"RMS Titanic was a British passenger liner that sank in the North Atlantic Ocean on 15 April 1912 after colliding with an iceberg during her maiden voyage from Southampton, UK to New York City, US. The sinking of Titanic caused the deaths of more than 1,500 people in one of the deadliest peacetime maritime disasters in modern history.
The ship was considered unsinkable due to having 16 watertight compartments. However when the Titanic hit the iceberg a glancing blow along the side of the ship it ruptured five of the compartments. This proved to be too much for the ship to handle and it sank rapidly
When the Titanic started to sink, Hartley and the band continued to play on, it's believed to help keep the passengers calm. There were reports after the sinking that the band played until the very end and certainly none survived.
Wallace Hartley was born and raised in Colne and attended Bethel Independent Methodist Chapel, where his father was choirmaster. One of the congregation taught him to play the violin when he was about 12 years old.
Hartley played violin with a couple of orchestras and then in 1909 joined the Cunard company where he played violin with orchestras on cross Atlantic cruise ships.
When the new cruise liner the R. M. S. Titanic was launched Hartley was promoted to be band leader on its maiden voyage. After the liner hit an iceberg and started to sink he and his band continued to play to keep the passengers calm whilst they were getting into the life boats.
When the body of Hartley was found his violin case was strapped to his body and the ship Arabic returned his body to England.
After news of what he had done reached home one newspaper named Hartley the greatest hero of the Titanic. When he was buried in Colne on 18th May 1912, one thousand people attended the funeral and it is estimated that 30 thousand to 40 thousand people had lined the route of the funeral procession."
These and further details were found on his Wikipedia page.
link
The proud citizens of Colne raised the money to erect this memorial to him in February 1915. The statue is a life size bronze bust of Wallace Hartley, flanked by two smaller bronze female figurines holding a lyre representing music and a laurel wreath representing valour. He is shown wearing a formal jacket, waistcoat and shirt and tie or maybe a cravat, the sort of attire he would have worn as band leader.
The bust was moved to the current position after a World War I memorial was erected on 11th November 1930 and is in a small garden area facing the war memorial. The model of the Titanic stands at the edge of the garden about eight feet away.
There is an inscription on the plinth with the following text.
WALLACE
HARTLEY
BANDMASTER OF
THE R.M.S. TITANIC
WHO PERISHED IN
THE FOUNDERING
OF THAT VESSEL
APRIL 15TH 1912.
ERECTED BY VOLUNTARY
CONTRIBUTIONS TO COM-
MEMORATE THE HEROISM
OF A NATIVE OF THIS
TOWN