For CapriUni and Melani above:

Grace Darling (1815 - 1843) Born at Bamburgh, Grace Darling's fame is due to one act of courage when with her father, lighthouse keeper William Darling, she rescued the survivors of the shipwrecked SS Forfarshire on 7 September 1838. The Darlings lived at the Longstone lighthouse on Brownsman Island in the Farne Islands. After difficulties with its engine boilers, the Forfarshire (on a journey from Hull to Dundee) with about 60 people on board struck the rocks of a neighbouring island on a stormy night. Nine of the crew and one passenger escaped on the only lifeboat on board but many of the passengers (who had been in their cabins below deck) were drowned. As the morning dawned, 9 remaining survivors (5 crew and 4 passengers) were seen clinging to the rocks and Grace and her father rowed to their rescue and then looked after them in the lighthouse for 3 days. To her distress, she became a great Victorian celebrity with countless books, magazine articles, poems (including one by Swinburne) and paintings being created in her honour. But there is no evidence that the story that she had to persuade her reluctant father to attempt the rescue has any truth in it although this is the basis of many of the poems and articles. She died of consumption (tuberculosis) at the age of only 26 and is buried at Bamburgh church. A monument in the churchyard was designed to be seen by any passing ship. The Grace Darling Museum in the village contains many mementoes, including the original little boat which she and her father rowed to the rescue. A memorial in St Cuthbert's chapel on the Farne Islands includes the inscription: "Pious and pure, modest and yet so brave, though young so wise, though meek so resolute".

Cheers,

Bill.