A TITANIC enthusiast has paid £4,000 for letters sent following the death of a former editor of The Northern Echo who perished after the famous liner hit an iceberg.

Two letters from the widow of William Stead - which relate to a compensation claim concerning his death - were part of a large collection of Titanic items to go under the hammer.

The letters were penned almost four years after the White Star Line cruiser sank in the Atlantic Ocean on April 15 1912.

Solicitors Norman Croom-Johnson wrote a two page letter to White Star Line, the Titanic’s owners, on January 5, 1916 to ask for £130,000 in compensation on behalf of Emma Lucy Stead, the journalist’s widow.

A second letter from White Star Line to its solicitors, Hill Dickinson, requests they deal with the claim from Mrs Stead.

They were sold in an online auction run by the American-based RR Auction which ended on April 15, 101-years to day after the sinking.

They were bought for £4,038.07 to a buyer in Ontario, Canada.

Bobby Livingston, executive vice-president of RR Auction, said: “The buyer is a long-term Titanic collector.

“This was quite a popular sale and there were lots of bids. We were happy with the sale and there were more than 30 bidders.

We expected the Stead items to go for about $6,000, or £3,991.42, but the letters went for $6,072, or £4.039.72.

“The interest with Titanic is that it was the first live event.

“Reporters trying to get first-hand accounts used the new Marconi wireless to try to reach survivors on the rescue ships such as the Carpathia.

“It’s also a sign of man’s hubris, or over confidence, in taking on nature and it’s a case where the rich and the poor died together.”

William Stead, a well known Liberal, became editor of The Northern Echo in 1871 aged just 22.

He was travelling on the ill-fated liner, which sank on its maiden voyage, as he headed to New York to attend a peace congress at Carnegie Hall.

Survivors said he helped women and children into lifeboats and that he was later seen clinging to a lifeboat. His body was never found. In all, more than 1,500 people died.