The society was founded at the instigation of Mr. John Rye, (married to Ann, a daughter of
Sir Berney Brograve, 1st Baronet), a
philanthropic retired medical man of
Bath, Somerset and his servant Mr. Charles Gee Jones, born in
Weston-super-Mare, a former Bristol pilot and landlord of the Pulteney Arms in Bath, following the tragic loss of life from the
Clovelly fishing fleet in a severe storm in November 1838. Aided by Sir
Jahleel Brenton, at that time governor of
Greenwich Hospital, Mr. Rye succeeded in establishing the Society, and of collecting a respectable sum as a first subscription, initially by going from house to house in Bath collecting
half crowns. The portrait
(below) of Mr. Rye and Mr. Gee Jones was painted to commemorate the founding of the Society, which now hangs in the boardroom of the Society's Headquarters in Chichester. The society's first President was Admiral
Sir George Cockburn, 10th Baronet, who in the War of 1812 cruised
Chesapeake Bay and captured and burnt Washington on 24 August 1814. The Society's first patron was
Queen Victoria and it has had a royal patron ever since; today it is the
Princess Royal. One of its first Vice-Presidents was
Sir Robert Peel, 2nd Bt. The Society was incorporated by an
Act of Parliament in 1850. The society's flag, a
Saint George's Cross with the letters SFMS in the quadrants and a number, was displayed by ships and their position reported by the coastguard to the
Shipping and Mercantile Gazette in London. From 1851 until 1854 it operated lifeboats at
Lytham,
Rhyl,
Portmadoc,
Tenby,
Llanelly,
Teignmouth,
Hornsea and
Newhaven 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 to the
RNLI. gave decommissioned naval mines to the Society to use as donation boxes. In 2017, Admiral
George Zambellas, former
First Sea Lord and Chief of the Naval Staff took over as President of the society. In 2021, the Annual General Meeting of the society was held at the
Fishmongers' Hall in London and the patron of the society,
Anne, Princess Royal presented awards of the society. ==Awards==