View source for Grace Darling

{{Short description|British lighthouse keeper's daughter (1815–1842)}}
{{Use British English|date=September 2013}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2020}}

{{Infobox person
| name               = Grace Darling
| image              = Image:Grace Darling Thomas Musgrave Joy.jpg
| image_upright =
| image_size         =  <!-- Discouraged per WP:IMGSIZE; please use image_upright. -->
| alt                = Painted portrait of the article subject
| caption            = Portrait by [[Thomas Musgrave Joy]] 
| birth_date         =  24 November 1815 
| birth_place        = [[Bamburgh]], England
| death_date         = {{Death date and age|1842|10|20|1815|11|24|df=y}}
| death_place        = [[Bamburgh]], England
| resting_place      = [[St Aidan's Church, Bamburgh|St Aidan’s]] [[churchyard]], [[Bamburgh]]
| resting_place_coordinates =  {{coord|55|38.63|N|01|36.58|W|type:landmark|display=inline}}
| monuments          = 
| nationality        = English
| other_names        = 
| citizenship        = 
| alma_mater         = 
| occupation         = Lighthouse keeper
| known_for          = 
| parents            = William and Thomasin Darling 
| awards             = [[Awards of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution#Medal of the RNLI|Silver Medal for Bravery]] by the Royal National Institution for the Preservation of Life from Shipwreck
| footnotes          = 
}}
'''Grace Horsley Darling''' (also known as "Amazing Grace"; 24 November 1815 – 20 October 1842) was an English [[lighthouse keeper]]'s daughter. Her participation in the rescue of survivors from the shipwrecked [[Forfarshire (ship)|''Forfarshire'']] in 1838 brought her national fame. The [[paddlesteamer]] ran aground on the [[Farne Islands]] off the coast of [[Northumberland]] in northeast England; eight members of the crew and one passenger, Sarah Dawson, were saved.<ref name="auto">H. C. G. Matthew. 2004.</ref><ref>BBC Radio 4 programme - History's Youngest Heroes with Nicola Coughlan. 2024. Broadcast 23 Dec 2024. Available on BBC Sounds.</ref>

==Early life==

[[File:Lighthouse LongStone with Grace Darlings Bedroom WindowFarne Islands Northumberland.JPG|thumb|left|Lighthouse at Longstone: The upper window in the white ring was Grace Darling's bedroom, from which she saw the wreckage of the ''Forfarshire''.]]

Grace Darling was born on 24 November 1815 at her grandfather's house in Northumberland. She was the seventh of nine children (four brothers and four sisters) born to William and Thomasin Darling, and when only a few weeks old, she was taken to live on Brownsman Island, one of the [[Farne Islands]], in a small cottage attached to the lighthouse. Her father ran the lighthouse (built in 1795) for [[Trinity House]], and earned a salary of £70 per year ({{Inflation|UK|70|1815|r=-2|fmt=eq|cursign=£}}{{Inflation/fn|UK}}) with a bonus of £10 for satisfactory service. The accommodation was basic, and the lighthouse was not located in a good place to guide shipping to safety, so in 1826, the family moved to the newly constructed lighthouse on Longstone Island.<ref>Matthew. 2004.</ref>

[[Longstone Lighthouse]] had better accommodation, but the island itself was slightly less hospitable, so William would row back to Brownsman to gather vegetables from their former garden and to feed the animals. The family spent most of their time on the ground floor of the lighthouse, which consisted of a large room, heated by a wooden stove. The room was their living room, dining room, and kitchen in one, and had a spiral staircase leading to three bedrooms above and the light at the top of the tower.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.farne.co.uk/grace_horsley_darling.html|title=Loading...|website=Farne.co.uk|access-date=22 October 2021|archive-date=6 October 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141006134404/http://www.farne.co.uk/grace_horsley_darling.html|url-status=dead}}</ref>

==Shipwreck==
In the early hours of 7 September 1838, Darling, looking from an upstairs window, 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.
[[File:Grace Darling Forfarshire Thomas Musgrave Joy.jpg|thumb|right|260px|''Grace Darling at the Forfarshire'' by [[Thomas Musgrave Joy]]]]

Darling and her father, William, determined that the weather was too rough for the [[lifeboat (rescue)|lifeboat]] to put out from [[Seahouses]] (then [[North Sunderland]]), so they took a [[rowing boat]] (a {{Convert|21|ft|m|round=0.5|abbr=on|disp=or}}, four-man Northumberland [[coble]]) across to the survivors, taking a long route that kept to the lee side of the islands, a distance of nearly a mile (about {{Convert|1|mi||abbr=on|disp=out|round=0.5}}). Darling kept the coble steady in the water, while her father helped four men and the lone surviving woman, Sarah Dawson, into the boat. Although she survived the sinking, Mrs. Dawson had lost her two young children (James, 7, and Matilda, 5) during the night.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.gracedarling.co.uk/Casualties.html|title=Grace Darling Website|website=Gracedarling.co.uk|access-date=22 October 2021}}</ref> William and three of the rescued men then rowed the boat back to the lighthouse. Darling then remained at the lighthouse while William and three of the rescued crew members rowed back and recovered four more survivors.

