Titanic Lecture Series

National Museums Northern Ireland will host the following lecture series running from October 2011 - February 2012, highlighting the human stories behind Titanic. Each event will take place at the Ulster Folk and Transport Museum, Cultra and places are free, but must be booked in advance by calling 028 9042 8428.

Visitors can also enjoy free access to the TITANICa exhibition in the Rail Gallery from 6pm each evening.

Titanic and the White Star Line

24 November 2011, 7.30pm - 8.30pm, Rail Gallery
Paul Louden-Brown

An illustrated lecture, telling the story of the steamship company before and after the loss of its infamous vessel. Paul Louden-Brown was a consultant to James Cameron’s blockbuster film, Titanic, and has published many articles and books on ocean liners.

Paul Louden-Brown is an authority on the history of the White Star Line. His collection of posters, furniture, bells, paintings and uniforms is one of the finest in the world and was recently acquired by National Museums Northern Ireland, forming a large part of the new TITANICa exhibition in Belfast.

A former vice president of the Titanic Historical Society, his work for documentary film makers and diving companies, has taken him around the world providing technical and historical information on shipwrecks.

How the Titanic tragedy touched my family

26 January 2012, 7.30pm - 8.30pm, Rail Gallery
Martina Devlin

Martina Devlin’s lecture follows the publication of her novel 'Ship of Dreams', inspired by the story of her grandmother’s uncle, Tom O’Brien.

Tom, a 26-year-old farm labourer, eloped to American with Hannah Godfrey, who was expecting his baby. Tom drowned but Hannah reached New York and gave birth. Later, when there was an opportunity to claim compensation both Hannah and Tom’s mother in Ireland put in rival bids and the two families were estranged, a story which was hushed up for several generations.

Omagh-born Martina Devlin is an author and journalist. She started writing fiction after winning a Hennessy Literary Award for her first short story in the 1996, and has been shortlisted twice for the Irish Book of the Year awards.

Titanic: Behind the Legend

23 February 2012, 7.30pm - 8.30pm, Rail Gallery
William Blair, followed by songs from the Harlandic Male Voice Choir

The series draws to a close with an event hosted by William Blair, Head of Human History at National Museums Northern Ireland. He is the author of ‘Titanic: Behind the Legend’ which draws on NMNI’s collections to reveal the remarkable story of Titanic. His lecture will look at how what was then the world’s largest vessel came to be conceived and built in Belfast at the Harland and Wolff shipyard.

Following the lecture, the Harlandic Male Voice Choir, founded in the shipyard of Harland and Wolff in 1944, will perform songs to complement the Titanic-related programme of events.

For more information visit the National Museums Northern Ireland's website.

Past Lectures:

Ulster Migrants Aboard Titanic

27 October 2011, Cultra Manor

This free event exploreded the migration stories of eight third class Ulster passengers who boarded the Titanic at her last port at Queenstown, County Cork, on 11 April 1912.

‘Ulster Migrants Aboard Titanic’ considered how dangerous Irish emigrants perceived the Atlantic crossing to be and how dangerous it actually was. Through looking at the stories of Thomas Morrow of County Down and Mary McGovern of Cavan, it gave an insight into how local migrants coped with the challenge.

The event was presented by Dr Brian Lambkin, founding Director of the Centre for Migration Studies at the Ulster American Folk Park, and Dr Patrick Fitzgerald, a lecturer in migration studies at the Centre of Migration Studies and Queen’s University, Belfast.

Event Date(s) : October 2011 - February 2012