Saturday, May 18 – 1912
Thousands of people honoured on Saturday an heroic son of England – Mr. Wallace Hartley, the bandmaster of the Titanic, who was laid to rest in the family vault in the cemetery at Colne, Lancashire.
Of all the incidents that marked the disaster to the giant White Star liner none touched the imagination more than that of the vessel’s band, with Mr. Hartley in his accustomed place, calmly playing “Nearer my God, to Thee,” as the ship took her final plunge into the ocean’s depths.
Every house in Colne had the blinds drawn and flags flew half-mast on all the public buildings. Many thousands of visitors from various towns in Lancashire and Yorkshire and other parts of the country witnessed the obsequies which were of a most impressive character. The total number of spectators probably exceeded 30,000.
In the funeral procession from the Bethel Independent Methodist Chapel, where Mr. Hartley was originally a chorister and his father choirmaster for twenty-five years, to the public cemetery were the Corporation of Colne, the East Lancs. Territorial Regiment, five brass bands, Lancs. County Constabulary (mounted and foot), and representatives of large numbers of institutions in various parts of the country with which the dead hero had been associated.
The progress of the procession elicited striking demonstrations of sympathy and distress, many in the vast crowd being moved to tears. Actuated by one common impulse every man and boy uncovered their heads as the hearse passed. The massed bands continuously played the Dead March in “Saul” from the chapel to the grave and at the cemetery the massed choirs sang “Nearer my God, to Thee,” with orchestral accompaniment.
Pathetic figures at the graveside were the parents of the dead hero, who stood side by side with bowed heads. The ceremony terminated with the “Last Post,” sounded by a large number of bugler scouts. The funeral service was conducted by Mr. T. Worthington, of Abram, senior minister of the Independent Methodist Connexion. Floral tributes were received from all parts of the country.
The body of Mr. Hartley was brought to Liverpool the previous day by the liner Arabic. The aged father of the bandmaster was present and tried in vain to conceal his emotion. A hearse which had made the fifty-nine miles journey through hilly country to Liverpool, was in waiting to convey the body back to his native Colne-on-the-Hill.
(West Briton and Cornwall Advertiser)
"Play Up, Liverpool" 