Grace Darling
Encyclopedia
Grace Horsley Darling was an English
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 Victorian
Victorian era
The Victorian era of British history was the period of Queen Victoria's reign from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. It was a long period of peace, prosperity, refined sensibilities and national self-confidence...

 heroine who in 1838, along with her father, saved 13 people from the wreck of the SS Forfarshire.

Biography

Darling was born in 1815 at Bamburgh
Bamburgh
Bamburgh is a large village and civil parish on the coast of Northumberland, England. It has a population of 454.It is notable for two reasons: the imposing Bamburgh Castle, overlooking the beach, seat of the former Kings of Northumbria, and at present owned by the Armstrong family ; and its...

 in Northumberland
Northumberland
Northumberland is the northernmost ceremonial county and a unitary district in North East England. For Eurostat purposes Northumberland is a NUTS 3 region and is one of three boroughs or unitary districts that comprise the "Northumberland and Tyne and Wear" NUTS 2 region...

 and spent her youth in two lighthouse
Lighthouse
A lighthouse is a tower, building, or other type of structure designed to emit light from a system of lamps and lenses or, in older times, from a fire, and used as an aid to navigation for maritime pilots at sea or on inland waterways....

s (Brownsman and Longstone
Longstone Lighthouse
Longstone Lighthouse was built and designed by Joseph Nelson in 1826, and was originally called the Outer Farne lighthouse.The site had a long history of need for a light. In the late 17th Century Sir John Clayton, and later, in 1755, Captain J. Blackett, requested a light for the island...

) of which her father, William, was the keeper.

In the early hours of 7 September 1838, Grace, looking from an upstairs window of the Longstone Lighthouse
Longstone Lighthouse
Longstone Lighthouse was built and designed by Joseph Nelson in 1826, and was originally called the Outer Farne lighthouse.The site had a long history of need for a light. In the late 17th Century Sir John Clayton, and later, in 1755, Captain J. Blackett, requested a light for the island...

 on the Farne Islands
Farne Islands
The Farne Islands are a group of islands off the coast of Northumberland, England. There are between 15 and 20 or more islands depending on the state of the tide. They are scattered about 2.5–7.5 km distant from the mainland, divided into two groups, the Inner Group and the Outer Group...

, spotted the wreck and survivors of the Forfarshire on Big Harcar, a nearby low rocky island. The Forfarshire had foundered on the rocks and broken in half: one of the halves had sunk during the night.

She and her father determined that the weather was too rough for the lifeboat
Lifeboat (rescue)
A rescue lifeboat is a boat rescue craft which is used to attend a vessel in distress, or its survivors, to rescue crewmen and passengers. It can be hand pulled, sail powered or powered by an engine...

 to put out from Seahouses
Seahouses
Seahouses is a large village on the North Northumberland coast in England. It is about 20 km north of Alnwick, within the Northumberland Coast Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.Seahouses attracts many visitors, mainly from the north east area...

 (then North Sunderland
North Sunderland
 North Sunderland is a fishing village on the coast of Northumberland, England, and adjacent to Seahouses.- Governance : North Sunderland is in the parliamentary constituency of Berwick-upon-Tweed.-External links:* ....

), so they took a rowing boat (a 21 ft, 4-man Northumberland coble
Coble
The coble is a type of open traditional fishing boat which developed on the North East coast of England. The southern-most examples occur around Hull The coble is a type of open traditional fishing boat which developed on the North East coast of England. The southern-most examples occur around Hull...

) across to the survivors, taking a long route that kept to the lee side of the islands, a distance of nearly a mile. Grace kept the coble steady in the water while her father helped four men and the lone surviving woman, Mrs. Dawson, into the boat. Although she survived the sinking, Mrs Dawson had lost her two young children during the night. William and three of the rescued men then rowed the boat back to the lighthouse. Grace then remained at the lighthouse while William and three of the rescued crew members rowed back and recovered the remaining survivors.

Meanwhile the lifeboat had set out from Seahouses but arrived at Big Harcar rock after Grace and her father had completed the rescue: all they found were the dead bodies of Mrs Dawson's children and of a vicar
Vicar
In the broadest sense, a vicar is a representative, deputy or substitute; anyone acting "in the person of" or agent for a superior . In this sense, the title is comparable to lieutenant...

. It was too dangerous to return to North Sunderland so they rowed to the lighthouse to take shelter. Grace's brother, William Brooks Darling, was one of the seven fishermen in the lifeboat. The weather deteriorated to the extent that everyone was obliged to remain at the lighthouse for three days before returning to shore.

