A Scottish violinist, Hume, known as 'Jock', gained considerable experience performing on several ships, including the RMS Olympic, where he and John Wesley Woodward joined for her maiden voyage on 1 May 1911, before both joining the Titanic. He was enlisted by the music agency C.W. & F.N. Black, which provided musicians for prominent liners of the time, securing his place in the ship's orchestra for its ill-fated maiden voyage. Hume's fiancée, Mary Costin, was expecting their child during the ship's voyage. After the disaster, Hume's body was recovered, and he was buried in Fairview Lawn Cemetery in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Coincidentally, Hume and Thomas Mullin, a Titanic steward, both hailed from Dumfries and attended St Michael’s School there, where a memorial plaque was later erected in their honour.