Volunteers in New Brighton, Wirral, became the proud owners of a new inshore lifeboat in November 2009. This Summer, the B class will be given a special name, marking her place in a long line of lifeboats provided by The Lifeboat Fund.

The Fund is the RNLI’s longest-standing supporter, starting from humble beginnings in 1866 when a group of UK civil servants appealed to fellow workers to raise £300 for a new lifeboat. Founding member Charles Dibdin had such passion for the cause that the Fund had provided a second lifeboat just a few years later. The craft bore his name as a tribute and he later gave up his pension to become RNLI Secretary.

The Fund continued to provide the RNLI with lifeboats throughout the next century. Today, the Fund is stronger than ever and its main activity continues to be regular appeals to serving and retired civil servants – and employees of the Royal Mail and BT (despite their separation from the Civil Service).

Those Victorian men who got together to buy just one lifeboat would be amazed to see their fund providing an astonishing 50 lifeboats so far, saving over 4,700 lives. It’s fitting, therefore, that the 51st lifeboat funded by such old friends should bear the name Charles Dibdin.