The collection is a segment of the National Institution for the Preservation of Life from Shipwreck's originating archive, consisting of 354 letters and documents (including some photocopies).

Includes several descriptions of shipwrecks around the British coast, recommendations of sailors for gallantry awards and receipts for these. Also comprises: petitions for the provision of lifeboats; and documents detailing the progress of lifeboat production, their costs and designs. Details of meetings to raise finances in the provinces are also included and there is correspondence dealing with the success of, and suggested alternatives to "Captain Manby's Apparatus" (for saving lives from shipwrecks), with a drawing of one such apparatus in use. Also comprises correspondence with James Beeching, the inventor of the self-righting lifeboat, and correspondence on the headed paper of the Shipwrecked Fishermen and Mariners Benevolent Society.

Related materials: see the Phillimore Collection (RMG ID: PHL/2/88A and PHL/5/13). There are also cuttings concerning lifeboats in RMG ID: WHI/129. Externally, note that the central repository for the RNLI collections is based at RNLI Support Centre in Poole, Dorset, along with their archive and library: https://rnli.org/about-us/our-history/archive-and-library

Administrative / biographical background
The National Institution for the Preservation of Life from Shipwreck (NIPLS) was founded in London in 1824 by Sir Edmund Hillary whose aim was to organise on a countrywide basis the local philanthropic societies which from the end of the 18th century had striven to assist shipwrecked and destitute seafarers. Formerly an equerry to Prince Frederick Augustus, Hillary's royal connections gained the Institution the royal prefix within the first year, with George IV as its patron. In 1851, a competition was launched by Prince Albert for the best new lifeboat design. There was no standardised design, and many of the existing lifeboats were unfit for purpose or too heavy, resulting in them capsizing in heavy seas. The objectives set were of the new design being self-righting, lighter, easier to transport/launch, self-draining and cheaper. Nearly 300 models from different countries were submitted, many of which were displayed at The Great Exhibition that year and James Beeching’s design won. With a few modifications by Mr Peake (master shipwright of Woolwich Dockyard), it served as the model for the fleet of lifeboats built for the RNLI during the rest of the 19th century. The Shipwrecked Fishermen and Mariners’ Royal Benevolent Society was founded in 1839 to provide help to former merchant seamen, fishermen and their widows and dependants. From 1851 until 1854 it operated lifeboats but it was subsequently agreed that it would be wiser if one organisation concentrated on rescuing lives at sea while the other helped the survivors or their bereaved families ashore, so in 1854 the Society transferred its lifeboats over to NIPLS (The National Institution for the Preservation of Life from Shipwreck) who changed its name to the current Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) agreeing that the RNLI should concentrate on lifesaving, and that benevolent work be left to other societies.