Colorized photo of John 'Jock' Hume.
John Law Hume (often called Jock) was a violinist, a young professional musician well known locally for his performances and later as one of the musicians on the Titanic.
The role that John Hume played in the last hours of the Titanic made him, and his fellow members of the ship’s small Orchestra, famous. The sinking of the greatest liner ever built on its first voyage was headline news around the world and the story of the band continuing to play throughout the evacuation and sinking of the ship became a legend. The belief was that their play prevented panic breaking out and even helped some of the doomed passengers to meet their deaths calmly.
Early life & career[]
John Law Hume was born in Dumfries, Scotland on September 8, 1890 as the son of Andrew Hume and Grace Law. Andrew was also a violinist and music teacher. He led a small orchestra which gave concerts in the bandstand in the Dock Park. Grace was a former laundress, daughter of an iron worker. John was born as the second child into a family of 5 children. His elder sister was Nellie. She came into this world in 1889. Following John was Grace in 1892 and her sister Catherine arrived in 1897. John also had a younger brother named Andrew, who was delivered in 1901.
Since June 1, 1896, as a 5-year-old, John attended the Saint Michael’s School which was only a short walk from the family’s home at Springbank on the Dock Head. The Dock Park must have been familiar to him during his childhood. He learned to play the violin and gave public performances whilst still at primary school. He first played at the Dock Park bandstand in his father’s string ensemble at the age of 9. Later, he performed during the intervals at the Theatre Royal in Shakespeare Street. Not yet in his teens, he was already working as a professional musician. He left school as well as his home at the age of 13 and was employed as a clerk in a local solicitor’s office for a year, but he wasn't happy there, so he decided to make his living as a musician.
In 1906, his mother died at young age. She was only 40 years old when she was taken away after suffering from esophagus cancer. After just 14 months, Father Andrew Hume was married to his second wife, Alice Mary Alston, now John's stepmother,
In 1907, at the age of just 17, he first went to sea as a member of a ship’s orchestra. He played on the ocean-going liners of the Anchor Line, sailing from Glasgow to New York. He enjoyed the life and made many friends at sea and during his stays in New York, where he picked up new American ragtime tunes. Sailing from Glasgow meant that he could easily return home between voyages. He began to get work from the White Star Line, sailing from Liverpool or Southampton to New York. This was an advance in his career as White Star liners were famous for their size and luxury and they had a reputation for engaging the very best musicians. These large liners generally had five musicians on board, with two violins, a viola, a cello and a piano playing as a piano quintet. The musicians had to learn more than 350 different pieces of music from the White Star Line’s music listing as the line did not allow the use of sheet music. The music itself ranged from adaptions of pieces from orchestral works and operettas, waltzes, light music and ragtime. The musicians also had to be prepared to play requests from the passengers.
John Hume on the Carmania
In his personal life, John Hume was smitten by a local girl in 1909, named Mary Costin. She worked in a glove factory. They met eachother at the Annual Rood Fair in Dumfries, on the last Wednesday of September. John wooed her with his violin and sparks flew. They soon got engaged. When the White Star Line launched the Olympic in 1910, it was the largest liner in the world. John Hume, then only 20 years old, was a member of this ship’s orchestra in 1911 when it got into service. The Captain and the First Officer were Edward John Smith and William Murdoch, both famous for serving later on the Titanic.
John was a bit of a cosmopolitan. He had seen much of the world in 1910. He was often away from home. Hume spent the winter of 1910-1911 in Kingston, Jamaica, where he performed in the Orchestra for the Constant Spring Hotel, a grand resort of the time. Future Titanic cellist John Woodward was also a member of the Constant Spring Orchestra. During his four months in Jamaica, Hume cheated on Mary as he had found a new romance and entered a relationship with the Jamacian-born barmaid Ethel McDonald. Hume left Jamaica in April 1911. While he was away, Ethel delivered his first and only son : Keith Neville, on November 2, 1911.
Later, Hume was one of the five musicians aboard the Carmania of the Cunard Line, his last sea voyage before he would be joining Titanic. In 1912, the Hume family lived at 42 George Street, Dumfries. John Hume still lived at home along with his younger sister and brother, Kate and Andrew. His sisters Nellie and Grace had already left home. Despite having a dear and a child in Jamaica, John was still engaged to his first love Mary Costin, who lived just around the corner in Buccleuch Street. He intended to settle down in Dumfries with her and marry her. It's unknown if Mary ever knew about Jock's affair with Mrs. MacDonald. It is likely that she was left in the dark.