The Forfarshire had been carrying 63 people. The vessel broke in two almost immediately upon hitting the rocks. Those rescued by Grace and her father were from the bow section of the vessel which had been held by the rocks for some time before sinking. All that remained at daybreak was the portside paddlebox casing. Nine other passengers and crew had managed to float off a lifeboat from the stern section before it too sank, and were picked up in the night by a passing Montrose
Montrose, Angus
Montrose is a coastal resort town and former royal burgh in Angus, Scotland. It is situated 38 miles north of Dundee between the mouths of the North and South Esk rivers...

 sloop
Sloop
A sloop is a sail boat with a fore-and-aft rig and a single mast farther forward than the mast of a cutter....

 and brought into South Shields
South Shields
South Shields is a coastal town in Tyne and Wear, England, located at the mouth of the River Tyne to Tyne Dock, and about downstream from Newcastle upon Tyne...

 that same night.

Grace Darling died of tuberculosis
Tuberculosis
Tuberculosis, MTB, or TB is a common, and in many cases lethal, infectious disease caused by various strains of mycobacteria, usually Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Tuberculosis usually attacks the lungs but can also affect other parts of the body...

 in 1842, aged 26.

Legacy

Grace is buried with her father and mother in a modest grave in St. Aidan’s churchyard
Churchyard
A churchyard is a patch of land adjoining or surrounding a church which is usually owned by the relevant church or local parish itself. In the Scots language or Northern English language this can also be known as a kirkyard or kirkyaird....

, Bamburgh
Bamburgh
Bamburgh is a large village and civil parish on the coast of Northumberland, England. It has a population of 454.It is notable for two reasons: the imposing Bamburgh Castle, overlooking the beach, seat of the former Kings of Northumbria, and at present owned by the Armstrong family ; and its...

, where a nearby elaborate cenotaph
Cenotaph
A cenotaph is an "empty tomb" or a monument erected in honour of a person or group of people whose remains are elsewhere. It can also be the initial tomb for a person who has since been interred elsewhere. The word derives from the Greek κενοτάφιον = kenotaphion...

 commemorates her life. A plain stone monument to her was erected in St. Cuthbert’s Chapel on Great Farne Island in 1848.

Grace’s achievement was celebrated in her lifetime: she received a large financial reward in addition to the plaudits of the nation. A number of fictionalized depictions propagated the Grace Darling legend, such as Grace Darling, or the Maid of the Isles by Jerrold Vernon (1839), which gave birth to the legend of “the girl with windswept hair”. Her deed was committed to verse by William Wordsworth
William Wordsworth
William Wordsworth was a major English Romantic poet who, with Samuel Taylor Coleridge, helped to launch the Romantic Age in English literature with the 1798 joint publication Lyrical Ballads....

 in his poem Grace Darling (1843). A lifeboat with her name was presented to Holy Island
Lindisfarne
Lindisfarne is a tidal island off the north-east coast of England. It is also known as Holy Island and constitutes a civil parish in Northumberland...

. One of a series of Victorian paintings by William Bell Scott
William Bell Scott
William Bell Scott was a Scottish poet and artist.-Life:The son of Robert Scott , the engraver, and brother of David Scott, the painter, he was born in Edinburgh. While a young man he studied art and assisted his father, and he published verses in the Scottish magazines...

 at Wallington Hall
Wallington Hall
Wallington is a country house and gardens located about west of Morpeth, Northumberland, England, near the village of Cambo. It has been owned by the National Trust since 1942, after it was donated by Sir Charles Philips Trevelyan, the first donation of its kind...

 in Northumberland depicts her rescue.

At Bamburgh, there is a museum dedicated to her achievements and the seafaring life of the region. It re-opened in December 2007 following renovation. The Royal National Lifeboat Institution
Royal National Lifeboat Institution
The Royal National Lifeboat Institution is a charity that saves lives at sea around the coasts of Great Britain, Ireland, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man, as well as on selected inland waterways....

 Mersey class lifeboat
Mersey class lifeboat
Mersey class lifeboats are all-weather lifeboats operated by the Royal National Lifeboat Institution from stations around the coasts of Great Britain and Ireland...

 at Seahouses
Seahouses
Seahouses is a large village on the North Northumberland coast in England. It is about 20 km north of Alnwick, within the Northumberland Coast Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.Seahouses attracts many visitors, mainly from the north east area...

 bears the name Grace Darling.

