It was 200 years ago yesterday, on March 4, 1824, that a meeting was held at a tavern in Bishopsgate, London, of a group of eminent gentlemen that included William Wilberforce and the Archbishop of Canterbury, and which established what later became the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI)
The retired soldier Sir William Hillary lived in a house overlooking the harbour in Douglas, Isle of Man, where he was appalled to witness ships wrecked on nearby rocks. During one particular storm on October 6, 1822, he saw the Royal Navy cutter Vigilant run into rocks at Douglas Bay, watched helplessly by a crowd gathered on shore. Hillary offered money and people rowed out attached ropes and dragged it off the rocks
Hillary petitioned the government and Royal Navy with the proposal, but his appeals largely fell on deaf ears. Only when he spread his net wider by publishing a pamphlet outlining his idea did it eventually strike a chord with eminent individuals with influence, and so his mission eventually led to the formation of the RNLI.
