There Was A Gay Power Couple Who Died On the Titanic… One Was Named ‘Butt’

The Titanic has once again found itself at the forefront of the zeitgeist because of the tragic deaths of OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush, billionaire Hamish Harding, businessman Shahzada Dawood and his 19-year-old son Suleman, and Paul-Henri Nargeolet, a 77-year-old famed Titanic expert. Though undoubtedly a tragic loss of life, the recent swell of re-focus on the Titanic has re-emerged the history of one of the country's most influential gay couples of the early 1900s who died together on the Titanic's infamously tragic trip. They were Archibald Willingham DeGraffenreid Clarendon Butt and Francis Davis Millet.

The history of the two is one of the great examples of "oh... they were, um... just good friends." Or as historian Richard Davenport-Hines wrote in 2012, "The enduring partnership of Butt and Millet was an early case of 'don’t ask, don’t tell.'" Let's start with the obvious, which is that one of their names was not only 'Butt' (amazing in itself), but Archibald Butt. Archibald Butt could be the gayest name I've ever heard, and is the name someone would write for an evil businessman on a Disney+ tweens show. Just amazing. But my sophomoric love of his name isn't what makes these men so interesting. No, that's just the tip of the iceb-... well, you know.

Butt was a Major in the military, as well as a presidential aide to Presidents Theodore Roosevelt and William Howard Taft. An accomplished writer and painter, he was also a personal friend of such greats as Mark Twain and John Singer Sargent. He rose quickly in the military for his exceptional skills with logistics. When he became aide to President Taft, he famously memorized the names of 1,280 guests at a state dinner and then went on introduced every single one of them to President Taft within one hour. This was included as part of the New York Times' coverage of the Titanic sinking.

Millet was married, but estranged from his wife and the two didn't live together for most of their marriage. Millet was also an accomplished artist, having studied it at Harvard and later going on to being an acclaimed artist in Belgium. But he also toured the world as a war journalist for the Russo-Turkish War. During his journeys, he met travel journalist Charles Warren Stoddard with whom he had a romantic affair in Italy, confirmed by love letters exchanged between the two.

But when Millet and Butt became friends, they bought a townhouse together in one of D.C.'s nicest neighborhoods where they became known as two of the best party-throwers for the nation's elites (yes, including said-Presidents). The two apparently bickered about the design of the house, as Butt found the walls, saying, "Both my bedroom and dressing-room are walled with red and pink roses, from buds to full-blown flowers, and even when I shut my eyes I seem to see them tumbling over each other."

via GIFER

Because he was aide to both Taft and Roosevelt, Butt became understandably stressed when the two went through a very public falling out. His loyalties were to both and it took a toll on him. He reportedly became pale and visibly worn down. He had a trip coming up for President Taft where he met with Pope Pius X and King Victor Emmanuel. But with the physical toll work was taking on him, Millet convinced Butt to make the Europe trip an extended vacation for the two of them. They sailed out on the ship Berlin, where the two shared a stateroom. They sailed back on the Titanic.

During a brief stop-off in Queenstown, Ireland on the fated trip home, Millet reportedly sent a letter to a friend raving about the luxurious nature of the Titanic. He also noted the "Queer lot of people on the ship", as well as "a number of obnoxious, ostentatious American women, the scourge of any place they infest, and worse on shipboard than anywhere." It's so fitting that the last contact he would have with the world was some absolutely proper Queer shade.

via GIPHY

After the ship sank, Millet's body was recovered, but Butt's was not, and as the reports told it, Taft was so visibly emotional over the loss of his friend and colleague, that he was incapable of speaking at his memorial service.

What's really cool is that the National Park Service includes the Butt-Millet Fountain, which is dedicated to the two men as one of the country's LGBTQ+ Memorials. If you're in ever in Washington D.C., check the statue out near the East Street entrance towards the SW side of the White House.

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