- Smith held the rank of Commander within the Royal Naval Reserve (RNR) and wore his two decorations when in uniform: the Decoration for Officers of the Royal Naval Reserve and the Transport Medal.
- Other people on the RMS Titanic include John Jacob Astor, Ruth Becker Blanchard, Joseph Boxhall, Margaret Brown, Millvina Dean, Lady Duff Gordon, Jacques Futrelle, May Futrelle, Dorothy Gibson, Edith Haisman and Eva Hart.
- Captain of the RMS Titanic, which went down on her maiden voyage on April 15, 1912 taking him with her. He planned to retire after completing the doomed ship's maiden voyage.
- His body was never recovered after the Titanic had sunk. A large bronze statue of Smith was unveiled in July 1914 at the western end of the Museum Gardens in Beacon Park, Lichfield. For his stiff upper lip self-discipline, stoicism and fortitude in the face of adversity, the plague below the statue states, "Bequeathing to his countrymen, the memory [and] example of a great heart, a brave life and a heroic death, 'be British'.".
- On 13 January 1887, Smith married Sarah Eleanor Pennington at St Oswald's Church, Winwick, Lancashire. Their daughter, Helen Melville Smith, was born in Waterloo, Liverpool on 2 April 1898. The family resided in a red brick, twin-gabled house, named "Woodhead", on Winn Road, Highfield, Southampton, Hampshire.
- Shortly after 11:40 p.m. on 14 April 1912, Smith was informed by First Officer William Murdoch that the ship had just collided with an iceberg. It was soon apparent that the ship was seriously damaged; designer Thomas Andrews reported that all of the first five of the ship's watertight compartments had been breached and that the Titanic would sink in under two hours.
- Smith attended the Etruria British School until the age of 13, when he left and operated a steam hammer at the Etruria Forge. In 1867, at age 17, he went to Liverpool in the footsteps of his half-brother Joseph Hancock, a captain on a sailing ship. He began his apprenticeship on Senator Weber, owned by A Gibson & Co. of Liverpool.
- The first four days of the voyage passed without incident, but on 14 April 1912, the Titanic's radio operators received six messages from other ships warning of drifting ice, which passengers on the Titanic had begun to notice during the afternoon.
- Edward John Smith was born on 27 January 1850 on Well Street, Hanley, Staffordshire, England to Edward Smith, a potter, and Catherine Hancock, born Marsh, who married on 2 August 1841 in Shelton, Staffordshire. His parents later owned a shop.
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