Hoylake Lifeboat Station is located on the North Parade promenade in Hoylake, a town on the Wirral Peninsula, in Merseyside.
A lifeboat was first stationed at Hoylake by the Liverpool Dock Trustees in 1803. The station was transferred to the management of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) in 1894.
The station currently operates 13-06 Edmund Hawthorne Micklewood (ON 1313), a All-weather lifeboat, and Hurley Spirit (H-005), a Griffon Type 470TD Hovercraft.
History On 16 September 1803, the Liverpool Dock Trustees ordered that a lifeboat, purchased from Henry Greathead in 1802, be placed in service at Hoylake, one of 6 lifeboat stations in the area provided by the Dock Trustees. The boat was to be housed in a newly constructed wooden boathouse, under the supervision of the local Tide Surveyor, Mr. Marlowe. The first Master (coxswain) was Thomas Seed, Lower Lighthouse Keeper. Thomas Seed died in 1808, and the Dock Trustees appointed Capt. Joseph Bennett, already an experienced Liverpool pilot, as Master of Hoylake lifeboat, and Keeper of the Lower Lighthouse, on a salary of 40 guineas.
With enormous waves battering the beach, Hoylake's lifeboat was launched on the 29 December 1810, to the aid of the ship Traveller, on passage from Demerara to Liverpool, when she was driven ashore on the Hoyle Bank. Rowing out to the vessel, the lifeboat capsized. Eight crew were lost. A memorial now sits outside Hoylake lifeboat station.
Following an wreck of the Athebaska in 1838, when none of the lifeboats from Hoylake, or Magazine village were able to effect a rescue, with the loss of all aboard, the Dock Trustees decided to place a No.2 boat at Hoylake in 1840, specially constructed by local boat-builder Thomas Costain to suit the local conditions. So pleased were the crew with the new boat, they requested another one, to replace their No.1 boat, which arrived in 1841.
By 1847, launching of either Hoylake boat was proving difficult at certain times due to silting. So it was decided to create a station on Hilbre Island. A stone built boathouse and slipway were constructed, a caretaker was appointed to live on the island, and in 1848, the Hoylake No.2 boat was transferred to Hilbre Island.
Liverpool Dock Trustees handed over control of all their lifeboat stations to the Mersey Docks and Harbour Board in 1858. However, by the 1890s, with an ever increasing work load due to rising levels of port traffic at Liverpool, negotiations took place between the two parties, and on 1 July 1894, all the Mersey Docks and Harbour Board lifeboat stations were handed over to the RNLI. The Hoylake boat was only two-years-old, so after being sent away for some modification work, the boat was returned to Hoylake and was named Coard William Squarey (ON 377).
In 1898, the RNLI gave up their existing wooden boat house and site, to allow Hoylake Council to create an Esplanade. A new site was provided by the Mersey Docks and Harbour Board, and the council paid £200 towards the construction of a new lifeboat station, which cost £922, and was completed in 1899. The council also constructed a new slipway opposite the new boathouse at no cost to the RNLI.
Hoylake was one of the first stations to trial a launch tractor, receiving a Clayton tractor (T1) in 1921. They also got a new lifeboat in 1931, Oldham (ON 750). She was the first of the new motor-powered lifeboats, with a single 35-hp engine, capable of 7.3 knots.
The first of thirteen Fowler Challenger III amphibious tractors was introduced at Hoylake in 1953.
With motor lifeboats at Hoylake and New Brighton, and one due at Rhyl, it was considered that there was enough lifeboat coverage for the area, and it was announced that Hilbre Island lifeboat station would close in 1938.
Nearly 110 years since the building of Hoylake's 1899 lifeboat station, at a cost of £922, a new station was constructed on the site of Hoylake's old open air baths in 2008, located about half a mile to the east of the old station, on the sea-side of North Parade. It followed two years of fundraising, and cost £2million to construct.
In 2014, the long-serving lifeboat 12-005 Lady of Hilbre (ON 1163) was withdrawn from service. She was replaced by a brand-new state-of-the-art All-weather lifeboat, 13-06 Edmund Hawthorne Micklewood (ON 1313), and the special launch rig, known as the Shannon Launch and Recovery System or SLARS. The lifeboat, costing £2million, is 50% faster than the previous lifeboat, and is capable of . Along with other donations, the lifeboat was primarily funded from the legacy of Miss Paulette Micklewood of Oxford, in memory of her father.
Station honours The following are awards made at Hoylake:
RNIPLS Silver Medal George Davies, Coxswain – 1851 RNLI Silver Medal Thomas Dodd, Coxswain – 1902 Silver Medal awarded by the Government of the Netherlands George Davies, Coxswain – 1864 RNLI Bronze Medal Herbert Jones, Coxswain – 1943 Benjamin Stanton Armitage, boatman – 1943 William G. Widdup, late Coxswain, H.M. Coastguard – 1943 Harold Triggs, Coxswain – 1971 Thomas Henry Jones, Coxswain – 1980 Medal Service Certificate Peter Jones, Acting Motor Mechanic – 1980 Alan Tolley, Acting Assistant Mechanic – 1980 Geoffrey Ormrod, crew member – 1980 Gordon Bird, crew member – 1980 First Class Certificate of Merit Each of the Hoylake Lifeboat Crew – 1902 The Thanks of the Institution inscribed on Vellum Capt. Joshua Armitage – 1896 John McDermott, Second Coxswain – 1980 David Dodd, crew member – 1980 A Framed Letter of Thanks signed by the Chairman of the Institution Jeffery Kernigan, Acting Tractor Driver – 1980 Jesse Bird, Acting Assistant Tractor Driver – 1980 Member, Order of the British Empire (MBE) David Arthur Dodd, Coxswain – 1998QBH British Empire Medal David Anthony Whiteley, Coxswain – 2016NYH
Roll of honour In memory of those lost whilst serving at Hoylake:
Lost when the lifeboat capsized, on service to the ship Traveller, 29 December 1810.
