The original Hoylake lifeboat service started in 1803 and is one of the oldest RNLI services in the UK.
"Although the early lifeboats performed many fine rescues, life-saving was dangerous work. The wooden-hulled craft were relatively small and light, and were reliant on the strength of the crews to row them through heavy seas and strong winds. Largely due to the boats’ lack of power, overcoming the worst seas was sometimes impossible, and lifeboats were then at the mercy of wind and waves. Disasters were not infrequent during the nineteenth century, with lifeboatmen drowning when their craft was capsized or wrecked being an all too common occurrence.
On 22 December 1810, just seven years after the lifeboat had been sent to Hoylake, disaster overtook the station when it was in its infancy. Although details of the tragedy only came to light relatively recently following research by Peter Fitzgerald and others, at least five accounts were published in contemporary newspapers and magazines: two appeared in the Naval Chronicle, one in the Chester Courant newspaper, one in The Cambrian newspaper, and another in The Times of 9 January 1811, the latter under the heading ‘Lifeboat Crew Drown’." Further details of the disaster can be found
here.
The bottom of that web page has the following details of the sculpture itself.
"In December 2010, to mark the bicentenary of the lifeboat disaster, a memorial to those lost was formally unveiled outside the new lifeboat house. This was the culmination of much hard work by a group of local people to raise funds to remember those who lost their lives.
After personnel at the station became aware of the tragedy, thanks to research by historian Perter Fitzgerald, a former lifeboatman, the Hoylake 1810 Memorial Fund was set up in November 2009 and raised £30,000 over the course of twelve months. This paid for an impressive bronze statue, which was created by sculptor Paul Bearman and mounted on a plinth outside the boathouse, depicting a lifeboatman standing at the helm of the boat.
The fund was formally inaugurated on 22 December 2009, with Rev Canon Bob Evans MBE, a former Port Chaplain, conducting a service to launch the appeal. Over 100 people came to the launch event, including some descendants of those who lost their lives in 1810 who had travelled from America, Russia and New Zealand. Hoylake Lifeboat crew were also in attendance. The founder members of the fund were Captain Robin Woodall, John Curry and Eve Roberts. Linda Camm, the great-great-great-great granddaughter of lifeboatman John Bird, was also among those who attended the ceremony.
The formal unveiling ceremony was held on 22 December 2010, exactly two centuries after the disaster. A service of dedication was conducted by the Rev Martin Flowerdew, Vicar of Hoylake and Lifeboat Chaplain. The statue was formally unveiled by Coxswain Dave Whiteley.
At the time of the disaster, the names of seven of the eight crew who were lost were known, but the name of the eighth man, Nicholas Seed, was missing; he had been buried in Wallasey and not included with the other rescuers. However, a search through the archive at St Hilary’s Church in Wallasey stated that Seed’s body had been recovered from the sea, something not known at the time of the original fundraising. As a result, his name did not originally appear on the plaque, but was subsequently added in 2013.
The memorial also pays tribute to a further two crew members of the Hilbre Island and Hoylake Lifeboats who lost their lives in the course of saving lives at sea: Edward Lilley (6th September 1899) and John Isaac Roberts (15th November 1906)."
There is a plaque on the plinth.
HOYLAKE LIFEBOATMEN
In memory of the following who gave their lives
to save others
22nd December 1810
| JOHN BIRD |
aged 40 years |
|
JOSEPH HUGHES |
aged 38 years |
| HENRY BIRD |
aged 18 years |
|
RICHARD HUGHES |
aged 36 years |
| JOHN BIRD |
aged 16 years |
|
THOMAS HUGHES |
aged 16 years |
| HENRY BIRD |
aged 43 years |
|
NICHOLAS SEED |
aged 27 years |
Also In memory of the following
HILBRE and HOYLAKE LIFEBOAT CREW MEMBERS
| Edward Lilley |
|
6th September 1899 |
| John Isaac Roberts |
|
15th November 1906 |
Sculpture by
PAUL BEARMAN
2010