John Wesley Woodward and Headington
John Wesley Woodward (1879–1912) was born at West Bromwich, the youngest of of the nine children of Joseph and Martha Woodward.
Woodward’s father moved to Oxford, and by 1912 they were living at No. 2 The Firs (now No. 24) Windmill Road, Headington. Woodward was a 'cello player, and in 1909 he joined the White Star Line. He played his 'cello on the maiden voyage of the Titanic, and (along with all the other musicians) died when she sank.
A plaque in All Saints Church, Headington, reads as follows:
TO THE GLORY OF GOD AND IN MEMORY OF
JOHN WESLEY WOODWARD
BANDSMAN ON THE S.S. TITANIC
WHO WITH HIS COMRADES
NOBLY PERFORMED HIS DUTY TO THE LAST
WHEN THE SHIP SANK
AFTER COLLISION WITH AN ICEBERG
ON APRIL 15 1912.
BORN SEPT: 11, 1879.
"NEARER MY GOD TO THEE."
Page on John Woodward on Titanic website