Singer/songwriter Dave Cousins
Dave Cousins
Dave Cousins has been the leader, singer and most active songwriter of Strawbs since 1967.-Career:...

 of Strawbs wrote Grace Darling (on Ghosts
Ghosts (Strawbs album)
Ghosts is a studio album by English band Strawbs.-Side one:#"Ghosts" – 8:31#:"Sweet Dreams"#:"Night Light"#:"Guardian Angel"#:"Night Light"#"Lemon Pie" – 4:03#"Starshine/Angel Wine" – 5:15...

) in tribute and as a love song. North East musical playwright Dennis A Westgate wrote a musical based on the life of Grace Darling, exploring her life from childhood through to her death in 1842. The premiere was performed by a community theatre company based in York, The York Stars, July 2010 to help promote Grace Darling and the work of the RNLI.

It was suggested by Richard Armstrong in his 1965 biography Grace Darling: Maid and Myth that she may have suffered from a cleft lip. He is the only biographer to put forward this theory, which has been strongly disputed by other experts.

See also

  • Grace Bussell
    Grace Bussell
    Grace Vernon Bussell , later Grace Drake-Brockman, was the 16-year-old heroine of the SS Georgette disaster in Western Australia on 1 December 1876. Bussell, along with Aboriginal stockman Sam Isaacs, helped save the lives of around 50 people with a quick thinking rescue from shore...

    , a 16-year-old Australian girl who rescued 50 people from the SS Georgette
    SS Georgette
    SS Georgette was a steamship built in 1872. She is best known, especially in Irish-American circles for the part played in the story of the Catalpa rescue in April 1876. While the events surrounding her shipwrecking eight months later are dramatic and did capture the imagination of the local...

     when it foundered off the West Australian
    Western Australia
    Western Australia is a state of Australia, occupying the entire western third of the Australian continent. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Great Australian Bight and Indian Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east and South Australia to the south-east...

     coast in 1876. She is regarded as Australia’s national heroine. At the time of the rescue, Bussell was referred to as the “Grace Darling of the West” by journalists.
  • Ann Harvey
    Ann Harvey
    Ann Harvey was a fisher and rescuer born near the small fishing community of Isle aux Morts, Newfoundland, Canada. Harvey, called "Grace Darling of Newfoundland", is known for her bravery at the young age of seventeen for rescuing, along with her father, younger brother and a dog, 163 shipwrecked...

    , a Newfoundland 17-year-old who in 1828, with her father, brother and dog, rescued 163 shipwrecked people.
  • Roberta Boyd
    Roberta Boyd
    Roberta Beatrice "Bertha" Boyd , sometimes listed as Roberta Grace, was a Canadian heroine known as the 'Grace Darling of the St. Croix'. Her father, John Boyd, was the keeper of the Spruce Point Light near St. Stephen, New Brunswick...

    , a New Brunswick
    New Brunswick
    New Brunswick is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the only province in the federation that is constitutionally bilingual . The provincial capital is Fredericton and Saint John is the most populous city. Greater Moncton is the largest Census Metropolitan Area...

     girl who was hailed as the “Grace Darling of the St. Croix” after a rescue in 1882.

Further reading

  • Algernon Charles Swinburne's
    Algernon Charles Swinburne
    Algernon Charles Swinburne was an English poet, playwright, novelist, and critic. He invented the roundel form, wrote several novels, and contributed to the famous Eleventh Edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica...

     poem "Grace Darling"
  • Richard Armstrong: Grace Darling: Maid and Myth (1965)
  • Hugh Cunningham: Grace Darling – Victorian Heroine Hambledon: Continuum (2008) ISBN 978-1-85285-548-2
  • Thomasin Darling: Grace Darling, her True Story: from Unpublished Papers in Possession of her Family (1880)
  • Thomasin Darling: The Journal of William Darling, Grace Darling's Father (1887)
  • Eva Hope: Grace Darling – Heroine of the Farne Islands, Her Life and its Lessons Walter Scott (1880)
  • Jessica Mitford
    Jessica Mitford
    Jessica Lucy Freeman-Mitford was an English author, journalist and political campaigner, who was one of the Mitford sisters...

    : Grace Had an English Heart. The Story of Grace Darling, Heroine and Victorian Superstar (1998) ISBN 0-525-24672-X
  • Constance Smedley: Grace Darling and Her Times Hurst and Blackett (1932)
  • H. C. G. Matthew, "Darling, Grace Horsley (1815–1842)", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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