strapped to his body".

He was transferred to the Arabic and returned to England. Hartley's father Albion met the ship at Liverpool and brought his son's body back to his home town of Colne, Lancashire. The funeral took place on 18 May 1912. One thousand people attended Hartley's funeral, while an estimated 30,000–40,000 lined the route of his funeral procession.

Hartley is buried in the Keighley Road cemetery, Colne, where a 10 feet (3.0 m) high headstone, containing a carved violin at its base, was erected in his honour.

A memorial to Hartley, topped by his bust, was erected in 1915 outside what was then the town library. The memorial is inscribed:

- Wallace Hartley, Bandmaster of the RMS Titanic who perished in the foundering of that vessel, April 15th 1912. Erected by voluntary contributions to commemorate the heroism of a native of this town.-

This was later moved slightly to make way for the World War One memorial. Hartley's large Victorian terraced house in West Park Street, Dewsbury, West Yorkshire, bears a blue plaque to remind passers-by that this was the bandleader's home.

Another memorial to the Titanic musicians as a whole was erected in Broken Hill, in north-west New South Wales. The people of Broken Hill were so moved by the bravery of the ship's bandsmen that within a few weeks they had launched a public appeal to create a memorial to them. The memorial, in the shape of a broken pillar, was unveiled in December 1913. The City of Ballarat, Victoria, Australia, has an Edwardian bandstand to commemorate the musicians lost. It was erected by the Ballarat Council with funds raised by the Victorian Band Association, and citizens of the area. The Titanic Memorial bandstand, was unveiled on October 22, 1915. Every year on the anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic, a band still plays "Nearer, My God, To Thee", in the bandstand. In 2001, Hartley's name was still being used when naming new streets and housing in the town of Colne. In 2008, the pub chain J D Wetherspoon named a newly opened pub, (the building having been the long-standing King's Head Hotel up until the mid-1990s), in Colne after the bandleader.

Hartley's Violin ~

In March 2013, after two years of in-depth trace analysis by The Forensic Science Service on behalf of auctioneers Henry Aldridge & Son, and seven years of evidence-gathering by the Wiltshire-based auction house, it was announced that a violin found in a British man's attic inside a leather case with the initials "W. H. H." was the instrument used by Hartley during the ship's last moments. The identification was helped by an engraving on the German-made violin which his fiancée (Maria Robinson) had placed on the instrument in 1910 which read: 'For Wallace on the occasion of our engagement from Maria.' Further tests by a silver expert from the Gemological Association of Great Britain confirmed that the plate on the base of the violin was original and that the metal engraving done on behalf of Maria Robinson was contemporary with those made in 1910. A CT scan enabled experts to view 3D images of the inside of the violin. The fine detail of the scan meant experts could examine the construction, interior and the glue holding the instrument together showing signs of possible restoration. While researching the origins of the violin, the auctioneers Henry Aldridge & Son and Christian Tennyson-Ekeberg, biographer of Wallace Hartley and author of Nearer, Our God, to Thee: The Biography of the Titanic Bandmaster, discovered the transcript of a telegram sent to the Provincial Secretary of Nova Scotia, Canada, dated 19 July 1912 in the diary of Hartley's grieving fiancée, Ms. Robinson, in which she stated:

"I would be most grateful if you could convey my heartfelt thanks to all who have made possible the return of my late fiancé's violin."

The violin and case was recovered along with Hartley's remains.

After Maria Robinson's death in 1939, her sister gave the violin to the Bridlington Salvation Army and told its leader, a Major Renwick, about the instrument's association with the Titanic. The violin was later passed on to a violin teacher who gave it to the current owner's mother. "It's been in the same family for over 70 years," Henry Aldridge & Sons state. Craig Sopin, the owner of one of the world's largest collections of Titanic memorabilia, a leading Titanic expert, and a general skeptic of Titanic claims believes the violin is "Hartley's violin and not a fraud" reports ABC News.

The Hartley violin was exhibited in Northern Ireland at the shipyard where the RMS Titanic was built, Titanic Belfast, and in the United States at Titanic Branson and Titanic Pigeon Forge museums. It was sold by auction house Henry Aldridge & Son in Devizes, Wiltshire, England, on 19 October 2013 for £900,000 ($1.7 million US), as reported by BBC, NBC, and The Washington Post.

The violin now resides at Titanic Belfast Museum and is open to public viewing. It has two large cracks on either side of the upper bout due to moisture damage, and is no longer playable.

