Profile of the Day: Grace Darling

Today we remember Grace Darling, the daughter of an English lighthouse keeper, who helped rescue the survivors of the Forfarshire shipwreck in 1838.

Image: Wikimedia Commons, Dallas Museum of Art

Grace Horsley Darling was born on November 24, 1815 in her grandfather’s cottage in Northumberland, England. She was the seventh of nine children born to William and Thomasin Darling. The Darlings lived at the lighthouse on Longstone Island, one of the Farne Islands, where her father operated the lighthouse.

In the early hours of September 7, 1838, the SS Forfarshire struck the rocky coast of the Farne Islands, splitting the ship in half. Nearly all of the 63 passengers died in the wreckage, while a few survivors clung to the rocks. Through her window upstairs, Grace spotted the wreck and the survivors and quickly informed her father.

Together, Grace and her father took a row boat into the stormy weather to rescue the survivors. She kept the small boat steady in the rough waters while her father tended to the wounded and helped them into the boat. They then took the survivors back to the lighthouse and cared for them for 3 days until the storm finally passed.

News of Grace Darling’s involvement in the rescue spread throughout the nation. The tales of her bravery even reached Queen Victoria. Darling had become the nation’s heroine and the unexpected fame brought her an equally unexpected wealth as people everywhere sent her presents and donations. Sadly, Darling died just a few years later of tuberculosis at the age of 26.