Titanic Museum bids to bring Wallace Hartley’s last letter ‘home’ to Colne

The letter goes up for auction on April 19th at American auction house RR Auction of New Hampshire. Written on White Star Line headed paper, it says: “This is a fine ship... We have a fine band... I shall probably arrive home on the Sunday morning.”

The minimum bid price for the letter is $5,000 - around £3,120.

And the Titanic in Lancashire Museum in Colne is appealing to businesses to help raise the money to bid for it. Nigel Hampson, curator, said: “Wallace Hartley wrote this letter to his parents on April 10th, 1912.

“It’s tragic they never received this letter and it would be wonderful if it could finally find its way to Colne, 100 years on. I would love the letter to take pride of place in our museum. I can see it being a star attraction!”

If any local business is willing to contribute to the fund to bid for the letter, contact Nigel on 07999 268680 or email [email protected]

Vaughan Jones, tourism initiatives manager at Pendle Council, added: “We’re going all out to mark the 100th anniversary of the Titanic’s sinking with our Titanic in Pendle Festival. The festival is giving local tourism a major boost, and bringing Wallace’s last letter to his home town would be a major tourist draw, too.

“We’d be really interested to hear if anyone is bidding for the letter or is contributing towards its cost so we can invite them to our festival events.”

Vaughan can be contacted on 661962 or [email protected]