Grace Kimmins

Dame Grace Mary Thyrza Kimmins,[1] DBE (née Hannam; 6 May 1870 – 3 March 1954)[2] was a British writer who created charities that worked with children who had disabilities.

Juliana Horatia Ewing's 1885 novel The Story of a Short Life inspired Kimmins to start the Guild of the Poor Brave Things to help children with disabilities in London.

Grace (and later Ada Vachell took their motto Laetus sorte mea ("Happy in my lot") from Ewing's book.

[4] She became a Wesleyan deaconess and worked in both the Methodist West London Mission and the Bermondsey Settlement, where she moved in 1895.

[3] She was named CBE in 1927 and promoted to Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) in 1950.