Eliza Fernley Lifeboat monument in Cemetery

This list entry was subject to a Minor Amendment on 28/10/2020

SD31NW 664-1/1/33

SOUTHPORT DUKE STREET (north east side) Eliza Fernley Lifeboat monument in Cemetery

GV II Monument to the lifeboat crew. Probably c1888-1890. By Ernest Walter Johnson architect, and sculptor Thomas Robinson. Commemorates 14 members of the crew of the Southport lifeboat "Eliza Fernley". Sandstone and polished granite, with marble plaques. Rectangular plan.

EXTERIOR: in the form of a tomb chest raised on a high battered plinth. Low ashlar base with rope-work border and round-topped corner bollards with iron mooring rings; plinth of three courses of large rock-faced sandstone blocks; polished granite chest with terminal pilasters, a sunk panel in each side, a moulded cornice, and the lid carved in representation of a broken mast battered by waves. The panels of the northeast and southeast sides contain lettered marble plaques; that on the north west side contains a good carved relief depicting the lifeboat and its crew caught under the crest of a mountainous wave, that on south west side, relief of anchor and lifebelt, with “Eliza Fernley” on the belt

HISTORY: the crew lost their lives on the night of 9 December 1886 (together with the crew of the St Anne's lifeboat) while attempting to rescue the crew of the German barque "Mexico". This tragedy is also commemorated by an obelisk on the Promenade (qv).

Listing NGR: SD3415615880