Millvina Dean
Encyclopedia
Elizabeth Gladys Millvina Dean (2 February 1912 – 31 May 2009) was the last remaining survivor of the sinking of the RMS Titanic, which occurred on 15 April 1912. At 2 months and 13 days of age, she was also the youngest passenger on board the ship.
, England
, to Bertram Frank Dean and Georgette Eva Light. She had a brother, Bertram Vere Dean
, born 21 May 1910. Millvina Dean never married and had no children. Dean's father died on the Titanic; her mother died on 16 September 1975, aged 96; and her brother Bertram Vere died, aged 81, on 15 April 1992, exactly 80 years to the day after the Titanic struck the iceberg.
and immigrate to Wichita
, Kansas
, where her father had family and where he hoped to open a tobacco
shop. The Deans were not supposed to be aboard the Titanic, but owing to a coal strike, they were transferred to the ship and boarded it as third-class passengers at Southampton
, England. Dean was barely two months old when she boarded the ship. Her father felt the ship's collision with the iceberg on the night of 14 April 1912, and after investigating, returned to his cabin telling his wife to dress the children and go up on deck. Dean, her mother, and brother were placed in Lifeboat 10 and were among the first steerage
passengers to escape the sinking oceanliner. Her father, however, did not survive, and his body, if recovered, was never identified.
At first, Dean's mother wanted to continue on to Kansas
to fulfill her husband's wish of a new life in the United States. However, after losing her husband and being left with two small children for whom to care, they returned to England aboard the RMS Adriatic
. While aboard the ship, Dean attracted considerable attention. An article in the Daily Mirror dated 12 May 1912 described the ordeal:
schools, including The Gregg School
. It was not until she was eight years old, and her mother was planning to marry again, that Dean was told she had been a passenger on the Titanic.
Dean worked for the British government during the Second World War
and later as a purchaser for a local engineering firm. Other careers she held were as a cartographer, a secretary, and an assistant to a tobacconist.
, and another in 1999 in Montreal
. She had also been scheduled to appear at a commemoration of the Titanic 94th anniversary in 2006, but a broken hip prevented her appearance. She also appeared in the History special Titanic's Final Moments: Missing Pieces.
In October 2007, she became the last living Titanic survivor following the death of Barbara West Dainton
, who died at the age of 96 in England.
and its television program Doctor Who
for including an episode with an starship "cruise liner" called the Titanic similar in appearance to the historical liner. Speaking from her nursing home, she said: "The Titanic was a tragedy which tore so many families apart. I lost my father and he lies on that wreck. I think it is disrespectful to make entertainment of such a tragedy." A spokeswoman for the show said: "No offence was intended. 'Voyage of the Damned' is set on a spaceship called The Titanic and not a boat."
In December 2008, at the age of 96, Dean was forced to sell several of her family's possessions to pay for her private medical care following a broken hip. These possessions included a letter sent to her mother from the Titanic Relief Fund, and a suitcase given to her and her mother in New York following the ship's sinking. Their sale raised approximately £32,000. In February 2009, she announced that she would be selling several more items to pay for her increasing medical costs which she said exceeded £3,000 a month.
The 97-year-old Dean died of pneumonia
on the morning of 31 May 2009, the 98th anniversary of the Titanic's launch, at a care home in Ashurst
, Hampshire
.
On 24 October 2009, Dean's cremated remains
were scattered from a launch
at the docks in Southampton where the Titanic set sail.
, at the opening of his worldwide Nokia photographic exhibition, "A Thousand Reasons for Living", (featuring a portrait of Millvina Dean) in Dublin on 22 April 2009. Mullan introduced an additional portrait of Dean's hands, as she signed a card for a Titanic autograph collector, which he produced as a limited edition of 100 copies. He made the edition available at €500 each and then challenged the director and stars of the film Titanic
; James Cameron
, Leonardo DiCaprio
, Kate Winslet
, singer Celine Dion
, and the corporations Sony Music, 20th Century Fox
and Paramount Pictures
to match him euro-for-euro to support Dean with her bills. DiCaprio and Winslet led the way with a joint contribution of US$20,000. Cameron and Dion donated US$10,000 each.
