Mr Dickinson H. Bishop

Mr Dickinson H. Bishop "Dick", 25, was born on 24 March 1887 in Dowagiac, Michigan the son of George Bishop and Virginia (Jennie) Dickinson.

Dickinson Bishop was a wealthy young widower whose first wife had willed him a major share in the Round Oak Stove Company in Dowagiac, Michigan. He married Helen Walton, of a well-to-do family from Sturgis, Michigan, on November 7, 1911. They were returning from a four-month honeymoon trip to Egypt, Italy, France and Algiers, delaying their departure so they could return on the new Titanic. They boarded the Titanic at Cherbourg and occupied cabin B-49 (ticket number 11967, £91 1s 7d).

The couple were rescued in lifeboat 7, articles announcing their rescue and detailing their experience appeared in the local press in the following days. The couple were delayed in their return home by the Senate inquiry at which they both testified.

In the years following the disaster Dickinson endured rumours that he had dressed as a woman in order to secure a place on the lifeboat. The couple also expereinced an earthquake and were involved in a serious car accident from which Helen never properly recovered. In addition, the child that Helen was carrying when the Titanic sank, died after only two days of life.

Dickinson and Helen Bishop were divorced in 1916, Helen died on March 16, 1916 and Dickinson Remarried on March 14, 1916. The article announcing her death was on the front page of the Dowagiac Daily News. Ironically the marriage of Dickinson Bishop to his third wife, Sidney Boyce of Chicago, appeared on the very same page.

Bishop served during the first world war. He moved away from Dowagiac and for many years lived in Ottawa, LaSalle County, Illinois. He died after a stroke on 16 February 1961 and was buried at the Ottawa Avenue Cemetery on 20 February 1961.

Available Documents
Dowagiac Daily News (Michigan), April 16, 17, 18, 19, 20 and 26 April and 10 May 1912
Ottawa Daily Republican Times (Illinois), 17 February 1961, p.4
State of Illinois Medical Certificate of Death (Dickinson Bishop)
State of Illinois Medical Certificate of Death (Helen Bishop)
State of Michigan Certificate of Death (Randall Walton Bishop)

Inquiry Testimony
(Courtesy of the Titanic Inquiry Project)
United States Senate Hearings, 30th April 1912, Testimony of Dickinson H. Bishop

References
Stan Hamper Dowagiac Stories: Windows to the Past
Walter Lord (1976) A Night to Remember. London, Penguin. ISBN 0 14 004757 3
Contract Ticket List, White Star Line 1912 (National Archives, New York; NRAN-21-SDNYCIVCAS-55[279])
United States Senate (62nd Congress), Subcommittee Hearings of the Committee on Commerce, Titanic Disaster, Washington 1912
South Bend Tribune, February 13, 1998, Lou Mumford "Titanic Recollections,"
Kalamazoo Gazette, February 2, 1998, Larry Massie "Dowagiac Couple Escaped Titanic But Not Tragedy,"

Contributors
Hermann Söldner, Germany
Phillip Gowan, USA
David Bronson, USA

Travelling Companions (on same ticket)
Mrs Helen Bishop