MEMORIAL
All but one of the first-class children survived. Of the 73 children travelling steerage, only 23 were saved.
The disaster of the Titanic hit Belfast hard. Not only were many of the men who died known to the tight-knit community that lived in the sprawling streets surrounding the shipyard but Belfast men had built her. Many were racked with guilt. Could it be that their workmanship had contributed to this disaster? Had they made mistakes that had caused the invincible Titanic to sink?
When the news that Belfast men had been lost at sea reached the city, a memorial fund was set up. In just over three weeks £1,000 was raised to go towards a city memorial. The commission was awarded to Sir Thomas Brock who had made the statue of Queen Victoria that stands outside Buckingham Palace.
The Titanic memorial statue was unveiled on 26 June 1920, having been delayed by World War I, and now stands in the grounds of Belfast City Hall in Donegall Square East. It contains the names of 22 Belfast men killed when the Titanic sunk.
There are also statues in memory of Thomas Andrews, designer, in Comber, East of Belfast and in memory of John Simpson, assistant surgeon, in the Abbey graveyard at Bangor.