The Royal National Lifeboat Institution, 1824-1897: Organisational Change and State Support

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Sam Jones Sam Jones

The Royal National Lifeboat Institution, 1824-1897

Name: The Royal National Lifeboat Institution, 1824-1897
Price: 149.76 AUD
Availability: PreOrder
ISBN: 9781837653058

Organisational Change and State Support

Sam Jones, Sam Jones

$186.95 $149.76

Hardback

Forthcoming
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English

Boydell & Brewer
23 June 2026

British & Irish history; Maritime history; Charities, voluntary services & philanthropy; Ambulance & rescue services; Non-governmental organisations (NGOs)

An overview of the early years of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI), highlighting the debates about how far the organisation should be self-supporting or state-funded.

One of the key dilemmas for the state in nineteenth century Britain was how far should it provide public services. The case of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI), a private charity founded in 1824, demonstrates this dilemma in action. By 1850, despite a promising start, the RNLI was in danger of total collapse with a severe lack of funds, unable to provide the lifeboats required. This book, based on extensive original research, explores how the government, after some hesitation, funded the charity for a fifteen year period, withdrawing from involvement once the charity was back on its feet. The book examines how this limited support enabled the charity to re-organise and expand into a truly national service, absorbing many previously independent lifeboat organisations, so that by the end of the century the RNLI was a large, sophisticated and complex charity wielding considerable influence at the highest levels of the establishment, developing pioneering fundraising techniques and highly sophisticated publicity, branding and reputation management strategies. Overall, the book refines our understanding of how laissez-faire and state intervention worked in practice and shows how it came about that Britain and Ireland's lifeboat service is provided by a charity rather than the state.

By: Sam Jones, Sam Jones
Imprint: Boydell & Brewer
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions: Height: 234mm, Width: 156mm,
ISBN: 9781837653058
ISBN 10: 1837653054
Pages: 280
Publication Date: 23 June 2026
Audience: Professional and scholarly , College/higher education , Undergraduate , Further / Higher Education
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Forthcoming

Sam Jones, who died in 2024, completed her doctorate in maritime history at the Centre for Maritime Historical Studies at the University of Exeter. She was volunteer lifeboat operations manager of the Tobermory lifeboat and a member of the RNLI's Scottish Council.