After seeing the violin auctioned at Aldridges, British folk singer/songwriter Reg Meuross was inspired to write a song about the story of the violin, "The Band Played Sweet Marie", that was released on his album England Green and England Grey in 2014.

The story of Wallace Hartley and his violin is also the inspiration behind the song "Titanically" written by Canadian singer/songwriter Heather Rankin and David Tyson, with a music video directed by American-Canadian filmmaker Thom Fitzgerald. The music video was released June 2, 2017, to honour Hartley's birthday.

Portrayals ~

Charles Belchier in A Night to Remember (1958 film adaptation of Walter Lord's eponymous 1955 book).

Victor Langley in S.O.S. Titanic (1979 television movie).

Jonathan Evans-Jones in Titanic (1997 film).

Csongor Veer in Titanic (2012 television miniseries).

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Titanic violin played by the bandmaster of the doomed ship has been found in an attic

WALLACE Hartley's instrument is said to be the most important artefact ever recovered from the liner and is expected to fetch more than £400,000 at auction.

ByJamie Beatson, 09:00, 15 MAR 2013, UPDATED 09:17, 15 MAR 2013. The Daily Record.

A VIOLIN found in an attic is the one played by the bandmaster of the Titanic as the ship went down, experts said yesterday.

Wallace Hartley and his band gallantly performed on the deck to help maintain calm after the liner struck an iceberg in the north Atlantic.

They famously carried on until the bitter end, playing a final hymn, Nearer, My God, to Thee.

Wallace’s instrument was thought to have been lost when the 34-year-old, from Colne, Lancashire, drowned.

But in 2006, an unnamed man found a violin in a travelling case bearing the musician’s initials at his mum’s home and got in touch with specialist Titanic auctioneers Henry Aldridge & Son in Wiltshire.

Andrew Aldridge said yesterday: “We have spent the last seven years gathering the evidence together and have now reached the stage where we can say that beyond reasonable doubt this was Wallace Hartley’s violin on the Titanic.

“It is the most important artefact relating to the Titanic to ever emerge and probably the most valuable.”

The instrument, which has two strings missing and a crack down the side of its rosewood body, will go on display in Belfast, where the Titanic was built, at the end of this month.

It is expected to fetch more than £400,000 at auction later this year.

A corroded engraved silver plate screwed on to the base of the fiddle provided researchers with the key proof of its authenticity.

It reads: “For Wallace on the occasion of our engagement from Maria.”

Experts believe Wallace put the violin in his leather case, which he strapped on to his body, moments before the Titanic sank on April 15, 1912.

His body was recovered 10 days later and the instrument was returned to his grieving fiancee, Maria Robinson. She never married and the violin and the case were donated to the Salvation Army in Bridlington, Yorkshire, by her sister after her death in 1939.

It was passed on to a local violin teacher, who then gave it to the current owner’s mum, who was an amateur musician, in the early 1940s.

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Wallace Hartley. Titanic's bandmaster and violinist.

Wallace Hartley with the instrument he got as a gift from his fiancée (Image TennysonEkebergBNPS).

Georges Alexandre Krins.

John Frederick Preston Clarke.

John Law Hume.

John Wesley Woodward.

Percy Cornelius Taylor.

Roger Bricoux.

Theodore Ronald Brailey.

Harold Bride, wireless operator aboard the Titanic, posing for a picture in April 1912.

The Titanic's Marconi Room, with Bride seated. Picture taken on 11 April 1912 by Francis Browne.

Walter Lord, 1958. Author of "A Night To Remember".

The ships that Hartley had served on.

RMS Lucania.

RMS Lusitania.

RMS Mauretania.

SS Arabic.

CS Mackay Bennett - The ship that recovered Hartley's body after the disaster

Cable ship Mackay Bennett

Titanic sinking. In the final moments it was "Every man for himself!"

Nearer, My God, To Thee illustration 1912, Titanic.

Hartley wrote this letter to his parents describing the Titanic.

The water-damaged violin and leather case with Wallace's initials (Image; Phil Yeomans-BNPS).

Maria Robinson, Wallace Hartley's fiancée, in later years.

Maria's locket went to auction recently.

Thank You note that Maria sent.

Wallace-Hartleys-ring-a-pen-a-silver-matchbox-a-gold-cigar-holder-a-watch-and-chain-a-collar-stud-a-pair-of-scissors-and-two-pieces-of-correspondence,