Female mystery writer "Mary Darling"?

[hurworth]

I wonder whether he could have been named after someone the family admired, rather than being related?

I've come across a Capt William Darling Dawson who was from Hartlepool, but was based in Peterhead before he emigrated to Australia and New Zealand.  He married a Peterhead-born lass in 1871 in Australia.  She was Matilda, daughter of the late Capt John Johnston (and Mary Lane of Limerick).

http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/13245121?searchTerm=&searchLimits=l-publictag=NEBEA