Family
Millvina Dean was born in BranscombeBranscombe
The Old Bakery, Manor Mill & Forge is a collection of buildings in Branscombe, Seaton, Devon, England. The property has been in the ownership of the National Trust since 1965.The property consists of three buildings: a bakery, a watermill and a forge....
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, to Bertram Frank Dean and Georgette Eva Light. She had a brother, Bertram Vere Dean
Bertram Dean
Bertram Vere Dean was a passenger aboard during her maiden voyage.Bertram Dean was the son of Bertram Frank Dean, and his wife, Georgette Eva Light. He had a younger sister, Millvina Dean...
, born 21 May 1910. Millvina Dean never married and had no children. Dean's father died on the Titanic; her mother died on 16 September 1975, aged 96; and her brother Bertram Vere died, aged 81, on 15 April 1992, exactly 80 years to the day after the Titanic struck the iceberg.
Titanic voyage
Dean's parents decided to leave EnglandEngland
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
and immigrate to Wichita
Wichita, Kansas
Wichita is the largest city in the U.S. state of Kansas.As of the 2010 census, the city population was 382,368. Located in south-central Kansas on the Arkansas River, Wichita is the county seat of Sedgwick County and the principal city of the Wichita metropolitan area...
, Kansas
Kansas
Kansas is a US state located in the Midwestern United States. It is named after the Kansas River which flows through it, which in turn was named after the Kansa Native American tribe, which inhabited the area. The tribe's name is often said to mean "people of the wind" or "people of the south...
, where her father had family and where he hoped to open a tobacco
Tobacco
Tobacco is an agricultural product processed from the leaves of plants in the genus Nicotiana. It can be consumed, used as a pesticide and, in the form of nicotine tartrate, used in some medicines...
shop. The Deans were not supposed to be aboard the Titanic, but owing to a coal strike, they were transferred to the ship and boarded it as third-class passengers at Southampton
Southampton
Southampton is the largest city in the county of Hampshire on the south coast of England, and is situated south-west of London and north-west of Portsmouth. Southampton is a major port and the closest city to the New Forest...
, England. Dean was barely two months old when she boarded the ship. Her father felt the ship's collision with the iceberg on the night of 14 April 1912, and after investigating, returned to his cabin telling his wife to dress the children and go up on deck. Dean, her mother, and brother were placed in Lifeboat 10 and were among the first steerage
Steerage
Steerage is the act of steering a ship. "Steerage" also refers to the lowest decks of a ship.-Steerage and steerage way:The rudder of a vessel can only steer the ship when water is passing over it...
passengers to escape the sinking oceanliner. Her father, however, did not survive, and his body, if recovered, was never identified.
Return to England
Kansas
Kansas is a US state located in the Midwestern United States. It is named after the Kansas River which flows through it, which in turn was named after the Kansa Native American tribe, which inhabited the area. The tribe's name is often said to mean "people of the wind" or "people of the south...
to fulfill her husband's wish of a new life in the United States. However, after losing her husband and being left with two small children for whom to care, they returned to England aboard the RMS Adriatic
RMS Adriatic (1907)
RMS Adriatic was an ocean liner of the White Star Line. She was the fourth of a quartet of ships measuring over 20,000 tons, dubbed The Big Four, the ship was the only one of the four which was never the world's largest ship however, she was the fastest of the Big Four...
