Miss Annie Jessie Harper

Miss Nina Harper, 6, was the daughter of John Harper, a baptist minister. Nina, known as "Nan" travelled with her father and aunt, Jessie Leitch from their native London, they were enroute to Chicago, Illinois. They boarded the Titanic at Southampton as second class passengers.

After the collision, Reverend Harper awakened his daughter, picked her up and wrapped her in a blanket before carrying her up to A deck. There he kissed her goodbye and handed her to a crewman, who put her into lifeboat 11 with Miss Leitch. Reverend Harper went down with the ship.

Nina recalled that she was sitting on her aunt's lap when she saw the Titanic sink. She remembered watching the lights go out and hearing the screams of the drowning.

In New York, little Nan couldn't understand why her father did not come to her in this strange new land. "I left Papa on the big boat, and he told me to go with Aunt Jessie," she said. "Now I want Papa." But Papa never came, and Nan and Miss Leitch returned to England a week later.

Nina Harper's mother died when she was born so after her father's death, she became an orphan and was raised by her father's brothers. Growing up, she was told not to speak about the terrible disaster. It was not until her later years that she started to speak about the sinking.

Eva Hart recalled that on many occasions she and Nina Harper had played together on the Titanic (their ages being just a year apart) but Nina never remembered this. Nina and Eva did however correspond for many years.

In later years Nan married the Reverend Pont of St. John's Rectory in Moffat, Dumfriesshire. When she was 72 she was asked if she would like to see the Titanic raised. "I don't see much point in it after all this time," she replied. Nan Pont died in 1986 her aunt, Miss Jessie Leitch, died in 1963.

Travelling Companions (on same ticket)
Rev. John Harper
Miss Jessie Wills Leitch