Plaque in Poole, Dorset, dedicated to Richard Wills d. 1908
Location
Poole, Dorset, England
Transcript
'IN MEMORY OF / RICHARD WILLS / 2ND COXSWAIN FOR 30 YEARS / AND FOR 25 YEARS COXSWAIN / OF THE POOLE LIFEBOAT. / DURING THE PERIOD OF HIS SERVICE / 120 LIVES WERE SAVED. / DIED JULY 8TH 1922. / AGED 72 YEARS.'
Details
Type: Plaque
Materials: Brass
Materials: Brass
People
Wills, Richard
Age: 72
Date of Death: 8/7/1922
Cause of Death: Unknown/None
Rank / Occupation: Lifeboat Coxswain
Organisation: RNLI
Age: 72
Date of Death: 8/7/1922
Cause of Death: Unknown/None
Rank / Occupation: Lifeboat Coxswain
Organisation: RNLI
Extra
Notes: Originally this plaque was located in the Seamen's Mission on Poole Quay which was closed in about 1950. It is currently in private hands. The obituary to Richard Wills in the RNLI journal "The Lifeboat" records the existence of this plaque and its original location (November 1922, p.337: "Richard Wills... In 1908 he was awarded the Thanks of the Institution inscribed on vellum for taking part in a shore-boat service, in which he and four other men rescued at great personal risk, two men whose boat had capsized in a heavy ground-swell. A brass tablet to his memory has been put up in the Seamen's Mission at Poole, and was unveiled on 19th November."