Sir William's vault is in the Churchyard of St. George's Church in Douglas.
The vault is covered by a slab and enclosed by railings, with the badge of the RNLI on the side of the structure. The vault contains not only Sir William, but also his second wife Emma Tobin.
There is a dark grey plaque with an inscription incised in white lettering which reads as follows:
"TO THE HONOURED MEMORY OF
LIEUT. COLONEL SIR WILLIAM HILLARY, BT.
OF YORKSHIRE, ESSEX AND THE ISLE OF MAN
LIEUTENANT TURCOPOLIER OF THE ORDER OF THE KNIGHTS OF ST JOHN OF JERUSALEM.
BORN 1771. DIED 1847/SOLDIER, AUTHOR, PHILANTHROPIST.
HE FOUNDED IN THE YEAR 1824 THE ROYAL NAVAL LIFE BOAT INSTITUTION
AND IN 1832 BUILT THE TOWER OF REFUGE IN DOUGLAS BAY.
FEARLESS HIMSELF IN THE WORK OF RESCUE FROM SHIPWRECK HE HELPED SAVE 305 LIVES
AND WAS THREE TIMES AWARDED THE GOLD MEDAL OF THE INSTITUTION FOR GREAT GALLANTRY.
WHAT HIS WISDOM PLANNED AND POWER ENFORCED
MORE POTENT STILL HIS GREAT EXAMPLE SHOWED. THOMSON"
This inscription was added to the vault after World War I when the RNLI renovated the vault.
"Birth: Jan. 4, 1771
Liverpool
Metropolitan Borough of Liverpool
Merseyside, England
Death: Jan. 5, 1847
Douglas
Middle, Isle of Man
Sir William Hillary, 1st Baronet (4 January 1771 – 5 January 1847) was an English soldier, author and philanthropist, best known as the founder of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution in 1824. He was a Yorkshire Quaker by descent, the son of Richard Hillary and his wife, Hannah Wynne.
Hillary spent two years as an Equerry to Prince Augustus Frederick, the young son of George III. His duties included sailing with the prince in the Mediterranean, where William Hillary learned his basic seamanship and navigation skills.
Hillary married Essex-born heiress Frances Elizabeth Disney ffytche (or Fytche) on 21 February 1800. In the same year, their twins were born, a son, Augustus William Hillary (d. 30 December 1855) and a daughter, Elizabeth Mary.
Hillary's religious background did not meet with the approval of his wife's father, but Hillary still spent his wife’s inheritance (some £20,000) on creating England’s largest private army, put at the service of King George III against Napoleon’s threatened invasion. It was for this that he reputedly received his Baronetcy in 1805.
By some accounts, Hillary settled in the Isle of Man in 1808 in order to put a few miles and a little water between himself and his creditors, and to bury quietly the murkier details surrounding his elopement and marriage. In 1813, he remarried (after presumably divorcing his first wife, as she did not die until 1828) this time to a local Manx woman, Emma Tobin.
Living at Fort Anne, Douglas, Isle of Man, Hillary soon became aware of the treacherous nature of the Irish Sea, with many ships being wrecked around the Manx coast. He drew up plans for a lifeboat service manned by trained crews, intended not only for the Isle of Man, but for all of the British coast. In February 1823 he published a pamphlet entitled An Appeal To The British Navy On The Humanity And Policy Of Forming A National Institution For The Preservation Of Lives And Property From Shipwreck.
Initially he received little response from the Admiralty but on appealing to the more philanthropic members of London society, including Thomas Wilson (MP for Southwark) and George Hibbert, chairman of the West Indies Merchants, the plans were enthusiastically adopted and the National Institution for the Preservation of Life from Shipwreck was founded on 4 March 1824 at a meeting in The Tavern, Bishopsgate Street, London.
The title changed 30 years later to the Royal National Lifeboat Institution and the first of the new lifeboats to be built was stationed at Douglas in recognition of Hillary's work.
Family links:
Parents:
Richard Hillary (1703 - 1789)
Spouses:
Frances Elisabeth Ffytche Hillary (1776 - 1828)
Emma Tobin Hillary (1783 - 1845)
Children:
Augustus William Hillary (1800 - 1854)*
Elizabeth Mary Hillary Richard-Preston (1800 - 1853)"
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