Their own relationship didn't have an easy time of it either in regards to their families. While the two young ones were deeply in love, the Humes and Costins didn't like eachother. There was large animosity between the two families and they didn't speak, even though they lived only a few hundred metres apart. The origin of the conflict lay in the fact that John's father didn't feel that Mary was suitable for him, while Susan Costin, Mary's mother, did everything she could to support the relationship as she held her daughter's happiness as her highest goal. She even invited Jock to live under her roof and he complied and slept there on occasion.
Titanic[]
In 1911, the Titanic was launched. She got into service in April 1912. When the opportunity to sail on the Maiden Voyage of the Titanic arose, Jock decided to make one more trip to sea. Eight musicians were signed on to play, working as a violin and bass quintet and a piano trio. They were to entertain passengers in the reception areas, dining rooms and lounges throughout the day and in the evening. John Hume and the other members of Wallace Hartley’s orchestra were all members of the Amalgamated British Musicians’ Union and were employed by a Liverpool music agency, C.W. & F.N. Black, which supplied musicians for the White Star Line. Jock was chosen through his good repuation.
When he left, Mary was already pregnant with his child. He made his way to Southampton to join the ship and left port aboard the grand ship Wednesday 10th April. He was the youngest member of the Orchestra with 21 years old. All musicians had a cabin in Second Class.
On the night of Sunday 14th April, the musicians entertained the passengers until after 11 P.M. and then went off duty. Twenty minutes before midnight the ship struck an iceberg and her damage was so great, that she started to sink. The order was given to prepare evacuation just after midnight. There were only enough lifeboats for about half of the passengers and crew. At 12:15 A.M, Jock and the others put on their uniforms and began to play in the First Class Lounge. Their duty was to keep the passengers calm and they started to literally downplay any panic with their melodies. It was the first time that all eight had played together. Later they moved onto the Boat Deck where the lifeboats were being lowered into the water. They played until after 2:00 A.M. when the last two lifeboats were being prepared and people were beginning to jump into the sea from the ship. Several survivors reported that the last piece of music that was played was the hymn, ‘Nearer, My God, To Thee’ and that they shook hands and say their goodbyes while Wallace Hartley showed his heartfelt respect to his colleagues and thanked them.
The ship finally disappeared beneath the water at 2.20 A.M. John Hume was only 21 years old when he died. One survivor said: ‘Many brave things were done that night, but none were more brave than those done by men playing minute after minute as the ship settled quietly lower and lower in the sea. The music they played served alike as their own immortal requiem and their right to be recalled on the scrolls of undying fame.’
After his death[]
John Hume’s body was recovered close to those of two other members of the ship’s orchestra, which were John Clarke and leader Wallace Hartley. John was the 153rd body that the CS Mackay-Bennett had picked up. He was buried at Fairview Lawn Cemetery in Halifax, Nova Scotia. The belongings that were found on his body were returned to his family in Dumfries: a cigarette case, a silver watch, a purse containing copper coins, a pen knife with a pearl handle, a violin mute and a brass uniform button. A memorial service was held in Waterloo Place Congregational Church on the Dock Head (currently used by the Salvation Army). This was the family’s church, where John Hume had given his first public performance at the Sunday School. Another ship, the Algerine, found an old school friend of Jock who was a steward on the Titanic: Thomas Mullin.
The moment that the ship went to the depths of the Atlantic, his payment was stopped. On top of that, the agency C.W. and F.N. Black had the rude audacity to send a bill to Jock's father for the copper buttons on his uniform and the lyre lapel insignia.
The story of the courage of the ship’s musicians spread around the world in the aftermath of the disaster. Concerts were held in their memory in the Royal Albert Hall in London and in New York. Later that year, on October 18, 1912, John became a posthumus father. Mary Costin delivered their only daughter who she named Johnann Law Hume in memory of her husband. Without knowing, the young girl, often referred to as 'Jaqueline' or 'Jackie', had a half-brother overseas. In the years that followed there was a long standing dispute between Mary Costin and the Hume family over payments from the Titanic Relief Fund. Little did they know there were also payments from the Titanic Relief Fund going to Jamaica.
John's fiancee coudn't sleep very well during the night of the sinking. She felt something was off and the next day, she decided to get out of work early to pay visit to the Humes for information even though her mother tried to dissuade her. Miss Costin still went to the house of the Humes and knocked on the front door. Jock's stepmother Alice opened her door only to promptly shut it in her face, exclaiming that she'd rather not see Mary return.
Jock's younger brother Andrew would later write a book full of recipes of typical Titanic-dishes.
Sources[]
- 'En de band speelde door' ©2011 (second print, 2012, Dutch version) Christopher Ward [the son of Johnann Law]