MEMBERS of the British Titanic Society will mark its 30th anniversary by raising funds for a memorial to Southampton sailors killed in the disaster.

The city was home to 549 of the 673 White Star employees who died when the Titanic struck an iceberg and sank during her maiden voyage from Southampton to New York in April 1912.

Overnight more than 232 women in the city were widowed and 1,239 children were left without a father.

Many of the crewmen came from Northam, with almost every street suffering at least one bereavement as a result of the tragedy.

As reported in the Daily Echo, the city’s mother church, St Mary’s in Northam, is raising funds for a stained-glass window in memory of the men who perished.

The window will depict an angel hovering over the Atlantic and holding a ribbon that says “The Crew”.

On April 20 1912 St Mary’s held a memorial service attended by hundreds of mourners including the mayor, Henry Bowyer, and the widow of Titanic’s captain, Edward Smith.

The Bishop of Winchester told the congregation: “In spite of the glory of the spring sunshine streaming in, there is a pall of sorrow over the country, which lay thicker over Southampton. None could remember a greater catastrophe so awful.”

The church’s fundraising has already netted most of the £35,000 needed to finance the new window.

Further fundraising will take place during the British Titanic Society’s annual convention at the Grand Harbour Hotel in West Quay Road, Southampton, this weekend.

The society is celebrating its 30th anniversary and the convention is set to attract its biggest crowd since 2012 - the 100th anniversary of the disaster in which more than 1,500 people died.

The three-day event includes a public open day on Saturday.

A society spokesman said: “An exhibition will include rare and even unique artefacts from Titanic, including an original lifejacket, sheet music that belonged to bandleader Wallace Hartley, and a gold pocket watch picked up by a surviving crew member as the ship was sinking beneath his feet.”

Cash collected during the convention could result in St Mary’s hitting its fundraising target.

Those backing the appeal include film star David Warner, one of the very few actors who have appeared in two Titanic movies.