Manual Ref* NFgyCA001 Show 4 images 193
Title*

Beauchamp Lifeboat Memorial
County Norfolk   District Council Great Yarmouth Borough Council 
Civil Parish or equivalent Caister  Town/Village* Caister 
Road Ormesby Road 
Precise Location Cemetery opposite Holy Trinity 
OS Grid Ref TG520123  Postcode NR30 
Previous location(s)  
Setting In cemetery  Access Public 
Artist/Maker Role Qualifier
Not known     

Commissioned by

 Public subscription 

Design & Constrn period

 1903 

Date of installing

 1903 

Exact date of unveiling

  

Category
Abstract Animal Architectural
Commercial Commemorative Composite
Free Functional Funerary
Heraldic Military Natural
Non-Commemorative Performance Portable
Religious Roadside, Wayside Sculptural
Temporary, Mobile Other  

Object Type
Building Clock Tower Architectural
Coat of Arms Cross Fountain
Landscape Marker Medallion
Mural Panel Readymade
Relief Shaft Sculpture
Statue Street Furniture War Memorial
Other Object Sub Type: Memorial to lifeboatmen

Subject Type
Allegorical Mythological Pictorial
Figurative Non-figurative Portrait
Still-life Symbolic Other

Subject Sub Type
Bust Equestrian Full-length
Group Head Reclining
Seated Standing Torso
Part Material Dimension
Base  Marble  H. 2 metres W& d 140 cms 
Broken column  Marble  H. 1.5 metres W. 2 metres 
Plinth  Marble  H. 40 cms 

Work is
Extant Not Sited Lost

Owner/Custodian

 Holy Trinity Caister Parochial Church Council 

Listing status
Grade I Grade II* Grade II Don't Know Not Listed

Surface Condition
Corrosion, Deterioration Accretions
Bird Guano Abrasions, cracks, splits
Biological growth Spalling, crumbling
Metallic staining Previous treatments
Other  
Detail:

Structural Condition
Armature exposed Broken or missing parts
Replaced parts Loose elements
Cracks, splits, breaks, holes Spalling, crumbling
Water collection Other
Detail:

Vandalism
Graffiti Structural damage Surface Damage
Detail:

Overall condition
Good Fair Poor

Risk
No Known Risk At Risk Immediate
Signatures/Marks 1903 on front of column CAISTER LIFEBOAT on lifebuoy 
Inscriptions HEREUNDER LIE/THE BODIES OF NINE MEN OF CAISTER/WHO LOST THEIR LIVES IN THE LIFEBOAT BEAUCHAMP/ ON THE MORNING OF NOVEMBER 14TH 1901/WHILST MOST GALLANTLY RESPONDING TO/SIGNALS OF DISTRESS/THIS MONUMENT/ HAS BEEN ERECTED TO THEIR MEMORY/BY A LARGE NUMBER OF THEIR FELLOW COUNTRYMEN/WHO HONOURED THEIR BRAVERY AND PRESERVED THOSE/DEPENDENT UPON THEM FROM WANT. 

Description (physical)

 The memorial is set behind low metal railings and surrounded by nine plaques recording the names and ages of the lifeboatmen. The broken column rises out of massive rocks. A rope curls down around the column over the rocks with an anchor and the Caister lifebuoy above. Fragments from the Beauchamp's rudder, oars and blocks are shown to the sides and rear of the memorial combined with laurel wreaths. Under the inscription is a relief showing the Beauchamp with sails set on both masts and six of the crewmen. There is a metal collection box to one side of the railings. 

Description (iconographical)

 On the night of November 13th 1903 there was a gale and blinding rain. The men on watch heard distress signals at 10.50 and called the crew who had great difficulty launching only getting off at 1.45. They struggled to set both sails and were unable to get the boat out to sea so that the wind and waves capsized them on the shore, drowning all but two of the crew. At the inquest next day the chief inspector of lifeboats - Mr. Graham- said that the Caister lifeboats had saved crews from vessels of nearly every nationality and had saved more lives than any other lifeboat station, and that England had lost, in this accident, the greatest part of perhaps the finest lifeboat crew that the world had every seen. An appeal had raised £10,000 by the end of the year enabling the commissioning of the memorial - the purchase of a replacement lifeboat- and the endowment of pensions to the surviving dependents. 

Photographs

 Date taken:  4/10/2006
Date logged: 

Photographed by:
Sarah Cocke

On Site Inspection

 Date:  4/10/2006

Inspected by:
Richard Cocke

Sources and References

 Took Colin, The Beach Company, Journal of the Norfolk Industrial Archaeology Society, Vol. 3 no. 2, 1982, 58-77; Cannell, John, edited Bond, Christine ,The men who never turned back, Caister, 2000 

Database

 Date entered:  7/11/2006

Data inputter:
Richard Cocke