Commander Edward John Smith Statue

The statue of Commander Edward John Smith in Lichfield, England, is one of the most controversial Titanic memorials. Although Smith was a very experienced sea captain who was well liked by both crew members and passengers who sailed with him, he also had a history of being involved in nautical accidents. When the Titanic sank in 1912, many held Smith responsible. 

Even so, some people still wanted to commemorate Commander Smith after he died in the disaster. In 1913, someone — possibly Smith's wife — placed a memorial tablet in Hanley, near Stone-on-Trent, where Smith was born.

A memorial committee then raised funds for a more impressive statue of the captain. Kathleen Scott, the widow of Antarctic explorer Robert Falcon Scott, was commissioned to sculpt the statue. 

For reasons that are still unclear, the memorial committee decided to place the statue in Beacon Park in Lichfield, an inland city with no connection to Commander Smith or the Titanic. Some hypothesize that the committee chose Lichfield because it lies halfway between London and Liverpool, which was where White Star Line — the company that owned the RMS Titanic — was headquartered. Others speculate that Smith’s hometown of Hanley did not want the statue, desiring to avoid association with the man nominally responsible for the Titanic sinking. Some Lichfieldians are thought to have protested against the statue’s placement in their city as well. Lastly, some assert that the statue was placed in Lichfield because it is the center of the diocese that includes Hanley.

Whatever the reason for its placement may have been, the eight-foot bronze statue was unveiled in Lichfield's Beacon Park in July 1914. 

In recent years, the local government in Stoke-on-Trent has campaigned to relocate the statue to Hanley. For now, though, Lichfield has refused.