Surf Boat Memorial

878/0/10050

MARINE TERRACE Surf Boat Memorial

11-JUL-05

II Memorial statue. Unveiled on 4th October 1899, designed by Frederick Callcott RBS and cast by Elkington and Co Ltd foundry. It commemorates nine men who lost their lives when the Margate Surf Boat capsized whilst answering a distress call on 2nd December 1897. Bronze statue on granite plinth.

DESCRIPTION: it comprises a life size bronze statue of a member of a life boat crew, dressed in oilskins and buoyancy aid, standing on a rock looking out to sea on a rectangular granite plinth with carved Scotia base. Paving slabs, which replace earlier soft landscaping, and a stone kerb ( the remains of perimeter railing) surround the memorial. The inscription to the front face of the plinth in incised and painted script reads "To the memory of William Philpott Cook, Sen Coxswain, Henry Richard Brockman, Wm. Philpott Cook Jun., John Benjamin Dike, Robert Ernest Cook, Edward R Crunden, Wm. Richard Gill, George William Robert Ladd, Crew and Charles E Troughton, superintendant of the Margate Ambulance Corps, who lost their lives through the capsizing of the Margate Surf Boat, "Friend to All Nations" on Thursday 2nd December 1897". The sculpture is signed on the reverse "Fred. Calcott Sculpt" and "Elkington and Co Ltd founders".

HISTORY: after the disaster a fund was raised by local dignitaries and councillors to support the five widows and seventeen children left destitute. Funds came from all over the world, the "Daily Telegraph" raised over £1,000 and a donation of £35 was received from Queen Victoria. The final total was almost £10,000. The first proposal was that the money could be used to build almshouses for the families but in the end it was considered that two memorials were "more appropriate". The majority of the fund was spent on two memorials and the funeral procession and the residual capital used to provide a small widow's pension of 15 shillings a week, deemed a "reasonable sum". The second memorial was a large white cemetery monument erected in Margate Cemetery where the nine who perished were buried.

A fine monument both in materials and execution commemorating a prominent local historical event which touched the whole nation.