Meanwhile, the lifeboat had set out from Seahouses, but arrived at Big Harcar rock after Darling and her father had completed their rescue operation; all they found were the bodies of Mrs Dawson's children and of a clergyman. Returning to North Sunderland was too dangerous, so they rowed to the lighthouse to take shelter. Darling'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 62 people. The vessel broke in two almost immediately upon hitting the rocks. Those rescued by Darling 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, Angus|Montrose]] [[sloop]], and brought into [[South Shields]] that same night.<ref name="The Junior Classics">{{cite web |url=http://www.fullbooks.com/The-Junior-Classics7.html |title=The Junior Classics – Volume 7, Stories of Courage and Heroism |author=William Patten |access-date=22 November 2010 }}</ref>

As news of her role in the rescue reached the public, her combination of bravery and simple virtue set her out as exemplary, and led to an uneasy role as the nation's heroine. Grace and her father were awarded the [[Awards of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution#Medal of the RNLI|Silver Medal for Bravery]] by the Royal National Institution for the Preservation of Life from Shipwreck, later named the [[Royal National Lifeboat Institution]] (RNLI).<ref>{{Cite book|title=Lifeboat Gallantry|last=Cox|first=Barry|year=1998}}</ref> Subscriptions and donations totaling over £700 (equivalent to about £{{Round|{{inflation|UK|700|1838}}|-2}} in {{Inflation year|index=UK}}) were raised for her, including £50 from Queen Victoria; more than a dozen portrait painters sailed to her island home to capture her likeness, and hundreds of gifts, letters, and even marriage proposals were delivered to her. Her unexpected wealth and fame were such that the [[Hugh Percy, 3rd Duke of Northumberland|Duke of Northumberland]] took on a role as her self-appointed guardian and founder of a trust, established to look after the donations offered to her. His personal gifts to her family were a timepiece and a silver teapot.<ref name="auto"/>

==Death==
[[File:Grace Darling gravestone.jpg|thumb|right|150px|The replica headstone above the grave of Grace Darling and her family, St Aidan's churchyard, Bamburgh. The weathered original is on display at the RNLI Grace Darling Museum in [[Bamburgh]].]]
[[File:Effigy of Grace Darling, St Aidan's Church, Bamburgh.jpg|thumb|Original [[effigy]] of Grace Darling by [[Charles Raymond Smith]] in [[St Aidan's Church, Bamburgh]]]]

In 1842, Darling fell ill with [[tuberculosis]] while visiting the mainland. According to letters at [[Northumberland Archives]], Grace stayed with the Shields family in [[Wooler]] during late August and early September in an attempt to improve her health.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Northumberland Archives online catalogue |url=https://calmview.northumberland.gov.uk/Record.aspx?src=CalmView.Catalog&id=SANT/BEQ/14/2/34&pos=43 |access-date=2024-12-17 |website=calmview.northumberland.gov.uk}}</ref> A later letter shows that she moved to Alnwick with her mother in early October 1842.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Northumberland Archives online catalogue |url=https://calmview.northumberland.gov.uk/Record.aspx?src=CalmView.Catalog&id=SANT/BEQ/14/2/37&pos=46 |access-date=2024-12-17 |website=calmview.northumberland.gov.uk}}</ref> She then convalesced with her cousins, the MacFarlanes, in their house in Narrowgate, [[Alnwick]]. When the [[Charlotte Percy, Duchess of Northumberland|Duchess of Northumberland]] heard of her situation, she arranged for Darling to be moved to better accommodation close to [[Alnwick Castle]]. The Duchess tended to her in person, as well as providing her with the services of the ducal family physician. 

