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Ralph Hedley R.B.A.
Invention of the lifeboat,
Willie Wouldhave,
South Shields, 1789
1896
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
oil on canvas
1091 x 922 mm
SIGNED b.l.c.R Hedley / 1896
EXHIBITED
Bewick Club 13th Annual Exhibition, Newcastle, 1896 (86)
Royal Academy, London, 1897 (71)
Ralph Hedley: Tyneside Painter,
Laing Art Gallery, Newcastle, 1990-91
PUBLIC COLLECTION
South Shields Museum
and Art Gallery
Ocean Road NE33 2JA
Reference TWCMS : G5211
Presented by
public subscription, 1898
Ralph Hedley Archive Reference: 1896_w007
Invention of the lifeboat, Willie Wouldhave,
South Shields, 1789
Willie Wouldhave (1751-1821), of South Shields, designed the first true lifeboat. It was built in 1790 by the local boatbuilder Henry Greathead, and named 'Original'.
The boat was 30 feet long, and was steered with a long oar at either end. It was lined with cork, which made it almost impossible to capsize. The boat was built by public subscription, and the Duke of Northumberland paid for a lifeboat house at North Shields.
This imaginative reconstruction by Ralph Hedley was painted around 100 years after Wouldhave made his invention.
In August 1896, prior to its appearance at either the Bewick Club Annual Exhibition or the Royal Academy, it was put on show at the Free Library Hall, South Shields, which resulted in its being bought for the town, by the town.
The Shield Daily Gazette and Shipping Telegraph records how this was done
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The Shield Daily Gazette and Shipping Telegraph Ralph Hedley Archive Reference: 1896_w007d1 |
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The Shield Daily Gazette and Shipping Telegraph Ralph Hedley Archive Reference: 1896_w007d2 |
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The Shield Daily Gazette and Shipping Telegraph The British Newspaper Archive Ralph Hedley Archive Reference: 1896_w007d3 |
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The Shield Daily Gazette and Shipping Telegraph Ralph Hedley Archive Reference: 1896_w007d4 |