Titanic passengers ate Melton pies as one of their final meals

A lunch menu dated April 12, 1912, just two days before the liner went down after striking an iceberg, was in the pocket of one of the survivors – French woman, Elise Lurette.

It showed that guests were able to dine on dishes including pea soup, boiled chicken and bacon and grilled mutton chops with tapioca pudding, greengage tart and pastry for dessert.

And in the buffet section they could eat Melton Mowbray pies, Bologna sausage and corned ox tongue with the cheese list including Stilton cheese, gorgonzola and camembert.

On the significance of local foods being offered to passengers, Matthew O'Callaghan, chair of the Melton Mowbray Food Partnership, commented: “This shows that these two iconic products made in the Melton area were important enough to have featured on the menu of the Titanic’s tragic maiden voyage.”

Elise, who was 59 when she sailed on the Titanic, worked as a maid for a wealthy couple who lived in a castle in Switzerland.

She managed to get to lifeboat six and floated away from the stricken ship sitting with her employer, Marie Spencer, with women and children prioritised in the emergency.

Marie’s husband, William, sadly went down with the ship.

Elise, who died the following year, left the rare surviving menu to relatives and it was auctioned in 2014 for £76,000.

The disaster claimed the lives of 1,522 passengers and crew. There were 718 survivors.