The Lighthouse Keeper and His Daughter: Trinity House and the Darlings
In this blog, Cathryn takes a look at Trinity House and their links to the Darling family.
Trinity House Newcastle
We’ll begin by taking a brief look at the history of Newcastle’s Trinity House. The origins of Trinity House date back to the late 1400s when the Guild of the Blessed Trinity of Newcastle-Upon-Tyne was founded to support the town’s mariners and their families. They were officially established in January 1505 when Ralph Hebborn granted the guild their site on Broad Chare. At first, Trinity House’s activities were focused solely on the Tyne, but eventually they would be responsible for all the buoys, lighthouses etc. between Berwick-Upon-Tweed in the north and Whitby in the south.
Farne Lighthouse
Located about 2 miles off the coast of Northumberland, the Farne Islands consists of between 15 and 20 islands depending on the tides. This makes it a particularly dangerous area for shipping and beacons and lighthouses have existed on the islands for hundreds of years. In 1673 a series of beacons were built along the coast, but these were never lit as Trinity House was unable to persuade the merchants of Newcastle to put up the funding for this. There was also failed attempts to establish lighthouses in 1727 and 1755. A working lighthouse was built in 1778, which was replaced in 1811 by the current Farne Lighthouse. Another lighthouse was also built further out on Brownsman Island, but the light did not go out far enough to prevent the majority of shipwrecks in the area. In 1825 William Darling made a request to Trinity House, his employer, asking for a lighthouse to be built further out. This resulted in the building in Longstone Lighthouse which the family moved into in 1826. It was from Longstone that William and Grace Darling would rescue the survivors of the wreck of the Forfarshire in 1838.
Built in 1834, the Forfarshire was a paddle steamer powered by two 90 horsepower engines, it was also fitted with sails. The ship was owned by the Dundee and Hull Steam Packet Company and was designed to carry passengers and cargo between the two cities. It set out from Hull on its’ last journey on the 5th of September 1838. Things quickly started to go wrong. The pumps that supplied water to the ships’ boilers began to fail when the Forfarshire was passing Flamborough Head, reducing the engines’ power. Instead of putting into port for repairs, Captain Humble decided to keep going. Things went smoothly for a time, and the ship was able to reach St Abb’s Head in the Scottish Borders then the wind changed from a light breeze to gale-force. The ship was pushed back down the coast and at 11pm the engines were turned off. At this point Captain Humble decided to head to the Farne Islands to seek shelter from the storm. The darkness and the weather conditions made it difficult to navigate and it’s believed that Humble mistook Farne Lighthouse for the mainland. The ship was then steered towards the rocks that surrounded Longstone Lighthouse.
At about 3am on the 7th of September the ship ran aground on Big Harcar and was split in half. One half sank quickly killing most of the people on board, the other half remained perched on the rock. About 13 people had been able to make it on to Big Harcar, by the time the Darlings got to them sometime after 7am, 9 of them were still alive. In order to reach the survivors William and Grace had to row their boat for about a mile in the continuing storm. When they reached Big Harcar it became clear that there wouldn’t be enough room for everyone, so two trips were made to rescue all the Forfarshire survivors. Whilst William got out onto the rock to assess the condition of the survivors, Grace rowed the boat back and forth to prevent it from being broken on the rocks. By 9am all the survivors had been brought to Longstone Lighthouse. The group was soon joined by the local lifeboat crew, who had set out after the Darlings. When the lifeboat reached Big Harcar, they found only the bodies of those who had died during the night. It was a few days before the weather cleared enough for the Forfarshire passengers and the lifeboat crew to return to the mainland. It was later discovered that another 9 people (8 crew and a passenger) had managed to escape the ship in one of its’ boats, this group was picked up by another passing ship.
William and Grace Darling rescuing survivors from the Forfar
For their actions both Grace and William were awarded the Silver Medal for Bravery from the Royal National Institution for the Preservation of Life from Shipwreck, now the RNLI. Whilst William would be somewhat forgotten, Grace became a major celebrity overnight. Longstone became overrun with visitors, including dozens of portrait artists, and organised tour groups. She would also receive a great deal of fan mail, several marriage proposals and so many requests for locks of hair that she stated that she would need to buy a wig. There were also constant invitations to attend functions, receive awards etc. The Mayor of Newcastle invited her to visit the town and collect the funds that had been raised for her. She declined the invitation. The constant attention would continue even when Grace became ill with tuberculosis. As well as the decline in her physical health, Grace’s mental health would also suffer, she began to have nightmares of staring eyes, and had a feeling of being constantly watched. She died on the 20th of October 1842 in Bamburgh and was buried in St Aidan’s churchyard a few days later. A memorial would be built in the churchyard in 1844, and a further memorial was installed in St Cuthbert’s Chapel on Inner Farne in 1848. William would eventually retire in 1860 and die in 1866.