Robert Norman was a passenger aboard an ocean liner when he was asked to play the piano at a Sunday evening hymn service.
After the service, the Rev Ernest Carter told the assembled congregation it was “the first time that there have been hymns sung on this boat on a Sunday evening, but we trust and pray it won’t be the last”.
It was the last. Later that cold April evening in 1912, the Titanic hit an iceberg and sank to the bottom of the North Atlantic. Norman, from Edinburgh, was among nearly 1,500 passengers and crew who died in the world’s most famous maritime tragedy.
His story is to be told in a travelling exhibition of Titanic artefacts and memorabilia opening at the Royal Highland Centre in Ingliston, near Edinburgh, this month. Among the exhibits is a digital copy of a letter written by Norman days before the ship, en route from the UK to New York, hit the iceberg 370 miles southeast of Newfoundland.
Born in Newington in 1884, Norman attended Merchiston Castle School and became an electrical engineer in Glasgow. He travelled on the Titanic as a second-class passenger and was 28 when it sank.
His letter, written on April 9, 1912 — five days before the disaster — contained instructions for the distribution of his estate in the event of his death. The original is held by National Records of Scotland, which provided a digital copy for display.
The letter, to his brother Stanley, said Norman wanted to divide his money between his sister Lucie and his step-niece Winnie, who would receive £2,000 each, and his cousin George Cochrane, who was to receive £500.
[OP] TimesandSundayTimes | a day ago
Robert Norman was a passenger aboard an ocean liner when he was asked to play the piano at a Sunday evening hymn service.
After the service, the Rev Ernest Carter told the assembled congregation it was “the first time that there have been hymns sung on this boat on a Sunday evening, but we trust and pray it won’t be the last”.
It was the last. Later that cold April evening in 1912, the Titanic hit an iceberg and sank to the bottom of the North Atlantic. Norman, from Edinburgh, was among nearly 1,500 passengers and crew who died in the world’s most famous maritime tragedy.
His story is to be told in a travelling exhibition of Titanic artefacts and memorabilia opening at the Royal Highland Centre in Ingliston, near Edinburgh, this month. Among the exhibits is a digital copy of a letter written by Norman days before the ship, en route from the UK to New York, hit the iceberg 370 miles southeast of Newfoundland.
Born in Newington in 1884, Norman attended Merchiston Castle School and became an electrical engineer in Glasgow. He travelled on the Titanic as a second-class passenger and was 28 when it sank.
His letter, written on April 9, 1912 — five days before the disaster — contained instructions for the distribution of his estate in the event of his death. The original is held by National Records of Scotland, which provided a digital copy for display.
The letter, to his brother Stanley, said Norman wanted to divide his money between his sister Lucie and his step-niece Winnie, who would receive £2,000 each, and his cousin George Cochrane, who was to receive £500.