Englishmen aboard the Titanic were less likely to survive than their American counterparts because of their good manners, a new study suggests.
The film Titanic: English people were seven per cent less likely to survive the 1912 disaster than others on board
They may have insisted that lifeboat places were given to "women and children first" and queued for a place while others made saving their own lives the priority, it is believed.
English people were seven per cent less likely to survive the 1912 disaster than others on board, according to the study. By contrast, Americans were 8.5 per cent more likely to survive than the norm.
Yet there was practically no difference in the survival rate among the two countries' women, indicating that English gentlemen gallantly sacrificed themselves.
English passengers were only 0.3 per cent less likely to survive - and Americans only 0.4 per cent more likely - when men were removed from the equation, the researchers, from Queensland University of Technology in Australia, found.
The study's results showed that among other factors, "cultural background matters" in a life-and-death situation, according to its Swiss and Australian authors.
Irish passengers were five per cent and Swedes two per cent more likely to survive than the average, they found.
The study also examined whether social norms such as "women and children first" survive crises like the Titanic disaster, or whether people revert to "every man for himself" and seek to save themselves.
The ship struck an iceberg during its maiden voyage of April 14, 1912 and sank shortly after. There were only 1,178 lifeboat spaces to go around the 2,223 people on board. Only 706 survived the disaster, with 1,517 perishing in the icy Atlantic.
The study found that women were 52 per cent more likely to survive compared to the average, while children aged 15 and below were 32 per cent more likely to live through it than people aged 51 or more.
Women aged between 15 and 35 - optimum reproductive age - were even more likely to survive the tragedy.
The researchers said the findings supported the theory that people will act on a "procreation instinct" to preserve their species by protecting mothers and young children.
They also discovered that the better a passenger's class of accomodation, the more likely they were to survive.
"Being in the first class as opposed to third class increases the probability of surviving by around 40 percentage points," the authors wrote.
Six of the seven children in first class and all of the children in second class were saved, while only a third were saved in third class. Almost every first-class woman survived, compared with 86 per cent of those in second class and less than half in third class.
The researchers put this down to passengers with more expensive tickets being given "preferential treatment" and "better access to information about imminent danger, persons of power and decision makers".
Englishmen on Titanic less likely to survive than Americans 'due to good manners' - Telegraph
Englishmen on Titanic less likely to survive than Americans 'due to good manners'
Ummm...wow.
this is hilarious, and true im sure 
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