'Poignant' Titanic diary expected to sell for £40k

A "poignant" diary belonging to a third class passenger on the ship is up for sale

An archive of material, including a "poignant" diary belonging to a passenger on the Titanic, is expected to fetch more than £40,000 at auction.

Ernest Tomlin, was a third class passenger on the ship and had intended to travel to the US to complete his bible studies before the ill-fated liner sank in 1912.

Among the items included in the sale at Henry Aldridge and Son in Devizes, Wiltshire is his diary with a pencil hidden in the spine featuring his last entry on 10 April which "simply says 'Titanic' and nothing else".

Auctioneer Andrew Aldridge said: "It's quite conceivable that word was the last thing that pencil wrote" before Mr Tomlin went down with the ship.

The diary shows significant signs of water damage from the North Atlantic as it was onboard the Titanic and was recovered from Mr Tomlin's body and returned to his family.

The series of his items also included water stained business cards from the London City Mission, handwritten notes, an extremely rare United States Black Eagle silver dollar certificate and an original letter from The White Star Line Passenger Department showing his booking.

Mr Aldridge said the diary in the collection was one of his "favourite lots".

The entire Ernest Tomlin collection is expected to sell for £40,000

"It's only a small object, it's water stained and it's got the little pencil with it which fitted into the spine," he said.

"It's quite conceivable that word was the last thing the pencil wrote.

"A diary is very close to anyone's heart, but this one, the last entry is 10 April and it simply says 'Titanic' - nothing else.

"In terms of poignancy it's up there."

Mr Aldridge said the diary in the collection is one of his "favourite" lots

The collection also features a letter Mr Tomlin wrote on the Titanic that details his experiences.

"He makes comments like, 'the foreigners will play cards for anything' giving you a very stereotyped image quite similar to the one of Jack in the Titanic movie who wins his ticket over a game of cards.

"Which is really cool," he added.

The Ernest Tomlin collection goes up for auction on Saturday.

Mr Aldridge said members of the public can view the items until then.