Wallace Hartley
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Wallace Henry Hartley (2 June 1878 – 15 April 1912) was an English violinist and
bandleader A bandleader is the leader of a music group such as a rock or pop band or jazz quartet. The term is most commonly used with a group that plays popular music as a small combo or a big band, such as one which plays jazz, blues, rhythm and blues or ...
on the on its maiden voyage. He became famous for leading the eight-member band as the ship sank on 15 April 1912. He died in the sinking.


Life and career

Hartley was born and raised in
Colne Colne () is a market town and civil parish in the Borough of Pendle in Lancashire, England. Located northeast of Nelson, north-east of Burnley, east of Preston and west of Leeds. The town should not be confused with the unrelated Colne Val ...
,
Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly. The non-metropolitan county of Lancashi ...
,
England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
. Hartley's father, Albion Hartley, was the
choirmaster A choir ( ; also known as a chorale or chorus) is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform. Choirs may perform music from the classical music repertoire, which sp ...
and
Sunday school A Sunday school is an educational institution, usually (but not always) Christian in character. Other religions including Buddhism, Islam, and Judaism have also organised Sunday schools in their temples and mosques, particularly in the West. Su ...
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 "Nearer, My God, to Thee" is a 19th-century Christian hymn by Sarah Flower Adams, which retells the story of Jacob's dream. Genesis 28:11–12 can be translated as follows: "So he came to a certain place and stayed there all night, because t ...
" to the
congregation A congregation is a large gathering of people, often for the purpose of worship. Congregation may also refer to: *Church (congregation), a Christian organization meeting in a particular place for worship *Congregation (Roman Curia), an administra ...
. 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 Huddersfield is a market town in the Kirklees district in West Yorkshire, England. It is the administrative centre and largest settlement in the Kirklees district. The town is in the foothills of the Pennines. The River Holme's confluence into ...
, Hartley joined the
Huddersfield Philharmonic Orchestra The Huddersfield Philharmonic Orchestra is an amateur orchestra based in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England. Origins In 1862 the first orchestra in Huddersfield to achieve lasting permanence was established by Rev JH Thomas, as ‘Mr Tho ...
. In 1903, he left home to join the municipal orchestra in
Bridlington Bridlington is a coastal town and a civil parish on the Holderness Coast of the North Sea in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It is about north of Hull and east of York. The Gypsey Race enters the North Sea at its harbour. The 2011 Cen ...
, where he stayed for six years. He later moved to
Dewsbury Dewsbury is a minster and market town in the Metropolitan Borough of Kirklees in West Yorkshire, England. It lies on the River Calder and on an arm of the Calder and Hebble Navigation waterway. It is to the west of Wakefield, east of Hudder ...
, West Yorkshire and in 1909, he joined the
Cunard Line Cunard () is a British shipping and cruise line based at Carnival House at Southampton, England, operated by Carnival UK and owned by Carnival Corporation & plc. Since 2011, Cunard and its three ships have been registered in Hamilton, Berm ...
as a musician, serving on the ocean liners , and . Whilst 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 The White Star Line was a British shipping company. Founded out of the remains of a defunct packet company, it gradually rose up to become one of the most prominent shipping lines in the world, providing passenger and cargo services between t ...
. 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 . 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
lifeboat Lifeboat may refer to: Rescue vessels * Lifeboat (shipboard), a small craft aboard a ship to allow for emergency escape * Lifeboat (rescue), a boat designed for sea rescues * Airborne lifeboat, an air-dropped boat used to save downed airmen ...
s. 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." Though the final song played by the band is unknown, "
Nearer, My God, to Thee "Nearer, My God, to Thee" is a 19th-century Christian hymn by Sarah Flower Adams, which retells the story of Jacob's dream. Genesis 28:11–12 can be translated as follows: "So he came to a certain place and stayed there all night, because t ...
" has gained popular acceptance.
Walter Lord John Walter Lord Jr. (October 8, 1917 – May 19, 2002) was an American author, lawyer, copywriter and popular historian best known for his 1955 account of the sinking of the RMS ''Titanic'', '' A Night to Remember''. Biography Early life Lo ...
's book '' A Night to Remember'' (1955) popularised wireless officer
Harold Bride Harold Sydney Bride (11 January 1890 – 29 April 1956) was a British merchant seaman and the junior wireless officer on the ocean liner RMS ''Titanic'' during its ill-fated maiden voyage. After the ''Titanic'' struck an iceberg at 11:40 pm 14 ...
'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 "Our God, Our Help in Ages Past" is a hymn by Isaac Watts in 1708 that paraphrases the 90th Psalm of the Book of Psalms. It originally consisted of nine stanzas; however, in present usage the fourth, sixth, and eighth stanzas are commonly omit ...
" 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 Sir Arthur Seymour Sullivan (13 May 1842 – 22 November 1900) was an English composer. He is best known for 14 comic opera, operatic Gilbert and Sullivan, collaborations with the dramatist W. S. Gilbert, including ''H.M.S. Pinaf ...
, 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 high headstone, containing a carved violin at its base, was erected in his honour. A memorial to Hartley, topped by his
bust Bust commonly refers to: * A woman's breasts * Bust (sculpture), of head and shoulders * An arrest Bust may also refer to: Places *Bust, Bas-Rhin, a city in France *Lashkargah, Afghanistan, known as Bust historically Media * ''Bust'' (magazine ...
, was erected in 1915 outside what was then the town library. The memorial is inscribed: Wallace Hartley 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 Dewsbury is a minster and market town in the Metropolitan Borough of Kirklees in West Yorkshire, England. It lies on the River Calder and on an arm of the Calder and Hebble Navigation waterway. It is to the west of Wakefield, east of Hudder ...
, West Yorkshire, bears a
blue plaque A blue plaque is a permanent sign installed in a public place in the United Kingdom and elsewhere to commemorate a link between that location and a famous person, event, or former building on the site, serving as a historical marker. The term i ...
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. 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 J D Wetherspoon plc (branded variously as Wetherspoon or Wetherspoons, and colloquially known as Spoons) is a pub company operating in the United Kingdom and Ireland. The company was founded in 1979 by Tim Martin and is based in Watford. It op ...
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.


