I'll keep it brief Eva Georgette 'Ettie' Light was a 1st cousin 3x removed of mine, born 18 May 1879. In 1912 she was 32 and married to Bertram Frank Dean, who was eight years her junior. They had two children, Bertram Vere, 2, and Elizabeth Gladys 'Millvina', two months old. She and her husband ran a public house in London. Bertram Frank Dean In 1912 Bertram decided to emigrate to Wichita, Kansas, where he had family and friends, and where there was a house waiting for them. He had hoped to open a tobacconist shop. Bertram sold the public house and purchased a third class ticket for his family at a cost of £20 11s 6d. They were originally booked on another White Star liner, but were transferred to Titanic. Eva Deanand children The Deans boarded the Titanic at Southampton as third class passengers, and Etties parents came down to the dock to see them off on a horse-and-trap. While at sea Ettie wrote a postcard to her parents which she posted at Queenstown; it read - "Dear Mother Just a card to say we are enjoying ourselves fine up to now. Little baby was very restless. With best love, Ettie". On the night of the sinking Ettie was awoken by her husband who said that he felt a crash. He went on deck and returned, telling her to get the children and herself dressed-up warmly. The family headed towards the lifeboats. Ettie apparently lost track of her son when she finally got into a lifeboat, but was allayed by the idea that her husband was still on board the Titanic to look for him and would go with him in a later lifeboat. Her husband had promised that he would see her later. She was finally reunited with her son Bertram on board the Carpathia, but lost her husband in the sinking, his body was not recovered. Upon her arrival in New York aboard the Carpathia she and her children were sent to hospital to recuperate. They returned to England aboard the Adriatic, having lost all hopes of starting a new life in Kansas. Ettie went to live with her parents in the New Forest, near Southampton. She received £40 from an Emergency Relief Fund and a pension of 23 shillings per week for the care of her children until they were eighteen. Two year old son Bertram Vere Dean died in 1992, aged 81. Two month old'Millvina', who had been the youngest passenger aboard The Titanic, and the last living survivor, died 31 May 2009. Ettie had remarried in 1920 to Leonard Burden, her parents farm vet, and she enjoyed a happy marriage. Ettie Burden (late Dean, née Light) died on 16 September 1975, aged 96 Sources: Various open source and my own notes. Image: Open source.
What a very sad beginning for a young family Leslie but it sound like a very happy ending all around. What a joy to have those family photos.
I had the pleasure of meeting Millvina Dean back in the 1990s. She was a lovely lady but seemed rather bemused that people were still talking about the sinking of the Titanic.
Pictures I have seen of her in later life she looked very frail. I hear she used to revel in the worldwide celebrity it brought her, which some peopled frowned on?
I remember as being a tall, slim woman and yes, she did appear to be frail. However, she was very confident in speech and had a lovely smile.
There's a voice recording of a radio interview with her somewhere on the net. In it she sounds like a lovely lady, with fascinating memories of her childhood, the aftermath of the disaster and life for her mum back in England.
Not much she could do was there other than accept that she was 'of note' & carry on with her life however she was able. Folks can be so contradictory in their dealings with others. A little like sport or media personalities, much is made of them & later people resent them for it