However, Darling's condition declined and she was conveyed to the place of her birth in Bamburgh, where she died, aged 26, of [[Tuberculosis|consumption]] in October 1842. She is buried in the churchyard of [[St Aidan's Church, Bamburgh]]. The [[Monument to Grace Darling]] was completed in 1842. It represents a sleeping effigy of her holding an oar, and lies to the north of her grave at the western edge of the churchyard so it would be visible to passing seafarers.<ref>{{cite book|title=The Story of St Aidan's Church, Bamburgh, with notes on the Castle|edition=18|year= 1981|page=26|publisher=British Publishing Company, Gloucester}}</ref> The original effigy, which was sculpted by [[Charles Raymond Smith]] son of [[James Smith (sculptor)|James Smith]],<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://sculpture.gla.ac.uk/view/person.php?id=msib7_1206712294|title=Charles Raymond Smith - Mapping the Practice and Profession of Sculpture in Britain and Ireland 1851-1951|website=Sculpture.gla.ac.uk|access-date=22 October 2021|archive-date=5 July 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220705192232/https://sculpture.gla.ac.uk/view/person.php?id=msib7_1206712294|url-status=dead}}</ref> was moved into the church in 1895 due to weathering.

Within the St Aidan's Church there is also a stained-glass window dedicated to the memory of Grace Darling.<ref name="auto"/>

==Legacy==
Darling's achievement was celebrated in her lifetime; she received a large financial reward in addition to the plaudits of the nation. A number of fictionalised 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]] in his poem "Grace Darling" (1843). In 1882 a four-act drama, ''Humanity, or a Passage in the Life of Grace Darling'', premiered at the Theatre Royal, [[Leicester]]<ref>{{Cite book |last=Clarence |first=Reginald |title="The Stage" Cyclopaedia |publisher=Burt Franklin |year=1909 |location=New York |pages=207}}</ref> and immediately transferred to the vast Standard Theatre in London's [[Shoreditch]].  The play by Leonard Rae and Hugh Marston included a realistic representation of the sea rescue.<ref>Theatre programme: "Humanity", Standard Theatre London 17 April 1882. The programme includes press quotes which describe the rescue scene.</ref> In 1884, rose breeder [[Henry Bennett (rose hybridizer)|Henry Bennett]] named the tea rose 'Grace Darling' after her. A lifeboat with her name was presented to [[Lindisfarne|Holy Island]].{{Citation needed|date=March 2020}} One of a series of Victorian paintings by [[William Bell Scott]] at [[Wallington Hall]] in Northumberland depicts her rescue efforts. The [[McManus Galleries]] in Dundee includes three paintings by [[Thomas Musgrave Joy]] that celebrate Grace Darling's deeds with the ''Forfarshire''.<ref name="odnb">[[Suzanne Fagence Cooper]], [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/15148 "Joy, Thomas Musgrave (1812–1866)"], ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, 2004, accessed 5 October 2013</ref>

At Bamburgh, a museum is dedicated to her achievements and the seafaring life of the area.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://rnli.org/find-my-nearest/museums/grace-darling-museum|title = RNLI Grace Darling Museum in Bamburgh|publisher=[[RNLI]]}}</ref> From 1990 to 2020 an RNLI [[Mersey class lifeboat|''Mersey''-class lifeboat]] at Seahouses bore the name ''Grace Darling''.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://rnli.org/news-and-media/2021/january/13/seahouses-lifeboat-crew-bid-farewell-to-grace-darling|title = Seahouses lifeboat crew bid farewell to 'Grace Darling' |website=Rnli.org}}</ref> Singer/songwriter [[Dave Cousins]] of [[Strawbs]] wrote "[[Grace Darling (song)|Grace Darling]]" (on the album ''[[Ghosts (Strawbs album)|Ghosts]]'') in tribute and as a love song. The folk singing group The Limeliters, accompanied by a children's chorus, sang a different "Grace Darling" (featuring the refrain "Help, help, came a desperate yelp!") in their 1962 album, recorded live in concert, ''Through Children's Eyes''.<ref>{{YouTube|joDqzk87bwA|The Limeliters - Through Children's Eyes - Grace Darling}}</ref> In 2017, [[Duke Special]] set [[Michael Longley]]'s poem "Grace Darling" to music and recorded it on the album ''Hallow''. The Grace Darling Hotel, one of the oldest extant hotels in [[Melbourne]], Victoria, opened in 1854.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Valent |first=Dani |date=2009-07-06 |title=Grace Darling Hotel |url=https://www.theage.com.au/lifestyle/grace-darling-hotel-20090706-ge7z4g.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240316213310/https://www.theage.com.au/lifestyle/grace-darling-hotel-20090706-ge7z4g.html |archive-date=2024-03-16 |access-date=2024-03-16 |website=The Age |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Victorian Heritage Database Report – Grace Darling Hotel |url=https://vhd.heritagecouncil.vic.gov.au/places/316 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160811215247/http://vhd.heritage.vic.gov.au/reports/report_place_local/316 |archive-date=2016-08-11 |access-date=2024-03-16 |website=vhd.heritagecouncil.vic.gov.au}}</ref>

