Eliza Gladys ‘Millvina’ Dean (1912-2009) was born in Devon on February 2, 1912, a daughter of Londoner Bertram Dean (1886-1912) and Eva Georgette ‘Ettie’ née Light (1879-1975), who was eight years his senior, the pair being publicans in London, although Bertram’s last address was given as Bartley Farm in the New Forest according to some sources. The reason Millvina was also born in Devon was due to the Deans returning there to say goodbye to their families before leaving the UK for America.

When Millvina sailed on RMS Titanic in April 1912 she was the youngest passenger on board at just nine weeks, travelling with her parents and elder sibling, Bertram Jnr. who’d been born in May 1910 and was therefore not quite two. Eliza’s parents had decided to emigrate in search of a better life so sold their pub and bought a 3rd Class ticket for America. Having watched the film ‘Titanic’ (1997) we’re possibly brainwashed into thinking that 3rd class was for society’s dregs, however, a 3rd class ticket cost over £20 at the time, the equivalent of over £2,500 in today’s money so a considerable investment and one beyond the reach of most. They boarded Titanic in Southampton, sailing from there on April 10. It could all have been so different as the family had been originally booked on another liner but due to a coal strike they and several others were reallocated to Titanic

All we know about the family’s fortunes is that Bertram Dean died in the sinking on April 15 but in a perfect example of ‘women and children first’ the rest of the family survived. Apparently, alerted to the danger by the sound of the ship hitting the iceberg, Bertram left the cabin to investigate. He soon returned, telling Ettie to get the children dressed and on deck. A lifeboat was found for his family, Lifeboat 10, Bertram saying his farewells at the davits but promising to follow later; he never did. His body, if it was recovered, was certainly not identified.

A memorial stone to Millvina Dean in Southampton IMAGE: Sw257A memorial stone to Millvina Dean in Southampton IMAGE: Sw257 Understandably, the loss of Ettie’s husband scuppered any hopes of an American life; it was imperative the family returned to the UK where at least they knew people. This was common among the immigrant widows who’d boarded the lost vessel. In a documentary (2000), Millvina described the situation facing Ettie: ‘We stayed in a hospital for two or three weeks for my mother to recover a little bit, and then we came back to England; because we had nothing, we had no clothes, we had no money and of course she was so broken-hearted, she just wanted to get home’. They were given passage on RMS ‘Adriatic’ in May 1912, a trip home that saw little Millvina become the star attraction; so many 1st and 2nd class passengers wanted to hold her that they were restricted to ten minutes at a time.

Millvina attended the Gregg School in Southampton, which had been established in 1901, just over a decade before the disaster. The main school occupies Townhill Park House in the Townhill Park area of Southampton whilst the prep school is based near Southampton Common. Millvina knew nothing of her presence on the iconic liner until she was aged eight when her mother became engaged to be married.

Millvina worked for the UK Government during WW2 as a cartographer (map drawer) and later served in the purchasing department of a Southampton engineering concern where she was a secretary until she retired in 1972 aged 60. When Millvina was in her 70s her life began to be taken over by all things Titanic. It is, of course, a story that still fascinates, perhaps too much as some survivors found the attention unwelcome. Millvina, however, played her part in numerous conventions, events, documentaries etc. In 1997 she sailed poignantly on the ‘QE2’ to New York, journeying to Kansas City, where the family should have settled, and visiting the house where Bertram’s brother lived. She met several of her uncle’s relatives for the first time.

A scene from the 1958 film, A Night to Remember, a movie that gave Millvina Dean nightmares. IMAGE: Movie Stills DatabaseA scene from the 1958 film, A Night to Remember, a movie that gave Millvina Dean nightmares. IMAGE: Movie Stills Database The disaster has inevitably featured in numerous movies. Millvina confessed that she suffered nightmares having watched ‘A Night to Remember’ (1958). Even though dramatised, it was still hard seeing crowds of people on the stricken liner, imagining one of those might have been her own father. She steadfastly refused to watch the 1997 epic ‘Titanic’, which was much praised for its special effects, the kind of stuff the producers of the 1950s film could only have dreamed of; they would make it an even harder watch for anyone affected by the tragedy. She was also critical of a 2007 episode of ‘Doctor Who’ featuring a spaceship named ‘Titanic’ similar in appearance to the 1912 liner. Even the episode’s title, ‘Voyage of the Damned’, was controversial. Increasing ill-health forced Millvina to cancel engagements and then in December 2008 she was forced to sell personal items to raise money for her medical care, including a letter from the Titanic Relief Fund to her mother and a suitcase given to them in New York following the sinking. The ‘Millvina Fund’ was set up to help with her care costs and those who’d done so well out of ‘Titanic’ were challenged to contribute; actors Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet, singer Celine Dion, and filmmaker James Cameron did precisely that.

Millvina Dean never married nor had any children. Her mother passed away in 1975 at the age of 96; notwithstanding deaths due to disasters there was clearly longevity in the family. Millvina’s elder brother, a carpenter by trade, passed away on April 14, 1992 aged 81. Rather spookily this was the precise 80th anniversary of the night Titanic hit that iceberg in the north Atlantic, the collision occurring on the night of 14, 1912, the sinking in the early hours of the 15th. Millvina Dean, last survivor of ‘Titanic’, died of pneumonia on May 31, 2009, aged 97 at her care home in Ashurst, New Forest. Her ashes were scattered from a launch at Southampton Docks; a final poignant remembering of the event that cast an immense shadow across her life.

Another survivor

Barbara West Dainton

Barbara West Dainton (1911-2007), second-last survivor of the ‘Titanic’ disaster, and last-surviving 2nd class passenger, also had Hampshire connections, being born in Bournemouth, then of Hampshire. Coincidentally, another family of four was emigrating to America. Barbara’s father died but her mother, sibling and herself returned to England.