Lifeboat Memorial

In a severe gale on 9 December 1886, the Mexico, a German barque, was driven on to the Horse Bank, a sandbank off Ainsdale, near Southport. Three lifeboats were launched to come to her rescue, Charles Biggs from Lytham, Eliza Fernley from Southport, and Laura Janet from St Annes. The crew from the Mexico were rescued by the Lytham lifeboat, but the other two lifeboats capsized. All thirteen of the crew of the St Annes lifeboat were lost, and only two of the sixteen members of the Southport lifeboat crew survived. It was the worst disaster in the history of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution. Following the disaster, John Unwin, the mayor of Southport, set up a Disaster Fund, which…

The memorial is constructed in red sandstone, and is in Gothic style in the form of a pinnacled tabernacle. It is about 4 m high, and stands on a square base of two steps. On this is a stepped plinth carrying the tabernacle. The tabernacle has columns at the corners and cusped arches on each side, above which are steep gablets. On top of the tabernacle is an arcaded shaft, which is surmounted by a crocketed pinnacle. On the east side, the tabernacle has a carving depicting a crew rowing a lifeboat through a rough sea, and beneath this are inscribed the names of those who were lost in the disaster. There are also inscriptions on the other sides of the tabernacle.