Stone Sermons: Monuments, Memory and the 'Mexico' Disaster

                                                Souvenir Newsletter of the North West Research Group of the Lifeboat Enthusiasts Society, December 1986 Frank Kilroy Collection, Lancashire Archives As a slight diversion writing a chapter for my PhD, I thought I'd add another post to my blog. The chapter is about the centenary commemorations of the Mexico disaster in 1986, which is a great way to consider the continuing relevance of the monument and how the disaster was framed almost a century later. Most of my comparisons go back to the unveiling of the Mexico monument on 23 May 1888, but I am also thinking about the immediate aftermath of the disaster in December 1886. In 1986 a committee was established by the local RNLI including Frank Kilroy, the Lifeboat Operations Manager for Lytham St Anne's, and author of The Wreck of the "Mexico" , fi...

  A couple of weeks ago we were having a short break in Grasmere at the impressively titled Grand Hotel. It was lovely to be in the Lakes again. In these Covid times the village centre was inevitably more crowded than it might usually be outside school holidays, but even just a short walk up to Easedale Tarn took us away from the crowds. During our short visit there were a couple of intriguing co-incidences relating to my studies, research, and local history interests. The first related to the Grand Hotel, which isn't actually that big, but does serve wonderful food and has great views from the garden! I hadn't realized that it is now connected to the Grand Hotel in St Anne's. I think that the family company that runs the St Anne's hotel took over the Grand at Grasmere a while ago.  Historically speaking, the St Anne's Grand Hotel was one of the two major St Anne’s hotels, the other being the much-mourned Majestic (formerly the Imperial Hydro) which was demolished...

 I am always searching for and examining images of the Mexico memorial and, just after we went into lockdown, I began looking at postcards of the monument on eBay. There were many available for sale, mainly covering the period from about 1900 through to the mid-1920s and, to amuse myself during the earlier stages of the Covid-19 lockdown, I started to order a few reasonably priced ones. It became something of a enjoyable compulsion, and it was almost like having a birthday each day as cards popped through the letter box with a pleasant regularity. The Lifeboat Monument, c.1905 Going through this process it became obvious to me that the monument was very closely identified with the town in that period. As I write, a search for 'lifeboat monument' on eBay produces images of 29 postcards 26 of which relate to the St Anne's Monument. It is interesting that searches for 'lifeboat statue' or 'lifeboat monument' also show mainly postcards, but change the results s...

The Mexico monument at St Anne’s was, and is, a focal point for collective mourning and a means of continuous celebration of the heroism of the lifeboatmen lost in the disaster of 1886. Although the monument formalized these processes they really began very soon after the disaster happened as emotive depictions of  the event and its aftermath appeared across various print media. It is a common conception that as a nation (and I speak here perhaps more of England than Britain collectively) we have latterly become far more likely to express emotion both as individuals and collectively. Critics of this perceived trend suggest that we have become emotionally incontinent, less inclined to traditional English stoicism and reserve. However, a quick study of newspapers relating to national events over the preceding 150 years shows that the desire to express emotion collectively over a national event has been with us for a long time The mourning and commemoration surrounding the Mexico ...

In terms of loss of life, the Mexico Disaster, as it has become known, is still the most significant lifeboat disaster in the United Kingdom. The events of the night of 9 December 1886 in the Ribble estuary have been well documented, particularly in books and pamphlets by Frank Kilroy, Gilbert and John Mayes,  David Forshaw and J Allen Miller /Andrew Farthing. Anyone wanting full accounts of the events should consult these works (see 'Sources' below) but here are the essential details. A few days before the Mexico disaster the lifeboats Laura Janet and Charles Biggs (from Lytham) had gone out to rescue the crew of a coast steamer, the Yan Yean , which had attempted to anchor in the Ribble estuary in adverse weather conditions but ended up on a sandbank and taking in water. The crew took to the rigging, only being rescued at the last moment. This was the first successful rescue by the St Anne's lifeboat station. The storm that had wrecked the Yan Yean worsened and on ...

I am currently in the first year of a part-time PhD in History at Lancaster University. The focal point of my research is a lifeboat monument just along the promenade from the pier at St Anne’s on the Sea, a Lancashire resort. The work of Scottish sculptor William Birnie Rhind, it commemorates the thirteen-man crew of the lifeboat  Laura Janet  who lost their lives in an attempted rescue of the crew of the German barque  Mexico  on the night of 9 th  December 1886. Fourteen of the sixteen-man crew of the Southport boat  Eliza Fernley  were also lost, and the crew of the Lytham vessel  Charles Biggs  effected the rescue. The monument was unveiled by John Talbot Clifton, heir to the Clifton estate, on 23 May 1888. The Mexico Monument on the eve of the unveiling, 22 May 1888 Red Rose Collections , Lancashire County Council My study examines the disaster and commemoration, exploring how the monument came to provide an identity for the newly...