About this website

The sinking of the Titanic was one of the worst, singular, non-military disasters to impact Britain, not only in terms of the 1,500 lives lost but also in the number of communities affected. With passengers and crew drawn from around Britain, the brutal reality of the sinking was keenly felt across the country. 500 households alone in Southampton were bereaved in the sinking.

So often seen following war and conflict, memorialisation is the act of remembering, of not forgetting. Following the immediate aftermath of the sinking of the Titanic memorial statues, tablets and stones were commissioned, funded by public subscription, and unveiled in public ceremonies attended by often large numbers of people from the local community. These were large outpourings of grief, with the memorials serving as the physical focus for that grief; the first mass act of memorialisation of the twentieth century.

Across towns and cities in Britain we are used to seeing memorials to casualties of military conflicts. The War Memorials Trust estimates that there are over 100,000 war memorials in the United Kingdom, most to the 1,700,000 victims of the First and Second World War.

Though the number of Titanic memorials is in the hundreds, rather than thousands, the very number demonstrates how significant an event the sinking of the Titanic was in the history of Britain. Beyond Britain there are memorials spread widely across the world, in over twenty-five countries, adding to the extensive record of memorials to the victims of the Titanic.

This website tells the story of the Titanic, her passenger and crew, through the memorials to her victims and those sites with a tangible connection to the ship.