1869: The Formal Establishment of a Lifeboat Station in Wales

September 11, 1869

In southwestern Wales, a lifeboat station in the village of Solva first went into service. Solva is on the north shore of the River Solva, which is located on the northern side of St Brides Bay. Solva Lifeboat Station was established by the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) following a significant financial donation from Margaret Egerton in memory of her late husband. Captain Charles Randle Egerton. He had been a longtime member of RNLI’s committee of management.

The site for the boathouse was provided by the governing body (known as the Elder Brethren) of Trinity House, the official authority for lighthouses in Wales, England, Gibraltar, and the Channel Islands. The Elder Brethren also supplied some of the building materials for Solva Lifeboat Station, which was designed by the prolific RNLI architect Charles Henry Cooke. A memorial plaque for Captain Egerton was installed on the new structure. (This plaque is featured in the accompanying photo.)

The opening of Solva Lifeboat Station was marked with the arrival of a newly built 33-foot (10.1-meter)-long, self-righting vessel to be housed there and used for rescue missions. This lifeboat was named “Charles and Margaret Egerton.”

A notable rescue that was carried out by the crew at Solva Lifeboat Station took place in October 1874, when these men launched the Charles and Margaret Egerton into a fierce gale to rescue those on board the schooner Sarah of Strangford. The schooner was completely wrecked, but lifeboatmen successfully retrieved and brought back to shore four people who were on that vessel. This lifesaving mission took 11 hours to complete.

On May 5, 1887, the RNLI committee on management decided to close Solva Lifeboat Station. The summary of this meeting does not provide details on why that decision was made. This one-time lifeboat station remains intact today, however, and has been adopted by use by the Solva Boat Owners Association. The Charles and Margaret Egerton, which had been the only vessel assigned to Solva Lifeboat Station throughout its tour of duty, was sold in 1894. The ultimate fate of this lifeboat is not known.

Photo Credit: Dedication stone, Solva lifeboat station by Philip Pankhurst (https://www.geograph.org.uk/profile/19770) – licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license at  https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/deed.en

For more information on Solva Lifeboat Station, please check out https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solva_Lifeboat_Station