A Northumberland author has completed a trilogy of dramatised biographies on three unsung heroes from the county during Victorian times.

Mark Batey explores the full span of these odds-defying and nation-transforming lives, detailing their impact and why we should all know a bit more about them.

What is well known is that in September 1838, Grace Darling and her father William rowed out in a coble from Longstone Lighthouse to save the lives of nine people on the rocks – survivors of the shipwrecked Forfarshire.

‘Grace’ explores the lesser-known parts of her life after the famous sea rescue she performed aged 22, which made her one of the first ‘media celebrities’. It shows how Grace struggled with the instant and unexpected fame.

Of this book, Mark said: “Grace’s own view, that the Darlings had merely done their duty, was disregarded. But raised in the seclusion of the Farnes, she had no desire for fame or adulation.

“Today, when elite athletes are applauded for stepping back for their well-being and professional advice is offered to participants in reality TV shows, more attention would surely be paid to the effects of celebrity on Grace’s mental health.”

Josephine Butler’s Great Crusade explores the influence the tragic death of her five-year-old daughter had on her, providing the catalyst to transform herself into a public crusader to improve young women’s lives.

In particular she campaigned against state-sanctioned abuse, openly discussing topics like prostitution and venereal disease - topics no respectable woman was supposed to address – taking on the Contagious Diseases Acts, which treated suspected prostitutes harshly and invasively, without legal recourse.

Her efforts laid critical groundwork for social justice and criminal law reform. For example, she and her colleagues lobbied successfully to raise the age of consent to 16.

The Secret Life of Father Time is a dramatised telling of the life of the ‘father’ of modern timekeeping, George Biddell Airy.

Hailing from Alnwick, he was the visionary Astronomer Royal of Victorian Britain. He dedicated his life to accurate timekeeping and safer navigation and designed the legendary Airy Transit Circle telescope, which defined the Prime Meridian at the Royal Observatory Greenwich, underpinning GMT as a global standard.