Grace Kimmins

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

Biography Kimmins was born in Lewes, Sussex, the eldest of four children born to cloth merchant James Hannam and Thyrza Rogers. She was educated at Wilton House School in Bexhill.

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.

She became a Wesleyan deaconess and worked in both the Methodist West London Mission and the Bermondsey Settlement, where she moved in 1895. In 1897, she married Charles William Kimmins. Anthony Martin Kimmins (10 November 1901 – 19 May 1964) was a British actor, director, and producer.

Death Dame Grace Kimmins died in Haywards Heath Hospital on 3 March 1954, aged 83.