Darwin, Miss Jane

Miss Jane Darwin. Her real name was Lorna E. Marriot – she swam under an assumed name for anonymity.

She made six attempts to swim the Channel; four in 1926, all France to England, 8th Sept time 8hrs 34mins, 16th Sept time 13hrs 00mins, 22nd Sept time 15hrs 00mins, 1st Oct time 16hrs 31mins.

She also made two attempts in 1927; 1st Sept time 3hrs and 2nd/3rd Sept time 7hrs 11mins. both F-E.

She was studying for her B.S.C. at Exeter College.

Miss Lorna Edith Marriott, of Barnstaple, swam under the name of Miss Jane Darwin. Born Barnstaple, Devon, 11 Sep 1899, just after her parents return from the Raj where her father was in the Indian Civil Service in Bombay. From the 1930s, she lived with her other spinster sisters in Berkhamsted before emigrating to Australia in 1958. This was not a success and she returned to England in 1960 before emigrating to the Cape, South Africa. She had spent extended stays in Capetown in the 1930s and the Transvaal in the 1950s.

She was living at St. Matthews Mission School, Keiskammahoek, Eastern Cape Province when she went missing on the 9th October 1965. Her body was found on the 11th at Hogsback near Alice, Eastern Cape Province, about 20km (13 miles) from the Mission

Swims by Darwin, Miss Jane

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