20 Facts About Millvina Dean

Eliza Gladys Dean, known as Millvina Dean, was a British civil servant, cartographer, and the last living survivor of the sinking of the RMS Titanic on 15 April 1912.

Millvina Dean had an older brother, Bertram Vere Dean, born 21 May 1910.

Millvina Dean's father died on the Titanic; her mother died on 16 September 1975, aged 96; and her brother died on 14 April 1992, age 81, the 80th anniversary of the iceberg collision.

Millvina Dean's father, Bertram Dean, was born and grew up in Branscombe.

Millvina Dean moved to London as an adult, where he married Millvina's mother, Ettie.

Millvina Dean's father felt its 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 onto the deck.

Millvina Dean's father did not survive, and his body, if recovered, was never identified.

Millvina Dean worked for the British government during World War II by drawing maps, and later served in the purchasing department of a Southampton engineering firm.

Millvina Dean worked there as a secretary until her retirement in 1972.

In 1995, Millvina Dean flew to New York City to attend a conference of RMS Titanic, Inc and the Titanic International Society.

In 1997, Millvina Dean sailed to New York, along with several members of the Titanic Historical Society, aboard the Queen Elizabeth 2.

Millvina Dean had been scheduled to appear at a commemoration of the 94th anniversary of the sinking in 2006, but a broken hip prevented her appearance.

Millvina Dean appeared in the History special Titanic's Final Moments: Missing Pieces.

Millvina Dean staunchly refused to see James Cameron's film Titanic.

Millvina Dean recalled having nightmares after seeing A Night to Remember, the film based on Walter Lords book with the same title, and did not wish to imagine her father as one of the people in the crowd of passengers stranded on the sinking liner.

Millvina Dean declined invitations to the premieres of Titanic and Ghosts of the Abyss.

In December 2008, at age 96, Millvina Dean was forced to sell several of her family's possessions to pay for her private medical care following a broken hip.

Millvina Dean died of pneumonia on the morning of 31 May 2009, aged 97 at a care home in Ashurst, Hampshire; her death coincided with the 98th anniversary of the Titanic's launch on 31 May 1911.

Millvina Dean was cremated, and on 24 October 2009, her ashes were scattered from a launch at the docks in Southampton where the Titanic set sail.

Since October 2007, Millvina Dean had been the last Titanic survivor, following the death of Barbara West Dainton, who died aged 96 in England.