After Titanic, many passengers took different directions for their lives. For all it was a turning point. Some for the better, others for the worse. Below here are the outcomes of the lives of just a few survivors. This is not the complete list, more will be added periodically.
Trevor Allison and Alice Cleaver ~
Onboard Carpathia, Alice Cleaver found out that they, maid Sarah Daniels, and cook
Mildred Brown were the only survivors of the Allison party. Baby Trevor was sent to
be raised by his nice but less wealthy aunt and uncle, George and Lillian Allison, with
all the estate willed to him. He died of ptomaine poisoning on 7 August 1929 at the
age of 18. no evidence of foul play was ever found. Cleaver died in 1984.
Madeleine Astor ~
Widowed at age 18, Madeleine inherited the Astor fortune as long as she didn't remarry. In
August 1912, she gave birth to J.J.A. Jr. During World War I, she gave up the fortune to
marry William K. Dick of New York, and had two more sons. She divorced Dick in 1933 to
marry Italian prize fighter Enzo Firemonte. Five years later she divorced again. She
died in Palm Beach, Florida in 1940 at the age of 47 when her heart stopped, probably due
to a combination of medications she was taking.
Ruth Becker ~
Ruth and her family traveled to Michigan, and joined by her father, Allen Becker, a year
later. Ruth went to college, became a teacher, and married sweetheart Daniel
Blanchard. She divorced him later and resumed teaching. She never talked about
Titanic until her retirement years, and not even her children knew she had been
onboard. She took her first sea excursion since Titanic in June of 1990.
She died later that year.
Lawrence Beesley ~
Soon after the disaster, Beesley published his own account of the disaster, Loss of the
SS Titanic: Its Story and Its Lessons. Leslie Harrison, author of A
Titanic Myth, later asked him to sign an affidavit to clear the name of Captain Lord
of the Californian, which he later regretted because he knew it wasn't true.
He died in 1967 at age 91.
David Blair ~
During World War I, Blair was assigned to H.M.S. Oceanic as navigator, which was
under the commands of Captain William Slayter of the Royal Navy, and Captain Henry Smith,
the last peacetime commander. Oceanic was to patrol a 150 mile stretch of water in
the area of the Shetland Islands. Blair, either because the complicated calculations
he had to make, or because of fatigue, had plotted Oceanic off course. On
September 8th 1914, she ran aground on the Shaalds near the island of Foula. Three
weeks later the Oceanic broke up in a storm and was gone. Slayter, Smith, and
Blair were all court marshalled.
Margaret Tobin Brown ~
While her social status was climbing, her family life was in trouble. While she
proposed that women have equal rights as men, the "Unsinkable Molly Brown"
became estranged from her family. She still traveled the world and became a well
known socialite. She died of a stroke in 1933 in New York. Her life inspired a
hit Broadway musical and movie.
Daniel Buckley ~
Not much is know about what happened to him after Titanic besides that he died in
1918 while serving in World War One.
Charlotte and Marjorie Collyer ~
Both of went back to Bishopstoke. Charlotte did remarry but died soon afterward from
tuberculosis, and Marjorie went to live with her uncle Walter on his farm at East Horsley,
Near Leatherhead, Surrey. She later married a preacher by the name of Dobson.
Marjorie died in 1993.
Sir Cosmo and Lady Lucile Duff Gordon ~
Cosmo never escaped from the shadow of Titanic. Lucile, however, prospered
with her clothing store and thanked Titanic for it. But in time, no one could
afford her fabulous designs and had to close down. Cosmo died April 20, 1931.
Lucile died 4 years later to the date.
Dorothy Gibson ~
Soon after the disaster, Dorothy became a major movie star in the 1912 film Saved from
the Titanic, in which she plays herself. However, her career faded rapidly after
that. She died in 1946.
Colonel Archibald Gracie ~
Colonel Gracie wrote The Truth About The Titanic in 1913. Gracie never finished
proofing his manuscript as he died of the aftereffects of the trauma suffered on Titanic
on December 4, 1912 at his ancestral home in New York, N.Y. He was the third
survivor to die after the Titanic tragedy.
Renée Harris ~
Renée became the first female Broadway producer after her husband's death. She
married again, but always claimed that Henry B. was the one she adored most. She
lost all her fortunes in the stock market crash of 1929 and never recovered her material
wealth, but her personality was rich to the end. She assisted author Walter Lord in
his book, A Night to Remember. Renée died soon afterward at age 98.
Eva Hart ~
Eva never did get to live in Canada. She and her mother Esther went back to England,
and when she grew up, became very influential in government. She didn't get to see
what her original destination, Winnipeg, was like until she was 80. She once said,
"If a ship runs aground, that's nature. If a ship is torpedoed, that's war.
But to die simply because there aren't enough lifeboats, that's ridiculous."
she passed away quietly in a hospital on February 14th, 1996. She was
91.
Joseph Bruce Ismay ~
When news that Titanic went down reached the world, Ismay was called a coward and
vilified for not going down with the ship, as Captain Smith did. He was made to
resign from the International Mercantile Marine, which he planned to do so anyway, but was
also kicked out of White Star, which he had not planned. The name Titanic
wasn't really forbidden in his home, he just never wished to speak of it, and would change
the subject once it was brought up. Ismay was not a recluse either, but did spend
some of his time alone. He eventually developed a severe form of diabetes and had to
have one of his legs amputated. During the market crash of 1929, the White Star
Line, in debt and with its current director, Lord Kylsant, in jail for fraud, had turned
to Ismay again. Before Ismay's plans could go underway, the British government
enacted a plan that White Star could not refuse. The government offered to give
White Star and Cunard, which was also having money problems, a large sum of money if they
merged. They did in 1934. Ismay died on a Sunday in 1937. When a friend
came to visit him the following Monday, a mirror of his was found, shattered into a
million pieces.