. While aboard the ship, Dean attracted considerable attention. An article in the Daily Mirror dated 12 May 1912 described the ordeal:
Education and careers
Millvina and Bertram Dean were raised mostly on pension funds and educated in SouthamptonSouthampton
Southampton is the largest city in the county of Hampshire on the south coast of England, and is situated south-west of London and north-west of Portsmouth. Southampton is a major port and the closest city to the New Forest...
schools, including The Gregg School
The Gregg School
The Gregg School is a non academically selective independent day school in Townhill Park, Southampton, Hampshire, UK. It is currently situated in Townhill Park House, where it has been since 1994. Founded in Southampton in 1901 it now has a roll of over 300 and over 50 staff, it is open to...
. It was not until she was eight years old, and her mother was planning to marry again, that Dean was told she had been a passenger on the Titanic.
Dean worked for the British government during the Second World War
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
and later as a purchaser for a local engineering firm. Other careers she held were as a cartographer, a secretary, and an assistant to a tobacconist.
Later years
It was not until Dean was in her seventies that she became involved in Titanic-related events. Over the years, she participated in numerous conventions, exhibitions, documentaries, television and radio interviews, and personal correspondence. In 1998, Dean travelled to the United States to participate in a Titanic convention in Springfield, MassachusettsSpringfield, Massachusetts
Springfield is the most populous city in Western New England, and the seat of Hampden County, Massachusetts, United States. Springfield sits on the eastern bank of the Connecticut River near its confluence with three rivers; the western Westfield River, the eastern Chicopee River, and the eastern...
, and another in 1999 in Montreal
Montreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
. She had also been scheduled to appear at a commemoration of the Titanic 94th anniversary in 2006, but a broken hip prevented her appearance. She also appeared in the History special Titanic's Final Moments: Missing Pieces.
In October 2007, she became the last living Titanic survivor following the death of Barbara West Dainton
Barbara West
Barbara Joyce Dainton was the second-to-last remaining survivor of the sinking of the RMS Titanic on 14 April 1912 after hitting an iceberg on its maiden voyage.-Early life:...
, who died at the age of 96 in England.
Doctor Who
In December 2007, Dean criticized the BBCBBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
and its television program Doctor Who
Doctor Who
Doctor Who is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. The programme depicts the adventures of a time-travelling humanoid alien known as the Doctor who explores the universe in a sentient time machine called the TARDIS that flies through time and space, whose exterior...
for including an episode with an starship "cruise liner" called the Titanic similar in appearance to the historical liner. Speaking from her nursing home, she said: "The Titanic was a tragedy which tore so many families apart. I lost my father and he lies on that wreck. I think it is disrespectful to make entertainment of such a tragedy." A spokeswoman for the show said: "No offence was intended. 'Voyage of the Damned' is set on a spaceship called The Titanic and not a boat."
Ill health and death
In April 2008, Dean had accepted an invitation to speak in Southampton at an event commemorating the 96th anniversary of the ship's sinking, but ill health resulting from a respiratory infection forced her to cancel.In December 2008, at the age of 96, Dean was forced to sell several of her family's possessions to pay for her private medical care following a broken hip. These possessions included a letter sent to her mother from the Titanic Relief Fund, and a suitcase given to her and her mother in New York following the ship's sinking. Their sale raised approximately £32,000. In February 2009, she announced that she would be selling several more items to pay for her increasing medical costs which she said exceeded £3,000 a month.
The 97-year-old Dean died of pneumonia
Pneumonia
Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung—especially affecting the microscopic air sacs —associated with fever, chest symptoms, and a lack of air space on a chest X-ray. Pneumonia is typically caused by an infection but there are a number of other causes...
on the morning of 31 May 2009, the 98th anniversary of the Titanic's launch, at a care home in Ashurst
Ashurst, Hampshire
Ashurst is a village in the New Forest district of Hampshire, England, which together with Colbury hamlet makes the parish of Ashurst and Colbury. Ashurst is on the A35 road near the Southampton conurbation. According to the 2001 census the parish had a population of 2,011. The parish is on the...
, Hampshire
Hampshire
Hampshire is a county on the southern coast of England in the United Kingdom. The county town of Hampshire is Winchester, a historic cathedral city that was once the capital of England. Hampshire is notable for housing the original birthplaces of the Royal Navy, British Army, and Royal Air Force...
