Wallace Hartley's Violin

Origin
Wallace Henry Hartley (2 June 1878 – 15 April 1912) was an English violinist and bandleader on the RMS Titanic on its maiden voyage. He became famous for leading the eight member band as the ship sank on 15 April 1912. He died in the sinking.

Sinking of the Titanic
After the Titanic hit an iceberg and began to sink, Hartley and his fellow band members started playing music to help keep the passengers calm as the crew loaded the lifeboats. Many of the survivors said that he and the band continued to play until the very end. None of the band members survived the sinking and the story of them playing to the end became a popular legend. One survivor who clambered aboard 'Collapsible A' claimed to have seen Hartley and his band standing just behind the first funnel, by the Grand Staircase. He went on to say that he saw three of them washed off while the other five held on to the railing on top the Grand Staircase's deckhouse, only to be dragged down with the bow, just before Hartley exclaimed, "Gentlemen, I bid you farewell!" A newspaper at the time reported "the part played by the orchestra on board the Titanic in her last dreadful moments will rank among the noblest in the annals of heroism at sea."

Though the final song played by the band is unknown, "Nearer, My God, to Thee" has gained popular acceptance. Former bandmates claimed that Hartley had said he would play either "Nearer, My God, to Thee" or "O God, Our Help in Ages Past" if he was ever on a sinking ship, but Walter Lord's book A Night to Remember popularised wireless officer Harold Bride's account of hearing the song "Autumn".

After the sinking
In March 2013, after two years of in-depth forensic testing, it was announced that it had been determined a violin found in a British man's attic inside a leather case with the initials "W. H. H." was the instrument used by Hartley, who according to lore played, "Nearer My God to Thee" during the ship's last moments. The identification was helped by an engraving on the violin which his fiancee (Maria Robinson) had placed on the instrument in 1910 which read: 'For Wallace on the occasion of our engagement from Maria.' Further tests by a silver expert from the Gemological Association of Great Britain confirmed that the plate on the base of the violin was original and that the metal engraving done on behalf of Maria Robinson was contemporary with those made in 1910. Finally, while researching the origins of the violin, the auctioneers Henry Aldridge and Son, and a biographer of Wallace Hartley discovered the transcript of a telegram sent to the Provincial Secretary of Nova Scotia, Canada, dated July 19, 1912 in the diary of Hartley's grieving fiance, Ms. Robinson, in which she stated:
 * "I would be most grateful if you could convey my heartfelt thanks to all who have made possible the return of my late fiance's violin."

This telegram establishes that Hartley's fiancee did receive the returned violin within three months of the Titanic's sinking in April 1912.

Today
After it was released in the papers that the late Hartley's violin was discovered, the Warehouse decided to grab the violin and sent Mr. Kipling with an exact replica of the object. It was a quick swap and now the violin sits in the Warehouse.