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 Nova Scotia ( ; ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. Nova Scotia is Latin for "New Scotland". Most of the population are native Eng ...
, 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." After Maria Robinson's death in 1939, her sister gave the violin to the
Bridlington Bridlington is a coastal town and a civil parish on the Holderness Coast of the North Sea in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It is about north of Hull and east of York. The Gypsey Race enters the North Sea at its harbour. The 2011 Cen ...
Salvation Army Salvation (from Latin: ''salvatio'', from ''salva'', 'safe, saved') is the state of being saved or protected from harm or a dire situation. In religion and theology, ''salvation'' generally refers to the deliverance of the soul from sin and its c ...
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 ABC News is the news division of the American broadcast network ABC. Its flagship program is the daily evening newscast ''ABC World News Tonight, ABC World News Tonight with David Muir''; other programs include Breakfast television, morning ...
. 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 Devizes is a market town and civil parish in Wiltshire, England. It developed around Devizes Castle, an 11th-century Norman architecture, Norman castle, and received a charter in 1141. The castle was besieged during the Anarchy, a 12th-century ...
,
Wiltshire Wiltshire (; abbreviated Wilts) is a historic and ceremonial county in South West England with an area of . It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset to the southwest, Somerset to the west, Hampshire to the southeast, Gloucestershire ...
, England, on 19 October 2013 for £900,000 ($1.7 million US), as reported by
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board ex ...
,
NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an Television in the United States, American English-language Commercial broadcasting, commercial television network, broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Enterta ...
, and ''
The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...
''. The violin now resides in Tennessee at a museum dedicated to the victims of the sinking, 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 Reg Meuross is an English singer and songwriter based in Somerset. Meuross first emerged on the British acoustic music scene in 1986 when he formed The Panic Brothers with comedian Richard Morton. He made an album called ''In The Red'', prod ...
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 David Michael Tyson is a Canadian rock music producer and songwriter. He is best known for co-writing Alannah Myles' 1990 #1 hit " Black Velvet" (with Christopher Ward) and producing her debut album. He also co-wrote three hit songs (with Dean ...
, with a music video directed by American-Canadian filmmaker
Thom Fitzgerald Thomas "Thom" Fitzgerald (born July 8, 1968) is an American-Canadian film and theatre director, screenwriter, playwright and producer. Life Fitzgerald was born and raised in New Rochelle, New York. His parents divorced when he was five years ol ...
. 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 John Walter Lord Jr. (October 8, 1917 – May 19, 2002) was an American author, lawyer, copywriter and popular historian best known for his 1955 account of the sinking of the RMS ''Titanic'', '' A Night to Remember''. Biography Early life Lo ...
's eponymous 1955 book) *Victor Langley in ''
S.O.S. Titanic ''S.O.S. Titanic'' is a British-American 1979 drama disaster television movie that depicts the doomed 1912 maiden voyage from the perspective of three distinct groups of passengers in First, Second, and Third Class. The script was written by Jam ...
'' (1979
television movie A television film, alternatively known as a television movie, made-for-TV film/movie or TV film/movie, is a feature-length film that is produced and originally distributed by or to a television network, in contrast to theatrical films made for ...
) *Jonathan Evans-Jones in ''
Titanic RMS ''Titanic'' was a British passenger liner, operated by the White Star Line, which sank in the North Atlantic Ocean on 15 April 1912 after striking an iceberg during her maiden voyage from Southampton, England, to New York City, United ...
'' (1997 film) *Csongor Veer in ''
Titanic RMS ''Titanic'' was a British passenger liner, operated by the White Star Line, which sank in the North Atlantic Ocean on 15 April 1912 after striking an iceberg during her maiden voyage from Southampton, England, to New York City, United ...
'' (2012 television miniseries)


References


External links


Wallace Hartley on Titanic-Titanic.comWallace Hartley's Memorial on Titanic-Titanic.comWallace Hartley Information
on
Encyclopedia Titanica ''Encyclopedia Titanica'' is an online reference work containing extensive and constantly updated information on the . The website, a nonprofit endeavor, is a database of passenger and crew biographies, deck plans, and articles submitted by histor ...

More on the Issue of Music Played Near the Climax of the Disaster
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Hartley, Wallace 1878 births 1912 deaths English Methodists English violinists British male violinists English bandleaders People from Colne Deaths on the RMS Titanic 19th-century English musicians 19th-century British male musicians