Memorial: M1080

Drinking fountain at Western esplanade, Southampton commemorating Mary Anne Rogers, stewardess lost in the wreck of the SS ‘Stella’ 1899

Location

Western esplanade, Southampton, England

Transcript

'IN MEMORY OF / THE HEROIC DEATH OF / MARY ANNE ROGERS / STEWARDESS OF THE 'STELLA' / WHO / ON THE NIGHT OF THE 30TH OF MARCH 1899, / AMID THE CONFUSION AND TERROR OF SHIPWRECK, / AIDED ALL THE WOMEN UNDER HER CHARGE / TO QUIT THE VESSEL IN SAFETY, / GIVING HER OWN LIFE-BELT TO ONE WHO WAS UNPROTECTED / URGED BY THE SAILORS TO MAKE SURE HER ESCAPE / SHE REFUSED, / LEST SHE MIGHT ENDANGER THE HEAVILY-LADEN BOAT, / CHEERING THE DEPARTING CREW / WITH THE FRIENDLY CRY OF 'GOOD-BYE, GOOD-BYE' / SHE WAS SEEN A FEW MOMENTS LATER AS THE 'STELLA' WENT DOWN, LIFTING HER ARMS UPWARD WITH THE PRAYER / 'LORD HAVE ME' / THEN SANK IN THE WATERS WITH THE SINKING SHIP / ACTIONS SUCH AS THESE REVEALING STEADFAST PERFORMANCE / OF DUTY IN THE FACE OF DEATH, READY SELF SACRIFICE FOR / THE SAKE OF OTHERS, RELIANCE ON GOD, CONSTITUTE THE / GLORIOUS HERITAGE OF OUR ENGLISH RACE, THEY / DESERVE PERPETUAL COMMEMORATION, BECAUSE AMONG THE TRIVIAL PLEASURES AND SORDID STRIFE / OF THE WORLD, THEY RECALL TO US FOREVER THE / NOBILITY AND LOVE-WORTHINESS OF HUMAN NATURE'

Details

Description: Drinking fountain under six-sided canopy on pillars. A stone ball on top of the canopy roof. Twenty four roses carved on cornice blocks below roof.
Type: Drinking fountain
Materials: Stone
Date Erected: 1901
Artists: Herbert Bryans
Vessel: SS Stella

People

Rogers, Mary Anne
Age:
Date of Death: 30/3/1899
Cause of Death: Vessel Loss
Rank / Occupation: Stewardess
Organisation: London and South Western Railway

Extra

Notes: Stewardess on board SS 'Stella' wrecked on the Casquets on her way to Guernsey 30/3/1899. Paid for by public subscription. Inscription composed by Frances Power Cobbe.
Bibliography: Robert Douch 'Monuments and Memorials in Southampton' (Southampton, 1968); John Ovenden and David Shayer 'The wreck of the Stella: Titanic of the Channel Islands' (Guernsey, 1999) p.47.
Photographer: B. Tomlinson
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