A MYSTERY bidder came to the aid of a 97-year-old Titanic survivor, who was forced to sell the last of her mementos to pay for her nursing home bills.

A canvas mail-bag belonging to Millvina Dean, who as a baby was lowered to safety down the side of the sinking vessel, sold at auction today for more than £5,000.

However the buyer, an unnamed London businessman, handed the bag back to the auctioneers as soon as he had paid for it and asked that it be returned to its owner.

The item was all that remained of the possessions Ms Dean’s family had salvaged from the Titanic when it sank in 1912. Her father was among the 1,516 people who died.

She has recently been struggling to pay the £3,000 monthly bills for her room at her Southampton nursing home and needed to raise money.

Andrew Aldridge, of Henry Aldridge and Son Auctioneers, Devizes, Wiltshire, was amazed by the bidder’s gesture.

“There was quite a bit of competition for the item. There was museum in America which also wanted.

“The bidding went a little over £5,000, which I think the seller would be very happy with.

“However when the buyer came to pay for the bag, he said Ms Dean should have it and then just left.

“I’ve never seen him before, all I know is that he is a businessman in London.

“Whoever he is, I think this is wonderfully generous gesture.”

However the item wasn’t the biggest seller of the Titanic memorabilia auction which brought in more than £300,000.

A rusty key used by a cabin steward on the ship to let passengers escape the sinking ship went for around £59,000.

As with Ms Dean’s mail-bag the high bidding was governed largely by its backstory.

The key was found on the floating body of 33-year-old Edmund Stone, a first class bedroom steward, soon after the vessel sank.

Stone had last been seen by a crew mate heading down a stairwell to help rescue hundreds of mail from the ship’s post office, he drowned in the process.

However in using the key to unlock the door to a crew-only corridor, it is believed he opened up a short-cut between allowing third class passengers trapped in the lower decks to escape to the lifeboats.

Andrew Aldridge said the key, which was being sold by Stone’s family, was bought by a private collector from Ireland.

A large collection owned by another passenger Barbara Dainton-West, who was only ten months old when the Titanic sank, made £60,000.

She was one of the final survivors of the Titanic disaster when she passed away in October 2007.

Explore UK News

• Crime News

• Education News

• Health News

• Scotland News

Times Recommends

• The bright side of this winter rain
• Story behind the picture: Snow Leopard, 2008
• Times Charity Appeal: The Place2Be