Sir William Hillary

Sir William Hillary is credited with founding the RNLI. 

After witnessing the destruction of dozens of ships from his home on the Isle of Man and getting involved in rescue attempts himself, Hillary saw the need for a national rescue service, Hillary appealed to the Navy, the government and other ‘eminent characters’ for help in forming ‘a national institution for the preservation of lives and property from shipwreck’.
 
Nothing in his earlier life seemed to foreshadow the work for which Hillary was to become famous. He was born in 1771 of a family that claimed French descent and ran sugar plantations in Jamaica. He became equerry to the Duke of Sussex and, with his royal master, made an extensive tour of the Mediterranean, circumnavigating Sicily and Malta in an open boat.

He raised the first Essex Legion of Infantry and Cavalry, England's largest private army, at his own expense (more than £20,000) and commanded the 1,400 men himself, in the service of King George III. In 1804, he was made a baronet in recognition of his patriotic endeavour.

By 1808 he had lost most of his money and moved to the Isle of Man, partly to escape his creditors and partly because he had eloped and contracted a marriage that may well have been bigamous. One of the earliest independent pre-RNLI lifeboat stations had been established at Douglas, and Hillary participated in a number of dramatic rescues.

Despite his difficulties, he still had his well-placed contacts and on 12 February 1824 he held a meeting at the City of London Tavern in Bishopsgate, at which a resolution proposing the adoption of his plans for a national sea rescue organisation was carried with acclaim.  

The Institution was founded as a charity on 4 March 1824.

Hillary dies at Woodville, Douglas on the Isle of Man on 5 June 1847.