Garden for last Titanic survivor Millvina Dean opens
- Published
Millvina Dean's father died when the Titanic sank
A garden in memory of the last survivor of the Titanic disaster has opened in Southampton.
Millvina Dean was nine weeks old when the ship sank after hitting an iceberg in the Atlantic on 15 April 1912.
She died on 31 May 2009 - the 98th anniversary of the Titanic's launch - aged 97, at a care home in Netley Marsh, in the New Forest, Hampshire.
The Millvina Dean Memorial Garden was unveiled in a ceremony next to the SeaCity Museum.
The short ceremony was attended by members of Miss Dean's family, the mayor of Southampton, Derek Burke, and the vicar of St Mary's, the Reverend Julian Davies, who blessed the garden.
The memorial garden has been created by the Millvina Fund and Southampton City Council.
Miss Dean's mother, Georgetta, and two-year-old brother, Bert, also survived, but her father, Bertram, was among those who died when the vessel sank.
She spent many years attending Titanic Society meetings and other functions in the UK and overseas and was the honorary president of the British Titanic Society.
After her death, her ashes were scattered on the waters of Berth 44 in Southampton, the starting point of Titanic's voyage in 1912.