Most of us know about the story of the sinking in April 1912 of that “unsinkable ship”, the ill-fated RMS Titanic. It was, and still to this day remains a big story and a well-known blockbuster movie (Titanic, 1997), directed by James Cameron and starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet was made about it. This blockbuster movie brought in staggering box office sales of $2.2 billion USD!!! As well as the bigger Titanic story itself, there are many fascinating sub-stories associated with the sinking of the Titanic and this is one such story.
When I visited the Fairview Lawn Cemetery in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, I specifically went there to see the grave site of the victims of the sinking of the ill-fated RMS Titanic in April, 1912 and I wasn’t really expecting to see anything more than that. However, among the Titanic graves there, I saw one particular grave with these words written on the headstone ‘Erected to the memory of an unknown child whose remains were recovered after the disaster to the Titanic, April 15th 1912’, and I asked myself, “well why was this an unknown child?”. So I set out to do some research and find out why this was so! This is the story of that unknown child.
Caption: View of the Titanic Grave Site within the Fairview Lawn Cemetery in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada (Photo: @AdamGT )
Of all the bodies recovered from the sinking of the ill-fated RMS Titanic, one was a child recovered by the recovery ship CS Mackay-Bennett. No one claimed the body and unable to be identified, the child was given a magnificent funeral at St George’s Anglican Church in Halifax and burial at the Fairview Cemetery, apparently all paid for by the lovely and thoughtful crew of the recovery ship. I took the photo below of this child’s grave and you can see the headstone inscription with the words ‘Erected to the memory of an unknown child whose remains were recovered after the disaster to the “Titanic” April 15th 1912’.
Caption: View of The Grave of the Unknown Child at the Fairview Lawn Cemetery in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada (Photo: @AdamGT )
For decades the child victim was simply known as The Unknown Child and came to symbolize the many children who died aboard the Titanic. It took decades before DNA identification was discovered and it took even more years for DNA analysis to mature into a science sophisticated enough to have a chance at identifying the unknown child. In early 2000 three bodies were exhumed however after nearly 100 years, all that was left in this child’s grave was 3 baby teeth and a fragment of bone and they were only able to extract a small amount of DNA from one of those teeth. In November 2002 DNA testing suggested that the child was either a young Swedish boy or 13-month old Eino Viljami Panula of Finland. So in 2002 it seemed that the mystery was solved and the Titanic had given up its secret. However, this proved not to be the case.
In 2002, the child’s shoes that should have been burned with other recovered victim’s clothing but kept in a drawer for decades by a Halifax police sergeant, were donated by the Sergent’s grandson to the Halifax Maritime Museum. These shoes were found to be too big for the Swedish and Finish boys and so the initial DNA analysis was wrong. More extensive mitochondrial genome analyses was undertaken and it was subsequently reported that The Unknown Child was most likely to be 19-month old Sidney Leslie Goodwin, an English child who died with his parents and five older siblings. Of his family, his body was the only one recovered. So it took almost 100 years and only just in time before the body had totally perished and just in time for DNA science to progress sufficiently to be able to identify The Unknown Child. It’s an amazing story but the story continues…
The Goodwin family shouldn’t have been on the Titanic!!! They were on their way to Niagara Falls, N.Y. where the father was going to work at a power plant. They originally booked on another ship, the S.S. New York out of Southampton but that ship was cancelled due to a coal strike at that time so they were transferred to the Titanic!!! So it was really bad luck that they ended up on the Titanic!
As I mentioned, the shoes that played an enormous role in solving The Unknown Child mystery were donated to the Halifax Maritime Museum of the Atlantic by a descendant of the Halifax police officer that kept them in a drawer. The shoes remain as one of the most poignant exhibits in the museum.
Caption: View of a lady approaching The Grave of the Unknown Child at the Fairview Lawn Cemetery in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada (Photo: @AdamGT )
After the final DNA testing and the child’s remains were reburied, the living relatives requested that the headstone remain with the original 1912 inscription as a permanent tribute to all the children who lost their lives in the Titanic disaster. To this day The Unknown Child’s grave is usually covered with children’s toys like stuffed animals. People who know about this story or somehow linked to it often place such baby toys at this grave.
Like this lady in my photo below seen here touching the headstone of the Unknown Child, this story touched my heart when I researched and uncovered the details behind it and I do hope it also touches your heart!
Caption: View of a lady patting the headstone of The Grave of the Unknown Child at the Fairview Lawn Cemetery in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada (Photo: @AdamGT )
