The Band That Played On (29 page)

At least nine memorials were unveiled to the band during the next two or three years, almost all of them quoting from “Nearer, My God, to Thee” and mentioning the fact that the men had gone to their deaths while playing.
⁴
They were remembered at the Philharmonic Hall in Liverpool, where Fred Clarke had been an orchestra member; at St. Mark’s Church in Dewsbury, where Wallace Hartley had worshipped in his final years when not at sea; and at places they had never visited. The most unusual of these was in the town of Broken Hill, New South Wales, Australia, where a monument was dedicated on December 21, 1913: “Erected by the citizens of Broken Hill as a memorial to the heroic bandsmen of the steamship
Titanic
who, playing to the end, calmly faced certain death whilst women, children, and their fellow-men were being rescued from the wreck of that ill-fated vessel off the coast of Newfoundland, on April 15, 1912.”

Memorial plaque to Jock Hume at St. Michael’s School, Dumfries, Scotland.

A granite obelisk “in memory of John Law Hume” and steward Thomas Mullin was unveiled in Dock Park, Dumfries, by the town’s provost on May 31, 1913. A brass plaque “to the glory of God and in memory of John Wesley Woodward” was installed in the nave of All Saints Church in Headington, Oxfordshire, and on October 24, 1914, a granite tablet with bronze plaques “to the self-sacrifice and devotion of John Wesley Woodward” was unveiled on Eastbourne’s Grand Parade, close to the bandstand and facing the sea. On February 17, 1915, there was a ceremony in Colne for a bronze bust of “Wallace Hartley, bandmaster of the R.M.S.
Titanic
, who perished in the foundering of that vessel.” The bust stood on a stone pedestal outside what was then the local library. In Spa, Belgium, architect’s drawings were being made for an elaborate memorial in honor of Georges Krins—plans that were literally shelved once war broke out.

John Wesley Woodward memorial at Eastbourne.

It was a beautuful summer day when the memorial to Jock Hume was unveiled close to the banks of the River Nith. Buglers from the Special Reserve had sounded the “Last Post” for the occasion, which was attended by hundreds of local people, including Andrew Hume and one of his daughters. When it was all over a band played the national anthem and church bells rang out. Yet all was not well with the relatives of the bandsmen. The recognition of those in power and the sympathy and generosity of the public were welcomed, but these expressions did nothing to settle the grievances that began to mount once the initial attention began to ebb.

Memorial to Jock Hume and Titanic steward Thomas Mullins on the river front in Dumfries.

13
“I
F
Y
OU
T
HINK
Y
OU
H
AVE
A
L
EGAL
C
LAIM.
”

O
n April 30, 1912, the day before writing to Leon Bricoux, Charlie Black had written a letter to Andrew Hume in Dumfries regarding his late son John Law Hume:

Dear Sir,

We shall be obliged if you will remit to us the sum of 5s– 4d, which is owing to us as per enclosed statement. We shall also be obliged if you will settle the enclosed uniform account.

Yours faithfully,
C. W. and F. N. Black

The account was for the alterations and cleaning needed to get his uniform ready for the
Titanic
after arriving back in Liverpool on the
Carmania
. The total was nine shillings and threepence. Hume had signed a receipt at the shop of J. J. Rayner permitting C. W. & F. N. Black to deduct the sum from his wage account. Presumably, as the
Titanic
voyage was incomplete, the Blacks didn’t consider him eligible for full payment. This left him in their debt. Incensed by the callousness of the demand, Andrew Hume forwarded it to the Amalgamated Musicians’ Union (AMU), who published it in the June issue of the
Musicians’ Report and Journal
. Beneath it the editor added the single line: “Comment would be superfluous!”

The full implications of the new hiring arrangements instituted by the Blacks were now being felt. No longer employees of the shipping line, the musicians were not covered by insurance taken out for employees, nor were they covered by the Workmen’s Compensation Act (1906), which generally gave a worker “a right against his employer to a certain compensation on the mere occurrence of an accident where the common law gives the right only for negligence of the employer.”

