Unused Titanic ticket found in US

A Liverpool cleric owned a first class ticket

A pristine, unused ticket for the doomed ship, Titanic, has been discovered in America.

Margaret Hallem from Illinois said her Irish grandmother had been due to sail on the White Star liner, but missed the trip due to bad weather.

She was checking up on her Irish roots at the Smithsonian Folklife Festival in Washington DC when she revealed that her family still had the ticket.

Genealogists from Northern Ireland are working at the festival.

Valerie Adams, Public Records Office Northern Ireland, said: "It is always amazing to hear the stories of people searching for their family histories. But this one was a bit special.

"We have talked to more than 4,000 people since the start of the festival and it has been a wonderful experience."

The databases of the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland, the Ulster Historical Foundation and the Centre for Migration Studies as well as a number of printed resources and the Irish Genealogy Central Signposting Index are being used to help people's individual research.

In 2003, museum archivists uncovered the story behind what was thought to be the only known surviving first class ticket for the doomed ship Titanic.

It belonged to a Liverpool vicar.