Grace Darling was the daughter of a lighthouse-keeper on the Farne Islands off the Northumberland coast. On 7th September 1838, she spotted survivors from the wreck of the ‘Forfarshire’, and insisted on helping her father, anxious for her safety, to put to sea in the storm and save them.

Grace’s heroism was recognised by no less than Queen Victoria herself, but it also caught the imagination of the general public, who proved selfish in their hero-worship. The relentless pressures of celebrity so distressed the gentle Grace that she fell ill, and only four years after the rescue she died, aged 26.

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