William Hillary

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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.

A Yorkshire Quaker by descent, Hillary married Essex-born heiress Frances Elizabeth Disney Ffytche (or Fytche) on 21 February 1800 (they had a son, Augustus William Hilary (d. 30 December 1855))^[1]. However, 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.^[2]. Later, as 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. In 1813, he re-married (possibly bigamously), this time to a local Manx woman.

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.

At the age of 60, Hillary took part in the rescue, in 1830, of the packet St George, which had foundered on Conister Rock at the entrance to Douglas harbour. He commanded the lifeboat, was washed overboard with others of the lifeboat crew, yet finally everyone aboard the St George was rescued with no loss of life. This incident prompted Hillary to set up a scheme to build the Tower of Refuge on Conister Rock. The structure, designed by architect John Welch was completed in 1832 and still stands at the entrance to Douglas harbour (it is the subject of a poem by William Wordsworth^[3]).

There is a memorial to Sir William at St George's Church in Douglas, with the following inscription:

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 509 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.

^[4]

Even in death he was reputedly still pursued by his creditors. They dug up his body and sold it for dissection.^[5]