Died following a blow to the head with the winch handle, whilst recovering the lifeboat Admiral Briggs (ON 383), following service to the fishing boat Sarah Ann, 6 September 1899. Edward Lilley, shore crew (30) Drowned after being washed overboard from the Hannah Fawsett Bennett (ON 555), whilst on service to the sloop Swift of Runcorn, 15 November 1906 John Isaac Roberts, crew member (23)
Hoylake and Hilbre lifeboats Liverpool Dock Trustee lifeboats Hoylake Name Built Class Comments 1802 1803−c.1818 Lifeboat of unknown dimensions, funded by the Liverpool Dock Commissioners, built by Henry Greathead.Capsized 29 October 1810. 1826 1826−1840 x (12-oared) Liverpool-class non-self-righting lifeboat, funded by Harbour Dues.With no specific records, it has been assumed that this boat was identical to the boat supplied to at the same time. Sold in 1841. 1840 1840−1862 30-foot Liverpool non-self-righting x (12-oared) Liverpool-class non-self-righting lifeboat, funded by Harbour Dues, built by Thomas Costain of Liverpool, costing £180. 1862 1862−1892 34-foot Whale-boat (12-oared) non-self-righting Whale-boat lifeboat, built by Lamb and White, of Cowes. 1892 1892−1894 x (12-oared) non-self-righting lifeboat, built by Charles Howson & Co. of Liverpool, costing £280.Transferred to RNLI in 1894, modified, returned to station named Coard William Squarey (ON 377).
Hoylake No.2 Name Built Class Comments 1839 1840−1848 x (12-oared) Liverpool-class non-self-righting lifeboat, funded by Harbour Dues, built by Thomas Costain, costing £180.Moved to Hilbre Island in 1848.
Hilbre Island Name Built Class Comments 1839 1848−1864 30-foot Liverpool non-self-righting Previously at Hoylake No.2.1864 1864−1890 x (12-oared) Liverpool-class non-self-righting lifeboat, funded by Harbour Dues, built by Thomas Costain of Liverpool.On loan to , 8 Aug 1890 − 20 November 1891. 1891−1895 Sold in 1896
RNLI lifeboats Hoylake (P&S) lifeboats ON Name Built Class Comments 377 Coard William Squarey 1892 1894−1906 34-foot Liverpool (P&S) Condemned and sold in 1906. 555 1906 1906−1931 x (12-oared) Liverpool-class non-self-righting (P&S) lifeboat, legacies of Mrs L. H. F. Bennett and Mr C. H. Lear, of West Kirby, built by Thames Ironworks of Blackwall, London, costing £1,160.Sold in 1936. Last reported at South Benfleet in 1937.
Hilbre Island (P&S) lifeboats ON Name Built Class Comments 383 Admiral Briggs 1895 1895−1914 35-foot Liverpool (P&S) x (12-oared) Liverpool-class non-self-righting (P&S) lifeboat, the gift of Maj-Gen. W. L. Briggs , built by Rutherford & Co of Birkenhead, costing £453.Condemned and sold in 1914. 413 1898 1914−1924 35-foot Liverpool (P&S) x (12-oared) Liverpool-class non-self-righting (P&S) lifeboat, legacy of Mr J. Stevens of Birmingham, built by Reynolds of Lowestoft, costing £538.Previously at . Sold in 1924. 461 Chapman 1901 1924−1938 x (12-oared) Liverpool-class non-self-righting (P&S) lifeboat, legacy of Mrs M. A. Chapman of West Brompton, built by Thames Ironworks of Blackwall, London, costing £922.Previously at . Sold in 1939. Renamed Harbinger, later Peggy LR41. Restored as Chapman, on display at the Old Lifeboat House, Lytham, December 2024. Station Closed, 1938
Hoylake motor lifeboats ON Op.No. Name Built Class Comments 750 − Oldham 1931 1931−1952 894 − Oldham IV 1952 1952−1970 862 − Thomas Corbett 1948 1970−1974 Transferred to . 1000 37-29 Mary Gabriel 1973 1974−1990 Transferred to . 1163 Lady of Hilbre 1990 1990−2014 1313 13-06 2014 2014− More post-service details can be found on the respective lifeboat class pages.
Hovercraft Op.No. Name Built Class Comments Hurley Spirit 2005 2016− H-class (Griffon Hoverwork 470TD) Previously at .
Launch and recovery tractors Op.No. Reg. No. Type Comments T1 TC 648 Clayton 1921 T2 AH 5933 Clayton 1921 T3 MA 6793 Clayton 1921–1928 T23 PP 7515 FWD Co. 1928–1929 Named Princess Victoria T24 UW 2641 FWD Co. 1929–1949 T45 KGJ 58 Case LA 1949–1953 T56 MYR 426 Fowler Challenger III 1953–1960 T67 YLD 792 Fowler Challenger III 1960–1969 T61 PLA 561 Fowler Challenger III 1969–1975 T63 PFX 163 Fowler Challenger III 1975–1978 T68 YUV 742 Fowler Challenger III 1978–1982 T56 MYR 426 Fowler Challenger III 1982–1983 T91 UAW 558Y Talus MB-H Crawler 1983–1986 T94 B567 FAW Talus MB-H Crawler 1986–1997 T92 A462 AUX Talus MB-H Crawler 1997–2007 T99 C82 NUX Talus MB-H Crawler 2007–2014 SLARS (Supacat) 2014– Named Roland Hough
See also List of RNLI stations List of former RNLI stations Royal National Lifeboat Institution lifeboats
Notes
References
External links Hoylake RNLI Lifeboat Station