Dickinson H. Bishop (March 24, 1887 – February 16, 1961) was an American businessman who traveled on board the ill-fated maiden voyage of the
RMS ''Titanic'' while on his honeymoon with bride Helen, ''
née'' Walton. They both survived the
sinking of the ''Titanic'' on 15 April 1912.
Early life
Bishop was born in
Dowagiac, Michigan
Dowagiac ( ) is a city in Cass County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 5,879 at the 2010 census. It is part of the South Bend–Mishawaka, IN-MI, Metropolitan Statistical Area.
Dowagiac is situated at the corner of four townsh ...
, son of George and Virginia Bishop.
[Dickinson Bishop - Titanic First Class Passenger](_blank)
Titanic Pages. He was 24 when he married Mary Beckwith Lee, an heiress who died in 1910 thirteen days after giving birth to a daughter; the infant died minutes after being born.
Bishop married his second wife, Helen Walton, in November 1911;
their four-month honeymoon was to Europe and North Africa, arranging the return on the ''Titanic''. During their trip, Helen became pregnant, and they acquired a dog named Freu Freu while traveling in Italy.
''Titanic''
;Voyage
The Bishops boarded the ''Titanic'' at Cherbourg, France
Cherbourg-Octeville () is a former commune in the Manche department in Normandy in north-western France. as First-class passengers on 10 April 1912. Late on the night of the 14th, the Bishops were in their stateroom when the ''Titanic'' struck an iceberg. Soon after, according to Dickinson Bishop, he went on deck to investigate and subsequently returned to the room after being told by stewards that the ship was in no danger. Later, fellow passenger Albert Stewart convinced the Bishops of the danger, and they returned to the boat deck, leaving Freu Freu behind. Although there was no sense of urgency at that point, they both were told to board lifeboat #7. In a newspaper interview, Helen Bishop stated that when they went on deck, someone said the newly married couples should be put into the lifeboat first and that there were three newlywed couples in their boat. However, this was not mentioned during her later testimony at the US Inquiry into the disaster. At the inquiry, Helen Bishop also recalled seeing John Jacob Astor IV
John Jacob Astor IV (July 13, 1864 – April 15, 1912) was an American business magnate, real estate developer, investor, writer, lieutenant colonel in the Spanish–American War, and a prominent member of the Astor family. He died in the sink ...
urging them to put their lifebelts on and board a boat.
Boat 7 was the first to be lowered from the ''Titanic'', being launched at about 12:45 am on the early morning of the 15th, and was rescued by the sometime after 4:10 am. The Bishops, along with other survivors, were transported to New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...
aboard the ''Carpathia''.
;Inquiry
Once in New York, the couple was ordered to report to the Senate Board of Inquiry in Washington D.C. Helen Bishop testified first, stating that she was conversing with Mr. and Mrs. John Jacob Astor
John Jacob Astor (born Johann Jakob Astor; July 17, 1763 – March 29, 1848) was a German-American businessman, merchant, real estate mogul, and investor who made his fortune mainly in a fur trade monopoly, by History of opium in China, smuggl ...
prior to the ship's sinking, when Captain Smith came to speak to Mr. Astor. Astor told the group he was talking with to put on life belts and go on deck. Once on deck, an officer took Mrs. Bishop by the arm and told her to quietly get into the lifeboat; after that, her husband was pushed into the boat with her. Helen Bishop said there were 12 women, 13 men and three crew members in the lifeboat; she continued by saying many of the men in the boat were not married.
Dickinson Bishop's testimony mainly dealt with the inability to lock the ship's watertight compartments. He recalled the sailors trying to turn the locks and not being able to close them properly on either side of the ship.[ Bishop also said that he heard no orders to keep the men out of the lifeboats in favor of women and children.
Bishop was later rumored to have dressed as a woman to get his spot in the lifeboat; this rumor, in part, led to the divorce of the couple.] On 8 December 1912, Helen gave birth to a boy, Randall Walton Bishop, who died two days afterward.
Later life
In November 1913, Helen suffered a serious car accident in which she was badly injured, in a car driven by her husband's cousin Bartlett Dickinson. He lost control speeding with an iced-up windshield. Helen Bishop's head injuries were so severe, they were reported as being fatal by ''The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
''. In an attempt to save Helen's life, her doctors tried what was then a new technique: a silver plate was affixed to her skull to cover the badly injured area.
In January 1916, Dickinson and Helen divorced. Charging her husband with cruelty and drunkenness, Helen Bishop was granted a divorce and $100,000 in alimony.[ She died two months later, on March 16, 1916, after falling at a friend's home on a visit to ]Danville, Illinois
Danville is a city in and the county seat of Vermilion County, Illinois. As of the 2010 census, its population was 33,027. As of 2019, the population was an estimated 30,479.
History
The area that is now Danville was once home to the Miami, K ...
. Dickinson married his third wife, Sydney Boyce, a daughter of William D. Boyce, two days before the death of his second wife, Helen. The announcements of Dickinson's remarriage and Helen's death were both front page stories of the ''Dowagiac Daily News'' on the same day.
He served in the Army
An army (from Old French ''armee'', itself derived from the Latin verb ''armāre'', meaning "to arm", and related to the Latin noun ''arma'', meaning "arms" or "weapons"), ground force or land force is a fighting force that fights primarily on ...
during the First World War
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
. Bishop remained married to Sydney Boyce until her death in November 1950.[ After the end of the ]Second World War
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...
, he moved away from Dowagiac and settled in Ottawa, Illinois
Ottawa is a city located at the confluence of the navigable Illinois River and Fox River in LaSalle County, Illinois, United States. The Illinois River is a conduit for river barges and connects Lake Michigan at Chicago, to the Mississippi Ri ...
where he died from a stroke on February 16, 1961.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bishop, Dickinson
1887 births
1961 deaths
RMS Titanic survivors
United States Army personnel of World War I
20th-century American businesspeople
People from Ottawa, Illinois
People from Dowagiac, Michigan