.
On 24 October 2009, Dean's cremated remains
Cremation
Cremation is the process of reducing bodies to basic chemical compounds such as gasses and bone fragments. This is accomplished through high-temperature burning, vaporization and oxidation....
were scattered from a launch
Launch (boat)
A launch in contemporary usage refers to a large motorboat. The name originally referred to the largest boat carried by a warship. The etymology of the word is given as Portuguese lancha "barge", from Malay lancha, lancharan, "boat," from lanchar "velocity without effort," "action of gliding...
at the docks in Southampton where the Titanic set sail.
The Millvina Fund
In response to the escalating cost of Dean's healthcare, The Millvina Fund was set up in April 2009 by the Belfast, British and International Titanic Societies with the exclusive aim of taking care of Dean's nursing home bills. The Fund was given a boost by the Irish author and campaigning journalist, Don MullanDon Mullan
Don Mullan is an Irish bestselling author/humanitarian and media producer. His book Eyewitness Bloody Sunday is officially recognised as a primary catalyst for a new Bloody Sunday Inquiry which became the longest running and most expensive in British Legal History...
, at the opening of his worldwide Nokia photographic exhibition, "A Thousand Reasons for Living", (featuring a portrait of Millvina Dean) in Dublin on 22 April 2009. Mullan introduced an additional portrait of Dean's hands, as she signed a card for a Titanic autograph collector, which he produced as a limited edition of 100 copies. He made the edition available at €500 each and then challenged the director and stars of the film Titanic
Titanic (1997 film)
Titanic is a 1997 American epic romance and disaster film directed, written, co-produced, and co-edited by James Cameron. A fictionalized account of the sinking of the RMS Titanic, it stars Leonardo DiCaprio as Jack Dawson, Kate Winslet as Rose DeWitt Bukater and Billy Zane as Rose's fiancé, Cal...
; James Cameron
James Cameron
James Francis Cameron is a Canadian-American film director, film producer, screenwriter, editor, environmentalist and inventor...
, Leonardo DiCaprio
Leonardo DiCaprio
Leonardo Wilhelm DiCaprio is an American actor and film producer. He has received many awards, including a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor for his performance in The Aviator , and has been nominated by the Academy Awards, Screen Actors Guild and the British Academy of Film and Television...
, Kate Winslet
Kate Winslet
Kate Elizabeth Winslet is an English actress and occasional singer. She has received multiple awards and nominations. She was the youngest person to accrue six Academy Award nominations, and won the Academy Award for Best Actress for The Reader...
, singer Celine Dion
Celine Dion
Céline Marie Claudette Dion, , , is a Canadian singer. Born to a large family from Charlemagne, Quebec, Dion emerged as a teen star in the French-speaking world after her manager and future husband René Angélil mortgaged his home to finance her first record...
, and the corporations Sony Music, 20th Century Fox
20th Century Fox
Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation — also known as 20th Century Fox, or simply 20th or Fox — is one of the six major American film studios...
and Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film production and distribution company, located at 5555 Melrose Avenue in Hollywood. Founded in 1912 and currently owned by media conglomerate Viacom, it is America's oldest existing film studio; it is also the last major film studio still...
to match him euro-for-euro to support Dean with her bills. DiCaprio and Winslet led the way with a joint contribution of US$20,000. Cameron and Dion donated US$10,000 each.
External links
- Millvina Dean - Daily Telegraph obituary
- AP Obituary from The TimesThe TimesThe Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
- Online memorial
- The Millvina Fund
- Radio Interview with Millvina Dean Courtesy of KYKY-FM, St. Louis, Missouri, 1997.
- Titanic Survivor gets Mayoral Tribute Southern Daily Echo, 7 May 2007
- Millvina Dean Remembrance Thread at Encyclopedia Titanica.com
- Video Interview with Millvina Dean, aged 97 on StoryVault