Young Southsea boy Oliver reveals his school's Titanic link

But after a week of painstaking research, the St Jude’s CofE Primary School pupil unearthed a hidden slice of history which tied his school to the sinking of the Titanic more than 100 years ago.

One of the survivors of the tragedy was a former pupil at the St Nicholas Street institution– and his dad was a teacher there in the 19th century.

Young historian Oliver discovered the details after tracking down Reginald’s grave, in Highland Road Cemetery, Southsea, while walking his dog.

He spent a week getting the information together before presenting at an assembly.

Speaking of the discovery, he said: ‘I felt happy and excited. Even though it took me a week I thought that it would be a good link for the school to the Titanic.’

The news – which was revealed as part of a Year 3 project – has left his schoolmates and teachers stunned.

Sharon Gordon, a teacher at the school, was thrilled by young Oliver’s efforts.

‘It’s been a real shock, we had absolutely no idea about any of this until Oliver told us,’ she said.

‘He has done an amazing job and has worked very hard.’

Reginald Lee was one of the lookouts stationed in the crow’s nest of the doomed liner. He watched as the vessel – which was hailed by engineers as ‘unsinkable’ – smashed into an iceberg on the night of April 14, 1912.

As a rower on one of the ship’s 20 lifeboats, Reginald was one of the few survivors of the tragedy, which killed more than 1,500 people.

But before getting a job on the Titanic, he had lived in School House, at St Jude’s.