Jack Phillips and the Titanic

Godalming has a strong Titanic connection through John George 'Jack' Phillips, the radio operator who was born and grew up near Godalming. Jack was born on April the 11th, 1887, in Farncombe, near Godalming in Surrey, England.

As a young boy he sang in the choir of St John the Evangelist, Farncombe, where there is a memorial plaque.
He later attended the Godalming Grammar School, now the Red Lion Public House, before entering the Civil Service as a telegraphist and taking up a position at the Godalming Post Office (now the HSBC Bank). It was here that he first learned Morse Code.

Jack joins the Marconi Company

In March 1906, Jack Phillips joined the Marconi Company attending their Wireless and Telegraphy training school at Seaforth Barracks, Liverpool. On completion of the course he headed the list of successful candidates in the Post Master General's examinations. Jack was considered to be a serious man and stood high in the confidence of his superiors.

He progressed steadily to the top of his chosen profession and for a period of two years he served on board the liners Teutonic, Canada, Corsican, Victoria, Danube, Pretorian, Campania, Lusitania, Oceanic & Mauritania.

In 1908, Jack was transferred to the Marconi high-powered transmitting station at Clifden on the West Coast of Ireland where he worked transmitting and receiving messages from the Marconi station at Glace Bay, Nova Scotia. He was to be here for three years.

Posting to the Titanic

Jack was posted to the liner Adriatic, and then in March 1912 he was sent to Belfast where the magnificent new White Star liner RMS Titanic which was in the last stages of fitting out. He was to take up the post of Chief Wireless Telegraphist with Harold Bride as his junior operator. Both men worked for Marconi, the wireless equipment manufacturer, but were actually paid by the White Star Line.
They were responsible for installing Titanic's new wireless equipment which was at the time the most modern and the most powerful afloat with a range in the order of 250-400 miles in day time and at night, when conditions were favorable, it occasionally reached out 2,000 miles.

They remained at their posts!

In the 24 hours preceding the fateful collision with an iceberg on the 14th of April 1912 the two wireless operators were busy repairing a fault of the transmitter. As a consequence Jack had very little sleep before coming on for his 8.00 pm to 2.00 am watch. It was in these hours that the Titanic was to achieve its highest speeds - some 22.5 knots and so on impact the iceberg inflicted great damage to the watertight compartments causing the vessel to go down by the head.

At the time Jack was still sending personal messages from the passengers to America secure in the belief that the Titanic was unsinkable. However it was soon realised that the vessel was sinking and Jack was instructed by Captain Edward Smith to send SOS messages requesting immediate assistance from all vessels in the area.

From this time both Jack and Harold Bride remained at their posts sending out distress calls until minutes before the Titanic sank. Finally the Captain thanked both operators personally and Bride was sent off by Phillips to save himself while Jack continued transmitting. Jack's last message was picked up at 2.17 am and the ship foundered at 2.20 am.

Harold Bride survived the sinking of the Titanic. Jack was not so fortunate, he perished aged 25 and one day - his last birthday was aboard the Titanic. The official report on the death of Jack Phillips is that he died of hypothermia on the 15th of April, 1912.

Memorials to "Jack" Phillips
To visit all these memorials you might want to take the Jack Phillips walk (see below).

The Memorial Headstone

The body of Jack Phillips was never recovered, but there is a memorial head stone in the family grave at Godalming Old Cemetery. From Godalming Museum the headstone in the shape of an iceberg is about ten minutes walk, and you can see several buildings associated with Jack Phillips along the way.

The Jack Phillips Memorial Cloister
The Jack Phillips memorial cloister and gardens lie on the River Wey, in the shadow of St.Peter & St.Paul's Church in Godalming, Surrey. The memorial is one of the largest in the World to a single Titanic victim, and underwent a major restoration in 1993. It was designed by Hugh Thackeray Turner and opened exactly two years to the day after the sinking.

Jack Phillips Memorial Gardens
Image: Richard Purkiss

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