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Who Was Millvina Dean? All About The Youngest Survivor Of Titanic Who Died At 97
Eliza Gladys Dean, popularly known as Mivinia Dean, was a British government servant, cartographer, and the final survivor of the RMS Titanic tragedy on April 15, 1912. She lived from 1912 to 2009 and was the youngest passenger on board at two months old.
Want to know more about the youngest survivor of the Titanic incident? Well, you’re at the right place. Let’s explore the life of Mivinia Dean and find out how her life turned in just one night.
Who Was Millvina Dean?
Millvina Dean was born in 1912, at Culverwell House in Devon, England. She was the daughter of Georgette Eva Light and Bertram Frank Dean. Dean had an elder brother named Betran Vere Dean who was born in 1910.
Dean has never married and has no children. She lost her father in the Titanic disaster and eventually her mother and brother in the following years.
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Millvina Dean Boarding On The Titanic
Bertram Dean, the father of Millvina Dean, was raised in Branscombe. He relocated to London as an adult and married Ettie, the mother of Millvina.
The couple spent a number of years in a public house in London. Later, they decided to relocate to America from the United Kingdom in 1912. They intended to settle in Wichita, Kansas, where Bertram had a relative who worked in a tobacco shop.
#OnThisDay 1912: Titanic sank with the loss of more than 1,500 lives.
— BBC Archive (@BBCArchive) April 15, 2023
The youngest survivor, Millvina Dean, was just nine weeks of age. She spoke to Blue Peter shortly after James Cameron's 1997 film was released. pic.twitter.com/59wS8D0JeM
The Deans were unexpectedly boarded on the Titanic due to a coal strike. They had to board it at Southampton, as third-class passengers. Dean was only nine weeks old when she stepped into the Titanic.
On the evening of April 14, 1912, the Titanic collided with the iceberg and her father instructed his wife to get the kids ready and go up on the deck.
Dean was put on a lifeboat together with her mother, brother, and sister. Their father lost his life in this accident and his body was never identified.
Some survivors of the incident were transported back to England by RMS Adriatic three weeks after the Titanic sank. Mallvin Dean, her mother, and siblings were on the board during the survival.
Millvina Dean: Aftermath Of The Tragedy
Ettie Dean, the mother of Millvina Dean, gave up all hope of staying in the United States as soon as it became apparent that her husband could not be saved.
Dean was a student at the Southampton Gregg School. Her mother got engaged again when she was eight years old, and only then did she learn that she was on board the Titanic.
Dean drew maps for the British government during World War II and then worked in the purchasing division of Southampton Engineering Company. She served as a secretary there until her retirement in 1972.
Dean wasn’t active in Titanic-related activities until she was in her 70s. She took part in a lot of conventions, exhibitions, radio and television interviews, documentaries, and other private communications over the years.
Dean traveled to New York in 1997 on Queen Elizabeth 2 (QE2) with several other Titanic Historical Society members.
Millvina Dean’s brother, Bertram Vere Dean, was a former carpenter. He also got too involved in the Titanic remembrances and remained so until his death at the age of 81 when they were commemorating the Titanic’s 80th anniversary.
Millvina Dean Death
Since Barbara West Dainton passed away in England in 2007, Dean has been the only remaining survivor of the Titanic.
Dean passed away due to pneumonia at a care facility in Ashurst, Hampshire, on the morning of May 31, 2009. The death was 97 years and 7 months after the Titanic left the port.
After being cremated, she had her ashes spread from a launch near the Southampton ports from which the Titanic sailed.
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