Roger Marie Bricoux was a French cellist on the RMS Titanic on its Maiden Voyage. He died with all other musicians in the sinking of this vessel.
Background
Roger Bricoux was born on June the first, 1891, in rue de Donzy, Cosne-sur-Loire, France. He was the son of a musician and the family moved to Monaco when he was a young boy. He was educated in various Catholic institutions in Italy. It was during his studies that he joined his first orchestra and won first prize at the Conservatory of Bologna for musical ability. After studying at the Paris Conservatory, he moved to England in 1910 to join the orchestra in the Grand Central Hotel in Leeds. At the end of 1911, he moved to Lille, France, living at 5 Place du Lion d’Or and played in various locations throughout the city.
Titanic
Before joining the Titanic, Bricoux and pianist William Brailey had served together on the Cunard steamer RMS Carpathia when they were employed by the White Star Line via their agency, C.W & F.N. Black. He boarded the Titanic on Wednesday 10 April 1912 in Southampton, UK. His ticket number was 250654, the ticket for all the members of Wallace Hartley's orchestra. His cabin was Second Class and he was 20 years old, the only French musician aboard the Titanic.
After the Titanic hit an iceberg and began to sink, Bricoux 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. One Second Class passenger 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." Bricoux was 20 years old when he died. His body, if recovered, was never identified.
In 1913, after his apparent disappearance, he was declared a "deserter" by the French army. It was not until 2000, that he was eventually officially registered as dead in France, mainly due to the efforts of the Association Française du Titanic. On 2 November 2000, the same association unveiled a memorial plaque to Bricoux in Cosne-sur-Loire.