Funeral for Titanic's last survivor
Tuesday, 16 June 2009 16:13The funeral has taken place in England of the last survivor of the Titanic disaster, Millvina Dean.
The private service, attended by family and friends, took place at Southampton Crematorium, the funeral directors confirmed.
Ms Dean, who died on 31 May aged 97, was the youngest passenger on board at only nine weeks old when the White Star liner left on her maiden voyage from Southampton to New York in April 1912.
The ship later struck an iceberg and sank in the early hours of 15 April but Ms Dean was saved along with her mother Georgetta, and two-year-old brother, Bert.
Her father Bertram died in the disaster that claimed 1,517 lives.
Ms Dean's family had been travelling in third class to begin a new life, as they were to open a tobacconist's shop in Kansas City.
After the disaster, she returned to England and lived in the Southampton area most of her life.
Ms Dean rarely talked about the sinking until the wreck was discovered in the 1980s and she became well known.
But in the last years of her life, she began struggling with monthly bills of £3,000 at her care home and had been in danger of losing her room.
Hollywood stars Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio, who starred in the blockbuster Titanic, plus the film's director James Cameron all donated money to help her after Derry author and journalist Don Mullan started a fund-raising campaign.