==Gallery==
<gallery widths="200px" heights="200px">
File:Grace Darling Memorial at Bamborough Church.jpg|Panorama of St Aidan's churchyard, Bamburgh
File:Grace Darling monument, Bamburgh.jpg|Monument in St Aidan's churchyard, Bamburgh
File:Grace Darling memorial.jpg|Memorial in [[St Cuthbert]]'s chapel, [[Inner Farne]]
File:Memorial window to Grace Darling (detail) St Aidan's Church in Bamburgh.jpg|Memorial window to Grace Darling in St Aidan's Church
File:Grace Darling Chocolate Bar.JPG|The wrapper of a chocolate bar featuring the image of Grace Darling, from the Grace Darling Museum
File:Grace Darling and signature.jpg|Frontispiece image of Grace from ''Grace Darling&nbsp;– Heroine of the Farne Islands'' by Eva Hope
File:GRACE DARLING Clipper ship sailing card.jpg|''Grace Darling'' A1 Extreme [[Clipper]] sailing card
</gallery>

==See also==
{{portal|Biography|History}}
* [[Monument to Grace Darling]] in St Aidan's Churchyard
* [[Ida Lewis|Ida Walley Lewis]], an American lighthouse keeper noted for rescuing numerous people in the latter half of the 19th century
* [[Grace Bussell]], a 16-year-old Australian girl who along with [[Sam Isaacs]] rescued 50 people from the [[SS Georgette|SS ''Georgette'']] when it foundered off the [[Western Australia|West Australian]] coast in 1876, 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]], a Newfoundland 17-year-old who in 1828, with her father, brother, and dog, rescued 163 shipwrecked people
* [[Roberta Boyd]], a [[New Brunswick]] girl who was hailed as the "Grace Darling of the [[St. Croix River (Maine – New Brunswick)|St. Croix]]" after a rescue in 1882
* [[Abigail Becker]], a Canadian woman also known as the 'Angel of Long Point' who saved the lives of seventeen people across five incidents, including shipwrecks

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Further reading==
* [[Algernon Charles Swinburne]]'s poem "Grace Darling". A poem of the same name and subject was published in 1910 by Scottish Border poet and Australian bush balladeer [[William Henry Ogilvie|Will H. Ogilvie]] (1869–1963)
* Richard Armstrong: ''Grace Darling: Maid and Myth'' (1965)
* Hugh Cunningham: ''Grace Darling&nbsp;– 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: ''[https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/23295 Grace Darling&nbsp;– Heroine of the Farne Islands]'' Walter Scott Publishing (1875)
* [[Jessica Mitford]]: ''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, "[http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/7155 Darling, Grace Horsley (1815–1842)]", ''[[Oxford Dictionary of National Biography]]'', Oxford University Press, 2004
*@RNLI: [https://storify.com/RNLI/grace-darling-2 tweets as the voice of Grace Darling] narrating her famous rescue in 'real time' on its 175th anniversary (2013)

==External links==
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20051119082153/http://www.rnligracedarling.org.uk/ Grace Darling Museum from the RNLI]
*[http://www.gracedarling.co.uk/ Grace Darling website]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20141006134404/http://www.farne.co.uk/grace_horsley_darling.html Information on Grace and the area in which she lived, including Seahouses, Bamburgh, Beadnell and the Farne Islands (most recently saved Web Archive snapshot of lost website)]
*[https://books.google.com/books?id=R6xS3DM_qVAC&dq=Forfarshire&pg=PA199 Description of the sinking of the Forfarshire and Grace Darling’s part in the rescue], from ''The Tragedy of the Seas'', 1841, from Google Book Search
* [https://www.bbc.co.uk/legacies/myths_legends/england/tyne/article_1.shtml “Grace Darling: Victorian heroine” BBC]
* [https://www.bbc.co.uk/teach/school-radio/articles/zmsnm39 “Grace Darling - Heroine of the sea” BBC]
*[http://freespace.virgin.net/john.elkin/darling001.htm#grace Grace Darling genealogy]
*[https://explaininghistory.org/2025/10/09/three-victorians-who-changed-britain-and-the-world-grace-darling-josephine-butler-george-biddell-airy/ Interview on the Explaining History Podcast about Grace Darling with biographer Mark Batey]
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{{Lifeboat wrecks and rescues}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Darling, Grace}}
[[Category:1815 births]]
[[Category:1842 deaths]]
[[Category:19th-century deaths from tuberculosis]]
[[Category:British lighthouse keepers]]
[[Category:Women lighthouse keepers]]
[[Category:Sea rescue in the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Tuberculosis deaths in England]]
[[Category:People from Bamburgh]]
[[Category:Burials in Northumberland]]
[[Category:Lifesaving]]
[[Category:Women of the Victorian era]]
[[Category:Royal National Lifeboat Institution people]]