Grace Darling

Grace Horsley Darling (1815-42) the daughter of a lighthouse keeper on one of the Farne Islands, off the Northumberland coast, was on one occasion in 1838 called upon to assist her father, William, in the rescue of survivors from the stricken ship, Forfarshire. They managed to save nine lives and news of this heroic effort spread far and wide.

Grace and her father were awarded gold medals from the Royal Humane Society. She almost immediately achieved heroic status, with calls for locks of her hair so numerous that she was said to have been in danger of becoming bald.