| Grace Darling (1815-1842) | |
| A Victorian heroine | |
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 Grace Horsley Darling. © NMM |
Being idealised as a Victorian heroine
Grace Darling’s father was a lighthouse keeper at the Longstone Lighthouse on the Farne Islands off Northumbria, which was owned by Trinity House, based at Tower Hill.
The Darlings became the most famous of all lighthouse families.
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| The rescue of the passengers from the Forfarshire. © NMM |
Grace Darling became a Victorian celebrity with books, poems, magazine articles, paintings and even a rose created in her honour. She was even asked to appear in Batty’s circus. Bewildered by such attention, Grace preferred to continue her modest life and remained on the island.
| 1815 | Born at Bamburgh, Northumberland, she was the seventh of nine children. |
| 1838 | She helped rescue the survivors from the shipwrecked SS 'Forfarshire'. |
| 1842 | Died from consumption (tuberculosis) and was buried in Bamburgh. |
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