Barbara West Dainton dies at age 96

The next-to-last survivor of the 1912 Titanic disaster has died in England, according to information received by the New Jersey-based Titanic International Society. Barbara West Dainton, 96, died Oct. 16, but word of her passing apparently was withheld at her request until after her funeral, held Nov. 5 at the cathedral in Truro, Cornwall. Barbara West was born in Bournemouth, England on May 24, 1911. On April 10, 1912, she and her family, father Edwy Arthur West, 36, a department store employee; her mother Ada Mary West, 33; and her sister Constance Miriam, 5, boarded Titanic at Southampton, England, traveling in second class. Four nights later, the world’s largest ship struck an iceberg and sank in two-and-a-half hours, with the loss of 1,523 passengers and crew.In perhaps her only public comments on the disaster, Ada West offered a brief account to a 1912 newspaper, now found on the website “Encyclopedia Titanica”:“We were all asleep when the collision took place, but were only jolted in our berths — my husband and children not even being awakened, and it was only the hurrying of passengers outside the cabin that caused alarm. The steward bade us all get up and dress thoroughly with plenty of warm things. Arthur placed lifebelts upon the children and then carried them to the boat deck. I followed carrying my handbag. After seeing us safely into the lifeboat Arthur returned to the cabin for a thermos of hot milk, and, finding the lifeboat let down he reached it by means of a rope, gave the flask to me, and, with a farewell, returned to the deck of the ship.”Barbara, her mother and sister, and some 702 others were rescued by the Cunard liner Carpathia and landed in New York. The family immediately returned to England aboard the White Star liner Celtic, and lived for a time with Mr. West’s brothers.Barbara married William Ernest B. Dainton in 1952, and lived in Truro, where she conducted tours of her hometown even when well-advanced in age. However, she steadfastly refused to speak of her Titanic experiences, and little is known of her life after the disaster. She was pre-deceased by her mother in 1953, her sister in 1963, and another sister, Edwina J., born in late 1912.Charles Haas, president of Titanic International Society in Freehold, NJ, said, “We are deeply saddened to learn of the passing of Barbara West Dainton. She was just 11 months old when she lost her father, and while she had no direct memories of that night, her life and those of her mother, sister and brother were forever changed.“The passage of more than 95 years since Titanic’s loss has brought us to the point where now just one survivor, 95-year-old Millvina Dean in England, remains. Our love and admiration for her are joined by the sincere hope that the world respects her privacy.“As we lose the direct personal links to history’s most famous ship, Titanic International Society believes the recovered Titanic artifacts assume an increasingly vital role in reminding us of the human beings who found themselves participants in the events of that tragic night.“We extend our sincere sympathy to Mrs. Dainton’s family and friends.”