The AMU, which had already been at loggerheads with the Blacks over their wage decrease and monopoly of the shipping lines, fought hard for the musicians to be remembered and for their families to be given adequate welfare. Instead of raising money for “useless” plaques and memorials that “in six months’ time . . . will be taken no more notice of than any other memorial stone, and everyone will forget the deed that caused the memorial to be erected,” it channelled donations to a convalescent home for musicians, believing this to be a more fitting memorial. One of its most effective fund-raisers was a poster with pictures of all eight musicians beneath the inscription “The Heroic musicians of the
Titanic
who died at their posts like men—April 15, 1912” and with a verse from “Nearer, My God, to Thee.” Priced at threepence and printed on art paper, more than eighty thousand copies were sold in the first month.

Anxious relatives turned to the AMU when they became frustrated. In June, Percy Taylor’s wife, Clara, wrote: “I have not yet received anything from any fund.” Martha Woodward, Wes’s mother, claimed to be in the same position. Ronald Brailey wrote to Charlie Black on May 24 raising the issue of compensation and Black replied: “I cannot advise you in the matter of compensation. If you think you have a legal claim, will you please give me notice in writing of that, and it will in due course be dealt with by our insurance company, but under such awful circumstances it is practically impossible for the alleged claims to be settled for several months.” The AMU couldn’t imagine why “awful circumstances” could impede the speedy settlement of a legitimate claim. Weren’t insurance companies in the business of “awful circumstances”?

Poster created by Amalgamated Musicians’ Union.

The only policy covering the musicians was one the Blacks and White Star took out jointly from the recently established (1907) Legal Insurance Company, but it soon transpired that the insurers were quibbling over the scope of the word
dependent
. Wives and children were obviously dependents, but could working fathers, such as Andrew Hume and Ronald Brailey, honestly describe themselves as such? This meant that neither of the two main parties—White Star and the Black brothers—was making immediate contributions to the families. Outraged by this, three of the fathers—Leon Bricoux, Andrew Hume, and Ronald Brailey—mounted a legal case against C. W. & F. N. Black in June 1912, arguing that as workers who had lost their lives while carrying out their duties and through no fault of their own, their sons should be covered by the strictures of the Workmen’s Compensation Act. There had never been any suggestion that they’d brought about their fate through negligence or misbehavior.

The case came to court on November 1 at Liverpool County Court, where Judge Thomas concluded that since the musicians were not signed to the ship’s articles they were not legally crew members. Therefore, they were not employees of White Star. They were employees of C. W. & F. N. Black, but they couldn’t successfully sue the Blacks because there was no evidence of negligence on their part. Thomas declared: “The ship owners did not treat the bandsmen as members of the crew. Their duties on board were in the nature of supplying a luxury, and their engagement was not directly by the owners. In these circumstances it would be a wrong application of the word ‘seaman’ to say they came within the act.”

It was clearly with a heavy heart that Thomas decided in favor of the respondents. At the end of his summary he said:

I wish to add this observation. Although I have felt compelled to hold that the Workmen’s Compensation Act does not apply to the bandsmen, yet I cannot forget that these brave men met their death while performing an act which was of the greatest service in assisting to maintain discipline and avert panic. I hope the committee which is administering the
Titanic
Relief Fund may consider whether it is possible for them out of that fund to give such relief as may prevent the dependants from suffering from the fact that they have no legal claims under the Act.

Auguste Krins and his wife, Letitia, filed a claim for $25,000 against the Oceanic Steam Navigation Company, owner of the White Star Line, as it petitioned for its liabilities to be limited. In common with other passengers and relatives of passengers, they employed the New York attorneys Hunt, Hill, and Betts. Their argument was that the company should not be spared having to pay compensation for the death of their son because it was caused “by the wrongful acts, neglect, fault and negligence” of the company and its agents and servants. Part of their claim read: