Cromer Lifeboat Station

Cromer Lifeboat Station
Cromer Lifeboat Station
General information
Type	RNLI Lifeboat Station
Location	Cromer Lifeboat Station, Cromer Pier, Cromer, Norfolk
Country	England
Coordinates	52°56′3.4″N 1°18′5.84″E / 52.934278°N 1.3016222°E
Opened	1804 as Norfolk Shipwreck Association
Owner	Royal National Lifeboat Institution
Technical details
Material	Fabricated steelwork and concrete

Cromer Lifeboat Station is an RNLI station located in the town of Cromer in the English county of Norfolk.^[1] The station operates two lifeboats – one for inshore work and the other for offshore work.

The current lifeboat station on the end of Cromer Pier was re-built between 1997 and 1999 to replace the smaller 1923 one which was re-located to Southwold in Suffolk where it is used as a lifeboat museum. The new boathouse cost approximately £3 million which was funded by bequests and private donations.^[2] Cromer Lifeboat station is one of the most famous of the lifeboat stations operated by the RNLI.^[3]

There has been a lifeboat service operated from Cromer for two centuries – predating the establishment of the RNLI. The volunteer crews at Cromer have gained a record of gallantry stretching back to the beginnings of the RNLI. Some of the most notable rescues and service have been carried out by famous coxswains such as Henry George Blogg GC BEM and Henry "Shrimp" Thomas Davies BEM and their crews. To date there have been awards of 45 Bronze medals, 8 Silver medals and 3 Gold medals.

History

In the early days of the station the lifeboats were kept outdoors on the east jetty. From 1804 the privately operated service was funded by a subscription fund which was administered by a local committee led by Lord Suffield, the third baron of Gunton Hall.^[3] Other dignitaries on the committee included George Wyndham of Cromer Hall, Thomas Mickleburgh, a local merchant, Joseph Gurney, a Cromer draper and Benjamin Rust who was a grocer.^[3] This was the situation of the service until 1857, when with the lifeboat organisation falling into financial troubles and the lifeboats falling into a bad state of repair, the Royal National Lifeboat Institution took over the Cromer station along with other Norfolk Association stations.^[3] By this time the association had built a lifeboat house which once stood some 100 yards from the high-water mark close to what is now the inshore lifeboat station. The RNLI altered and renovated this station at a cost of £46.2s.7d.^[4] but by the mid-1860s this station had outlived its usefulness and a new boathouse was planned. The new site was on the east gangway and in 1867^[3] work started on the new station. The new boathouse work also included building an extension to the sea walls and a slipway across the top of the beach. The work cost £476.4s.0d^[3] and was carried out by a local builder by the name of E. Simmons.^[3] The cost of the station was met by Benjamin Bond Cabbell^[3] who had also bought the new lifeboat for the station.

Station Honours

The following are awards made at Cromer^[5]^[6]

Medal of the Order of the British Empire for Gallantry (EGM)

Henry George Blogg - 1924^[7]

George Cross
converted from EGM

Henry George Blogg - 1941

British Empire Medal

Henry George Blogg, Coxswain - 1941^[8]

Henry Thomas Davies, Coxswain - 1970

RNLI Gold Medal

Henry George Blogg, Coxswain - 1917

Henry George Blogg, Coxswain - 1927 (Second Service Award)

Henry George Blogg, Coxswain - 1941 (Third Service Award)

RNLI Silver Medal

Hon Auberon Herbert - 1867

William Davies - 1917

Private Stewart Holmes - 1917

Henry George Blogg, Coxswain - 1932

Henry George Blogg, Coxswain - 1934 (Second Service Award)

Henry George Blogg, Coxswain - 1939 (Third Service Award)

John James Davies, Second Coxswain - 1941

Henry George Blogg, Coxswain - 1941 (Fourth Service Award)

RNLI Bronze Medal

George Allen, crew member - 1917

James Allen, crew member - 1917

Edward Allen, crew member - 1917

William Allen, crew member - 1917

Henry Balls, crew member - 1917

Charles Cox, crew member - 1917

George Cox, crew member - 1917

Leslie Harrison, crew member - 1917

Tom Kirby, crew member - 1917

Gilbert Mayers, crew member - 1917

Walter Rix, crew member - 1917

William Rix, crew member - 1917

Edward Allen, crew member - 1927 (Second Service Award)

Leslie Harrison, crew member - 1927 (Second Service Award)

George Balls, crew member - 1927

John James Davies (Senior), crew member - 1927

Robert Davies, crew member - 1927

William Thomas Davies, crew member - 1927

Richard J Baker, crew member - 1927

George Cox, crew member - 1927

Harry William Davies, crew member - 1927

James William Davies, crew member - 1927

John James Davies (Junior), crew member - 1927

Sidney Charles Harrison, crew member - 1927

John James Davies (Snr), Bowman - 1931 (Second Service Award)

John Davies (Snr), Second Coxswain - 1939 (Third Service Award)

Henry William Davies, Mechanic - 1939 (Second Service Award)

James William Davies, Assistant Mechanic - 1939 (Second Service Award)

Henry William Davies, Mechanic - 1941 (Third Service Award)

Leslie James Harrison, Second Coxswain - 1941 (Third Service Award)

Harold V Linder, Mechanic - 1941

John James Davies (Snr), Second Coxswain - 1941 (Fourth Service Award)

Henry William Davies, Mechanic - 1941 (Fourth Service Award)

Edward W Allen, Signalman - 1941 (Third Service Award) (posthumous)

James William Davies, Assistant Mechanic - 1941 (Third Service Award)

William Thomas Davies, Bowman - 1941 (Second Service Award)

Sidney Charles Harrison, crew member - 1941 (Second Service Award)

John James Davies (Jnr), crew member - 1941 (Second Service Award)

Henry Thomas Davies, crew member - 1941

James Richard Davies, crew member - 1941

Robert C Davies, crew member - 1941

William H Davies, crew member - 1941

Dr Paul Barclay MC TD - 1974

Clive Richard Rayment, Helmsman - 1981

Richard William Davies, Coxswain - 1994

Medal service certificates

Frank H Muirhead, crew member - 1981

Christopher B Craske, crew member - 1981

The Thanks of the Institution inscribed on Vellum

H T Davies BEM, Coxswain - 1974

R W Davies, crew member - 1974

Richard Davies, Coxswain - 1989

William Davies, Second Coxswain - 1998

Richard Davies, Coxswain - 1999

A Collective Letter of Thanks signed by the Chairman of the Institution

R W Davies, Coxswain - 1991

W T Davies, Second Coxswain - 1991

R J Hannah, Mechanic - 1991

J W H Jonas, Assistant Mechanic - 1991

P Jefferies, crew member - 1991

P Everitt, crew member - 1991

H Balls, crew member - 1991

J Howard, crew member - 1991

Silver Medal of the Canine Defence League

Henry George Blogg, Coxswain - 1932

A Gold Watch awarded by The Queen of The Netherlands

Henry George Blogg, Coxswain - 1927

A Silver watch awarded by The Queen of The Netherlands

Each of the other members of the lifeboat crew - 1927

Silver medal and a diploma awarded by The Italian Government

Henry George Blogg, Coxswain - 1932

Bronze medals and diploma awarded by The Italian Government

Each of the other members of the lifeboat crew - 1932

The French Maritime Cross awarded by The French Government

Henry Thomas Davies, Coxswain - 1948

The Life-saving medal awarded by The French Government

Each of the other 11 members of the lifeboat crew - 1948

British Empire Medal

Edwin Luckin, Boathouse Manager - 2023^[9]^[10]

Cromer Lifeboats

The station operated two offshore boats from 1923. The second boat was replaced by an inshore lifeboat (ILB) in 1967.

All-weather lifeboats

ON^[a]	Op. No.^[b]	Name	In service ^[11]	Class	Comments
–	–	Unnamed	1804–1830	Greathead
–	–	Unnamed	1830–1858	31-foot North Country-class (P&S)	Greathead-class? ^[12]
–	–	Unnamed	1858–1868	34-foot Self-righting (P&S)	Peake-class? ^[12]
–	–	Benjamin Bond Cabbell	1868–1884	34-foot Self-Righting (P&S)	^[12]
12	–	Benjamin Bond Cabbell II	1884–1902	35ft Cromer (P&S)
495	–	Louisa Heartwell	1902–1923	Liverpool (P&S)
670	–	H F Bailey	1923–1924	Norfolk and Suffolk	(renamed to John and Mary Meiklam of Gladswood when transferred)
694	–	H F Bailey	1924–1928	45ft Watson
714	–	H F Bailey II	1928–1929	45ft 6in Watson
694	–	H F Bailey	1929–1935	45ft Watson
777	–	H F Bailey III	1935–1945	46ft Watson
840	–	Millie Walton, Henry Blogg	1945–1966	46ft Watson	Millie Walton renamed in 1946
990	48-03	Ruby and Arthur Reed	1967–1984	48ft 6in Oakley Mk.II
926	–	Guy and Clare Hunter	1984–1985	46ft 9in Watson
1097	47-006	Ruby and Arthur Reed II	1985–1996	Tyne
1189	12-30	Her Majesty The Queen	1996–1999	Mersey	Carriage launched during boathouse rebuilding
1097	47-006	Ruby and Arthur Reed II	1999–2007	Tyne
1162	12-004	Royal Shipwright	2007–2008	Mersey	Carriage launched during slipway rebuilding
1287	16-07	Lester	2008–	Tamar

No. 2 lifeboat

When the station received its first motor lifeboat, a No. 2 station was established located in the old boathouse. It was closed in 1967 when the station received an inshore lifeboat.

ON^[a]	Op. No.^[b]	Name	In service ^[11]	Class	Comments
495		Louisa Heartwell	1923–1931	Liverpool (P&S)
514		Alexandra	1931–1934	Liverpool (P&S)
770		Harriot Dixon	1934–1964	Liverpool
834		Jose Neville	1964–1964	Liverpool	Relief fleet
980	37-13	William Henry and Mary King	1964–1967	37ft Oakley Mk I

Inshore lifeboat

Op. No.^[b]	Name	In service ^[11]	Class	Comments
D-101	Unnamed	1967–1970	D-class (RFD PB16)
D-26	Unnamed	1970–1971	D-class (RFD PB16)
D-197	Unnamed	1972–1984	D-class (RFD PB16)
D-307	Spirit of Round Table	1984–1992	D-class (EA16)
D-436	Chloe	1992–2001	D-class (EA16)
D-568	Seahorse III	2001–2010	D-class (EA16)
D-734	George & Muriel	2010–2022	D-class (IB1)
D-868	Mr Eric Sharpe (Civil Service No.54)	2022–	D-class (IB1)	^[13]

^ ^a ^b ON is the RNLI's Official Number of the boat.
^ ^a ^b ^c Op. No. is the RNLI's Operational Number of the boat carried on the hull.

Gallery

The old lifeboat station that now houses the ILB at Cromer
The 1923 boathouse, that was replaced with the present one in 1999, can now be seen at Southwold in Suffolk
RNLB Lester
The Cromer Mersey-class Lifeboat "Her Majesty the Queen" (ON1189, temporarily on station during boathouse rebuilding) on the beach at Cromer near the old lifeboat station

Notes

References

^ OS Explorer Map 252 – Norfolk Coast East. ISBN 978-0-319-23815-8.
^ Cromer lifeboat history Archived 28 January 2010 at the Wayback Machine Retrieved 2 March 2010
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h Cromer Lifeboat, A pictorial history, By Nicholas Leach & Paul Russell, Pub; Landmark Collector’s Library, ISBN 978-1-84306-363-6
^ "Cromer Lifeboats 1804-2004", Leach, Nicholas & Russell, Paul, Pub: Tempus Publishing, 2004, ISBN 0-7524-3197-8
^ "Cromer's station history". RNLI. Retrieved 30 January 2024.
^ Cox, Barry (1998). Lifeboat Gallantry. Spink & Son Ltd. ISBN 0 907605 89 3.
^ "Medal of the Civil Division of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire for Gallantry" (PDF). London Gazette. Retrieved 29 January 2024.
^ "The British Empire Medal (Civil Division)" (PDF). London Gazette. Retrieved 30 January 2024.
^ "British Empire Medal (Civil Division)". The Gazette. Retrieved 10 February 2024.
^ Stagg, Clare (31 December 2022). "Cromer RNLI volunteer recognised in King's New Year Honours". RNLI.
^ ^a ^b ^c Leonard, Richie; Denton, Tony (2024). Lifeboat Enthusiasts Handbook 2024. Lifeboat Enthusiasts Society. pp. 4–132.
^ ^a ^b ^c Leonard, Richie; Denton, Tony (2021). Lifeboat Enthusiasts Handbook 2021. Lifeboat Enthusiasts Society. pp. 2–18.
^ "Cromer RNLI's new inshore lifeboat named during special ceremony". The Lifeboat Fund. Retrieved 6 June 2023.