Lytham St Annes History
1851 The first lifeboat at Lytham, The Clifton, was provided by the Shipwrecked Fishermen and Mariners' Society.
1852 Eight crew men drowned when the lifeboat capsized on exercise.
1854 The station was taken over by the RNLI.
1864 Coxswain James Candlish was awarded a Silver Medal for saving life from shipwrecks.
1881 A lifeboat station was established at St Annes.
1886 9 December saw the worst disaster in lifeboat history. Lytham, St Annes and Southport lifeboats were launched to the German barque Mexico in distress off Southport. The Lytham lifeboat, with great difficulty, rescued her crew of 12. Meanwhile, the Southport lifeboat was capsized by a heavy sea; 14 of her crew had drowned and there were only two survivors. The St Annes lifeboat was washed ashore the next day and her entire crew of 13 had drowned.
The Lytham Coxswain Thomas Clarkson was awarded the Silver Medal.
The disaster led directly to the foundation by Sir Charles Macara of the Lifeboat Saturday Fund. It raised thousands of pounds before evolving into the Lifeboat Flag Day street collections.
1888 St Annes Coxswain Thomas Rimmer was awarded a Silver Medal for saving the crew of the barque Albert William.
1925 The St Annes station closed due to severe silting up of the channel.
1931 The Lytham station was renamed Lytham St Annes after joining with the St Annes branch.
The station’s first motor lifeboat JHW arrived and was moored in the river off Lytham.
1940 Coxswain Joseph Parkinson was awarded a Silver Medal and Mechanic G Harrison a Bronze Medal for the service to the pilot boat Charles Livingstone.
1955 Coxswain Joseph Parkinson was awarded a Bronze Medal for saving five men from the yacht Penboch.
1956 Mechanics George Harrison and Keith Morris were each awarded the Thanks of the Institution Inscribed on Vellum for attempting to rescue a swimmer.
1960 A new boathouse was built to house the boarding boats.
1962 Coxswain Harold Parkinson was awarded a Bronze Medal and the Thanks of the Institution Inscribed on Vellum was awarded to Mechanic G Harrison for saving four men and the ketch Lone Seeker.
1967 An inshore lifeboat (ILB) was added to the station.
1969 Coxswain Harold Parkinson and Crew Member Kenneth Smith were each awarded the Thanks of the Institution Inscribed on Vellum for saving two men and the yacht Jacaranda.
1981 Bronze Medals were awarded to Coxswain Arthur Wignall and Assistant Mechanic Brian Pearson and the Thanks of the Institution Inscribed on Vellum to Crew Member Robert Kennedy for saving one man from the yacht Morag.
1994 Helmsman Gary Miller and Crew Members Russell Wignall and Martin Jagg were awarded Framed Letters of Thanks for saving three crew from the yacht Gean.
1999 The station lifeboat changed from being moored afloat to being carriage launched by tractor.
2003 A new boathouse was built for the all weather lifeboat at St Annes while the ILB remains stationed in the Lytham boathouse.
2006 The new D class lifeboat Sally was placed on service.
Station honours
At Lytham St Annes lifeboat station the following awards have been made:
Framed Letter of Thanks 3
Thanks of the Institution Inscribed on Vellum 6
Bronze Medal 5
Silver Medal 4
