Hello folks

I am in town for a few days and had a walk early this morning round the Pier Head. Had a look at the Titanic Memorial known officially as the Marine Engine Room Men Memorial, because as Taffy wrote recently, since it's "Also felt to be originally a memorial to the lost Titanic engine room men. " Sir William Goscombe John (1860-1952), sculptor, 1916.



I find it impressive but I am surprised there is no sign in the area around the monument to tell anybody what the memorial is for. True, there is an inscription on the memorial that mentions the engine room men but makes no reference to the Titanic. Also saw what looked like a few chunks out of the memorial on its east and north facing sides which I attribute to shrapnel bomb damage.

It seems to me that a placard would help enlighten visitors as to the history of the memorial, whether it is meant to be for the men of the engine room of the Titanic, or is only known by tradition as being associated with the Titanic. It would appear to me that since the memorial was erected in 1916 it might also be meant to honor engine room men who died aboard ships in World War I. Possibly the plans for the memorial were in the works for a number of years and while the original plans called for it to honor the engine room men of the Titanic who died when the ship sank in April 1912, but by the time it came to unveil the memorial in 1916 it was felt to be more meaningful to make it more generic in honoring engine room men in general since the Great War was by then ongoing????

See another pic at "Men of the Machine Engine Room" where some of the shrapnel damage I mentioned above can be seen -- more Pier Head/Liverpool pics also through kate&drew's photostream.



Chris