Mrs Madeleine Talmage Astor (née Force)

Mrs John Jacob Astor (Madeleine Force), 18, was the wife of millionaire John Jacob Astor , they had been on an extended honeymoon in Egypt and Paris and, in the spring of 1912, decided to return to America as First Class passengers on board the brand new Titanic .

They boarded the Titanic at Cherbourg with Colonel Astor's manservant Mr Victor Robbins , Mrs Astor's maid Miss Rosalie Bidois and their pet Airedale Kitty. Also accompanying the Astors was Mrs Astor's private nurse Miss Caroline Louise Endres .

After the accident Colonel Astor left his suite to investigate, he quickly returned and reported to Madeleine that the ship had struck ice. He reassured her that the damage did not appear serious.

Later as they waited on the boat deck , Mrs Astor lent Leah Aks her shawl to keep her son Filly warm. At one point the Astors retired to the gymnasium and sat on the mechanical horses. They wore their lifebelts but Colonel Astor had found another and cut the lining with a pen knife to show his wife what it was made of. Colonel and Mrs Astor later moved down to A-Deck from where Mrs Astor boarded lifeboat 4 aided by her husband and Second Officer Charles Lightoller .

Madeleine inherited from her husband the income from a five-million-dollar trust fund and the use of his home on Fifth Avenue and in the Newport so long as she did not marry. In August 1912, she gave birth to a son with whom she was pregnant on the Titanic , and she named him after her husband, John Jacob Astor.

During World War one She married William K. Dick (and relinquished all claim to the Astor fortune) who was born in Brooklyn, New York on May 28, 1888. They had two sons, William F. and John H. Dick. Mr Dick was a prominent corporate official in companies such as St. Regis Paper Company, Best Foods, Inc., Irving Trust Company, and St. Regis Timber Company. They divorced in 1933 in Reno, Nevada. After their divorce Mr Dick married Virginia Montez Conner on December 24, 1941 and had a daughter and a son. He died at Allen Winden Farm, Islip, New York on September 5, 1953.

Madeleine went on to marry prize-fighter Enzo Fiermonte but they too divorced in 1938 and she took back the surname Dick. She died in Palm Beach, Florida in 1940 at the age of 47.

Travelling Companions (on same ticket)
Colonel John Jacob Astor
Miss Rosalie Bidois
Miss Caroline Louise Endres
Mr Victor Robbins