Henry Greathead
Mitchell Yard, a Shipwright also from South Shields was entrusted with the job of developing the best of all the ideas submitted in the contest, including those of Wouldhave but with the fitting of cork into the bow and stern air cases, and along the gunwale. The result was the 30 foot life~boat named ‘Original’, which was launched in 1790, to remain in service for 40 years.
The ‘Original’ was used in saving hundreds of lives near the mouth of the Tyne without any loss of life to her crew. The runaway success of this craft motivated the Duke of Northumberland to order another boat from Greathead which was stationed at North Shields in 1798 and within a few years he had built some 31 Lifeboats. The result of which led to the establishing of a number of early Lifeboat stations following the example set by the trustees of the Crewe and Bamburgh Trusts.
It was however Lukin who was responsible for the construction at Lowestoft, at the request of ‘The Suffolk Humane Society’, of a boat, which was larger than the ‘Original’ of 1790, being 40 feet in length with a 10 foot beam, but significantly also the first sailing Lifeboat.
This was in 1807 and was purpose built to suit the task of searching the outlying sandbanks off the east coast. Yet, again inspired by the benevolence of the Duke of Northumberland, who became First Lord of the Admiralty and a keen promoter of scientific advances, another national competition was held in 1851.
Being shortly after the fourth Duke (Algernon Percy) had accepted the Presidency, he himself offered prize~money of one hundred guineas, an action which was to have a considerable influence in the further development of Lifeboat construction. The event attracted 280 entrants, out of which James Beeching of Yarmouth was to win, on the basis of having produced the most effective ‘self righting’ craft.
He went on to construct the prize winning craft for the Ramsgate Harbour Trust, who were most satisfied with the new boat. After slight modifications, and further testing the Duke himself placed an order at his own expense for the construction of a further three of Beeching’s Lifeboats.
The modifications were entrusted to James Peake, and the construction carried out at Woolwich dockyard.
Sir William Hillary, a practical and experienced Boatman who was to become the founder of the Lifeboat Institution in 1824 died in 1852. During his lifetime he had personally helped in the rescue of more than 300 lives and also became president of the Isle of Man Life~boat Association. ‘The National Institution for the preservation of life from Shipwreck’ has retained its charitable status from the outset, but after 18 years in practical application to its mission Hillary himself considered the need for public funding.
The request made to the Home Secretary, Lord John Russell was flatly rejected under consideration of such a change being ‘a departure from the general principal by which, in this Country similar Institutions are left to private benevolence.’ Hilary’s concern was in that the substantial funding that had lifted the Institution of onto such a good start had gradually been dwindling. This, it has been argued was for no other reason than the prevailing conditions of social unrest in the nation at that time. This, despite the greatest of efforts, combined with possible mis~management, neglect or lack of know how, in the methods required for the successful raising of charitable funds, saw a temporary decline in the Institutions fortunes. The readiness of the population to respond to disasters when brought to public attention however remained buoyant.
It was under the Presidency of the Duke of Northumberland and in the first half of the 1850s that the Institution began its recovery with a number of important reforms. It was in 1854 that the Institution was renamed the ‘Royal National Lifeboat Institution’. This same year under the provisions of the Mercantile Marine Fund the Committee of the Privy Council for Trade offered a government subsidy, at first amounting to £2000/~ per year on the basis of a number of conditions.
This acceptance from the Board of Trade of financial assistance was considered a necessary, if temporary measure to ensure the Institution was able to continue to fulfil its primary task, and only lasted for fifteen years, being brought to a close by the Institution itself.
It was at the close of 1869 that the RNLI was once again in a position to declare publicly that it no longer wished for support from the Mercantile Marine Fund and as a charitable Institution, it has not looked back since.
A Select Committee of the House of Commons, appointed in 1897 to investigate into allegations of mismanagement in the RNLI reported in its general conclusion, that ‘the thanks of the whole community are due to the committee of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution for the energy and good management (often in very difficult circumstances) with which they have for so many years successfully carried out the national work of life saving, and this without reward or payment of any sort.’
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