W. J. Viscount Pirrie

Patrick McDowell

Bronze

City Hall, Belfast

The Bust

Photograph and text by Philip V. Allingham 2006.

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Two relics of the Titanic disaster of 1912 are located on the grounds of City Hall. The first is the Titanic Memorial (unveiled in 1920), which shows two sea nymphs bearing up a drowned sailor; at its base is a list of those who perished on 15 April 1912. (This memorial once stood in the middle of Donegall Square North, but was subsequently moved within the railings of City Hall on the east side.) The second is more oblique, a commemorative bust of Viscount Pirrie, who, while Lord Mayor of the city, was a member of the board of directors of Harland and Wolff, the local firm that constructed the ill-fated liner and her distinguished sister-ships, Britannic and Olympic.