Commander Charles Herbert Lightoller ~
"Lights," as he was known by, was the last Titanic survivor taken aboard Carpathia.
After both inquiries, Lights became the First Officer of Oceanic. He
was onboard when Oceanic ran aground in the Shetlands. He was then assigned
to the Cunarder/seaplane carrier Campania. In 1915, Lightoller
received command of torpedo boat HMTB 117. He attacked Zeppelin L31 and was awarded
the Distinguished Service Cross. As an added bonus, he was also given command of the
torpedo-boat-destroyer Falcon, which eventually sank six years to the day Titanic
disappeared beneath the waves. Given command of the destroyer Garry, it
rammed and sank the German submarine UB-110. In doing this, Lightoller was awarded a
bar to his DSC and promoted to Lieutenant-Commander. By war's end, Lightoller was a
full Commander. When he returned to White Star Line, he was given the position as Chief
Officer on Celtic. He had a chance to become commander of Olympic. He
was passed over. Lightoller, after serving for White Star for over 20 years, retired
disgusted. In 1929, the Lightollers had purchased a discarded Admiralty steam
launch, which was refitted, lengthened, converted to diesel, and renamed Sundowner.
On May 24th, 1940, some 400,000 Allied troops were cornered at the French port of
Dunkirk, with German tanks at their tails. On June 1st, Lightoller sailed Sundowner
toward Dunkirk. Even though Sundowner's capacity was only of 21 people, he
somehow managed to fit over 130 men in his yacht. Despite attempts from Luftwaffe
airplanes to sink her and other rescue ships, they all arrived safely back to Britain just
about 12 hours after they had departed. In the next 11 days over 338,000 men were
taken to England's safety in Operation Dynamo, one of the greatest rescues of all time.
Commander Charles Herbert Lightoller died December 8th, 1952.
Marjorie Newell ~
In 1917, Marjorie Newell married Floyd Robb. They had four children. Her son
was named Arthur Newell Robb in memory of her father. She became a music instructor
at Wells College in Aurora, N.Y. and was one of the founders of the New Jersey Symphony
Orchestra. Later in her life, Marjorie began to speak of the Titanic tragedy.
She died peacefully in her sleep on June 11, 1992, at 103 years young. She was the last
first-class survivor from Titanic.
Major Authur Godfrey Peuchen ~
Because of his survival, there was speculation if get would get his expected
promotion to Lieutenant-Colonel in the Queen's Own Rifles. He was promoted on May
21, 1912, he was also awarded the Officer's Long Service Decoration. He died in
Alberta in 1929. His wallet, which fell into the water during his decent to Lifeboat
#6 was recovered in 1987 by Titanic Ventures, now R.M.S. Titanic Inc. The objects
inside were remarkably preserved.
Edith Russell ~
During World War I, Edith dropped her christened surname "Rosenbaum" and became
the first female war correspondent. She unsuccessfully tried to get her biography
published, no one seemed interested. To her death in 1975 at age 98, Edith was proud
to proclaim that she had been through every catastrophe imaginable, including car
accidents, tornadoes, and another shipwreck. She declined, however, in saying that she had
ever suffered the misfortune of an air crash, (because she believed flying was
flying into the face of God.) the bubonic plague, and a husband.
Frederick, Daisy, and Douglas Spedden ~
The entire Spedden family survived the disaster intact. In 1913, Daisy wrote a
children's book called My Story, through the eyes of a toy polar bear about the
family's European travels up to the sinking of the Titanic and the rescue.
Douglas died in 1915 from a car crash at age 9, and Daisy stopped writing in her
diaries. Frederick died in 1947. Daisy died in 1950 at age 77. My Story
was eventually published as Polar, the Titanic Bear, 40 some years later.
Jack Thayer ~
Thayer eventually published his own account of the disaster when he was older. He
had always upheld that the ship broke in two, even though it was discounted at the time.
He married and had children, his son was killed in World War II and despondent,
Jack killed himself in his car.
Eleanor Widener ~
After the disaster, Eleanor devoted most of her time to charities. In 1913, she
dedicated the Harry Elkins Widener Memorial Library at Harvard University. Rumor has
it that Eleanor made a stipulation that the library only be built if the university made
swimming a requirement, considering that Jack Thayer had swam to safety, while her son did
not know how to. In 1915 Eleanor married the geographer and explorer Dr Alexander
Hamilton Rice and followed him on several expeditions in South America. Eleanor died
in 1937. Much to Harvard's annoyance and denial that the library was the cause of
the swimming requirement, it has been dropped in recent years.
Richard Norris Williams ~
Because of his traumatic ordeal in the below freezing water, the doctors on Carpathia
recommended that both legs be amputated. Williams refused, and excerised his legs
daily until they recovered. returned to Europe aboard Compaganie Generale
Transatlantique's France (II) in May 1912, but returned to America shortly
afterward to play tennis and enter Harvard. He won the 1912 United States mixed
doubles, and was United States singles champion in 1914 and 1916. He served in the U.S.
Army during World War I and was awarded the Chevalier de la Legion d'Honneur and Croix de
Guerre. Afterwards, he then won the men's double champion at the 1920 Wimbledon
games and runner up in 1924, and was an Olympic gold medalist the same year. He was
a member of the United States Davis Cup team between 1913 and 1926. After retiring,
he became a successful investment banker in Philadelphia and was President of the
Historical Society of Pennsylvania. He died of emphysema in June 2, 1968 aged 77.
*** This information was gotten from Aravantis ***