Francis Davis Millet

Francis Davis Millet (name sometimes given as "Francis David Millet"; November 3, 1846 - April 15, 1912) was an American painter and writer and one of those who died in the sinking of the RMS Titanic.

Millet was born in Mattapoisett, Massachusetts and served with the Sixtieth Massachusetts volunteers in the American Civil War as a drummer and assistant surgeon. He went on to study at Harvard University, graduating with a degree in literature in 1869, and two years later entered the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp, Belgium. He returned to the United States in 1875 to work as a correspondent for the "Advertiser" at the Philadelphia Centennial Exposition. In 1876, he painted murals at Trinity Church in Boston with John LaFarge.

A well regarded American Academic Realist, Millet was close friends with Augustus Saint-Gaudens and Mark Twain, both of whom were at his 1879 marriage to Elizabeth Merrill in Paris, France.

In 1880, Francis Millet became a member of the Society of American Artists, and in 1885 was elected to the National Academy of Design, New York and Vice chairman of the Fine Arts committee. He was made a trustee of the Metropolitan Museum of Art and a Director of the American Academy in Rome. In addition, he sat on the advisory committee of the National Gallery of Art. He was decorations director for the World Columbian Exposition in Chicago, Illinois in 1893.

He translated Tolstoy and also wrote essays and short stories. Among his publications are "Capillary Crime and Other Stories" (1892) and "Expedition to the Philippines" (1899).

On Sunday, April 14, 1912, Francis Millet sailed first class aboard the Royal Mail Ship Titanic on her maiden voyage to New York. He was last seen helping women and children into lifeboats.