MOURNERS gathered in Southampton to mark one of Britain's most famous tragedies - 110 years since the sinking of RMS Titanic.

The ship, which was branded "unsinkable" at the time, is a major part of the city's history due to the number of families that were impacted.

On April 15, people gathered at the Titanic Engineers' Memorial in East Park in the city centre to lay wreaths and pay their respects to those who lost their lives.

The Titanic sank during the early hours of April 15, 1912, in the North Atlantic after ploughing into an iceberg during its maiden voyage.

Among the dead were 549 people from Southampton, many of whom were engineers on the ship.

The event was attended by Godfrey Collier, a tour guide at See Southampton, and Nigel Philpott, the chair of See Southampton, who laid wreaths on behalf of the British Titanic Society.

Godfrey told the Daily Echo: "It is vitally important for us to remember the Titanic because the bulk of the crew was from Southampton.

"It left so many families without husbands, sons, brothers, fathers.

"Southampton became known as the city of widows, and there are a lot of families now that still feel a great sadness."

Another man who laid a wreath at the memorial was Clifford Ismay.

The 66-year-old made a 350-mile trip from Cumbria to be among those paying tribute.

He is the distant relative of J. Bruce Ismay, the owner of the Titanic and a controversial survivor of the sinking.

Speaking at the memorial, he said: "I am feeling very emotional.

"It has been a lifelong ambition of mine to be here. It is very humbling.

"These guys [the engineers] stayed until the very end, they could've come up on deck but they didn't.

"They kept the lights on and the pumps working and they put other people's lives before their own.

"Being a retired electrical engineer myself I can only begin to imagine how it was for them down there."