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Shona Riddell’s great, great aunt Mary Jane Bennett was the very first lighthouse keeper in New Zealand.
Mary tended the light at Pencarrow Lighthouse at the entrance to Wellington Harbour while also caring for her 6 children as a single mum.
There were many other women in the 19
th century who were lighthouse keepers, especially in the Unites States.
Some of these keepers engaged in daring rescues, such as the English teenager Grace Darling.
Grace lived with her family at Longstone Lighthouse in the North Sea and helped rescue shipwrecked sailors in the middle of a storm.
Crowds flocked to the island to meet Grace, and Cadbury named a chocolate bar after her.