On Wednesday, 22 April 1914 some 100,000 onlookers gathered in Southampton's East Park for the unveiling of a memorial dedicated to the memory of the Engineers of the Titanic, all of whom had died in the sinking in 1912. The events of two years ago will have been in the thoughts of those present.

The thirty-five engineers aboard the Titanic were employed to keep the ship's engines, generators and auxiliary machinery operating. The Titanic was powered by twenty-nine coal-fired boilers that powered her engines and electricity generators. The generators provided electricity for every piece of electrical equipment aboard the Titanic.

After striking the iceberg the precariousness of the situation will have been all too apparent to the engineers very quickly.  Simultaneously, the found themselves fighting to keep the pumps operating in the vain hope of attenuating the icy-black water pouring into the stricken liner while keeping a feed of steam to the generators. All the time the angle of the ship increased as she sank deeper into the North Atlantic.

Had the Titanic struck the iceberg and her lights and wireless telegraph had failed, panic would have been rife and it would have been impossible to summon assistance, or lower her lifeboats safely. In the event power was maintained for the wireless set until ten minutes before she sank, with the lights failing just two minutes before she sank. None of the engineers survived the sinking.

The memorial of a bronze, winged figure of Glory, set in front of two bronze panels depicting marine engineers beneath a semi-circular pediment, was draped in a large Union flag before the ceremony.  It  was unveiled by Sir Archibald Denny Bt, LL.D., President of the Institute of the Marine Engineers.

The memorial's central figure of Glory is standing on the prow of a ship, with her arms outstretched by her side, holding a wreath in each hand. Below, the granite plinth carries a carved inscription from the New Testament in bronze lettering, that reads "Greater love hath no man than this, than a man lay down his life for his friends. St John 15th Ch 13th V."

The central figure is flanked by two bronze bas-relief panels, each showing a marine engineer at work. The panels are set within a pair of twin columns, with the semi-circular pediment above and behind the figure of Glory. The columns either side of each panel support the ends of the pediment.

The figure of Glory and ship's prow stands on a plinth, projecting deeply from a semi-circular exedra. The memorial's plinth carries a second dedication "To the memory of the Engineer Officers Of The R.M.S. "Titanic", who showed their high conception of duty and their heroism by remaining at their posts 15th April 1912", noting that the memorial was "Erected by their fellow engineers and friends throughout the world".

On either side of the central plinth, inscribed on the back of exedra are the names of the engineers. On the left are the names: Joseph Bell, Jonathan Shepherd, Wm E Farquharson, Charles Hodge, Jno H Hesketh, Francis E G Coy, Norman E Harrison, James Fraser, George F Hosking, Henry R Dyer, Edward C Dodd, Renny W Dodds, Leonard Hodgkinson, Arthur Ward, James M Smith, Thomas H Kemp, Bert Wilson, Frank A Parsons, Herbert G Harvey and William D Mackie.

On the right panel are the names Robert Millar, Alfred P Middleton, William Y Moyes, Albert G Ervine, William McReynolds, William Kelly, Henry P Creese, George A Chishall, Thomas Millar, Hugh Fitzpatrick, Peter Sloan, Arthur A Rous, Alfred S Allsop, William L Duffy, Herbert Jupe; and beneath three more names: Thomas Andrews, Arch[ibal]d Frost and Robert Knight.

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