Unsinkable "Molly" Brown - Profile

"Margaret Brown helped create the the Colorado chapter of the National American Woman Suffrage Association. It is written that Margaret Brown had a great passion for politics and ran for the Senate many years before women actually had the right to vote."

Born in 1867, Margaret Brown was destined to leave her mark in history, thrust into the record books because of her bravery and outspoken style.   On the night of April 14th 1912, while many perished in the freezing waters of the north Atlantic when TITANIC split in two and plummeted over 12,000 feet to the bottom, many became heroes, including Brown.

Robert Hichens

Prior to leaving TITANIC, it is written that Brown was instrumental in helping others into lifeboats.  Once set adrift in Lifeboat #6 and hearing Captain Smith’s calls for lifeboats to return to TITANIC to save more souls, Brown became a champion; demanding that the boat she was in be turned around. Quartermaster Robert Hichens, fearful of the lifeboat being turned over by frantic passengers thrashing in the icy water challenged Brown’s efforts. There are opposing accounts of whether or not Brown was successful in going back and rescuing anyone else. Needless to say, Mrs. Brown demonstrated great leadership, taking the oars and encouraging other to row.

TITANIC Lifeboat #6

JJ Brown

Separated only a few years prior from her husband James Joseph “JJ” Brown, Margaret was living off a cash settlement and monthly allowance, ample to maintain a comfortable lifestyle that included world travel.   However, her life started with more humble beginnings in Missouri as  the daughter of Irish Immigrants. JJ Brown, an engineer, was not wealthy when the two met and fell in love, but would make his fortune in Mining.  The couple had two children, Franklin and Kathy.  


Always a social activist, showing great leadership, Margaret Brown helped create the the Colorado chapter of the National American Woman Suffrage Association. Margaret Brown had a great passion for politics and ran for the Senate many years before women actually had the right to vote.

Photo: Historum.com Halomanuk

While on a trip to Europe and North Africa, where Mrs. Brown had just spent a great deal of time with her daughter, along with John Jacob Astor and his entourage, word came through that Brown’s young grandchild was ill back in the United States. TITANIC was the earliest ship back home.  Rather than leave from Southampton, Margaret Brown was one of many who took the SS Nomadic (now being restored in France) which tendered passengers from Cherbourg to TITANIC.

Broadway Production Playbill

Apparently, Mrs. Margaret Brown was always known to her closest friends as “Maggie”. The names “Molly” and “Unsinkable” were the creation of writers after her death in 1932.  Bearing little resemblance to the real Margaret Brown, Richard Morris, also of “Thoroughly Modern Millie” fame, penned the Broadway musical “The Unsinkable Molly Brown” starring Tammy Grimes. A subsequent Hollywood film of the same title would star Debbie Reynolds.   Many others would portray “Molly Brown” over the years in various incarnations, including Kathy Bates in the immensely popular James Cameron film TITANIC.   Needless to say, although Margaret Brown was truly recognized for her lifetime achievements as a philanthropist and leader, it is still, perhaps, her heroism at 41 West and 50 North that eventually brought her greatest fame.

Photo: James Cameron's TITANIC