East Ham Library (Plashet Public Library) 1899.

When the East Ham Urban District Council was formed in 1894 J H Bethell, later Lord Bethell, proposed introducing the Free Libraries Act. The population was at that time more than 50,000 and the product of a penny rate, at £670, was enough to support more than one library. Initially making use of a converted house, the first library was opened in North Woolwich and Bethell then turned to Passmore Edwards for help in establishing a library at Plashet.

History

When the East Ham Urban District Council was formed in 1894 J H Bethell, later Lord Bethell, proposed introducing the Free Libraries Act. The population was at that time more than 50,000 and the product of a penny rate, at £670, was enough to support more than one library. Initially making use of a converted house, the first library was opened in North Woolwich and Bethell then turned to Passmore Edwards for help in establishing a library at Plashet.
Edwards chose Herbert Gladstone, the youngest son of the Prime Minister William Gladstone to open the Plashet Free Library. Designed by Silvanus Trevail in the Tudor Renaissance style, with the use of Ruabon red facing bricksthe library opened in October 1899. It had cost Edwards £4,000 plus the 1,000 books he added towards the 8,000 on the shelves when the library opened. Bethell also provided 1,000 scientific and technical books and in the first year over 3,000 residents registered as members.
In 1903 the great nephew of Elizabeth Fry, Mr Sydney Buxton, MP, unveiled a bust of her at the East Ham Town Hall. The marble bust, sculpted by Henry A Peagram RA was one of the thirty busts and memorial plaques commissioned by Edwards. It is now to be seen at the Newham Library.
In 1903 the East Ham Improvement Act empowered the Council to spend a 1 1/2d rate on its libraries and with assistance from Andrew Carnegie two further libraries were opened, at Manor Park in 1905, and in 1908, adjoining the Town Hall in High Street South.

Current Use

The Plashet Library closed in 1993 when a new library was opened in nearby Green Street, one of the main shopping streets in Newham and more convenient for users, and the Passmore Edwards building became the Registry Office. The Registry Office was relocated again in 2019 and in June of that year was taken over by squatters.

Nunhead Library

Though initially indicating otherwise, in February 1896 Edwards wrote to Foskett, the Head Librarian with an offer to build the Nunhead library as well as the library at Dulwich, and laid the foundation stone in April of that year. Speaking in response to the thanks given to him Edwards said Camberwell, had increased enormously in population since he lived there and was now one of the most populated parts of London. Having expanded so it was now displaying unusual municipal spirit, by competing with other metropolitan parishes and leaving most of them behind. If there was to be competition what could be better than in the promotion of the public good. He referred to man as being a fighting animal but this didn’t mean that he must be engaged in murderous struggles on the battlefield. How much better if these struggles were in order to provide public buildings. Edwards later said that although he had provided many public libraries it would be one competition that he would be happy to lose, with others taking up the challenge.
Designed by R P Whellock, the Nunhead library is amongst only three Passmore Edwards libraries in London that remained in use in 2020.

St Georges in the East Public Library

Although the parish of St George in the East was one of the poorest in the East End the product of a penny rate amounted to £800 per annum, but, in the view of the Vestry, insufficient to pay for the construction of a free library. Passmore Edwards responded to an appeal for assistance by saying that he was so involved in building libraries elsewhere that he couldn’t help, but added that if they started a public subscription fund then he would reconsider their request as soon as he could. An offer from one of the Vestry Members to start the fund off with £1,000, ‘provided there was no lending library’, was met with scorn from Edwards, who considered it unwise to leave out a lending library. The Commissioner removed the condition but reduced his offer to £500, and Edwards came back with an offer of £5,000, and a thousand books. The selected site, in Cable Street next to the Vestry, was owned by The Earl of Winterton, who offered to sell for £3,000, but donated £200 of the price to the library fund. Other donations received included £180 from the local breweries, which was surprising since one of Edwards’ aims in creating Free Libraries was to provide workingmen with an alternative to the public house during their limited recreational hours.
Maurice Adams’ design drawings were exhibited at the Royal Academy and appeared in the Building News on the 21 May 1897, the day before Lord Russell, the Lord Chief Justice, opened the library.
The main feature of Adams’ design was the reading room, which had a steel octagonal roof, 9 metres wide, rising over a series of arches and equally spaced piers. The room, however, was square with newspaper stands along two walls and grille-fronted bookcases on the others. The reference room occupied the whole of the first floor, which had three projecting oriel windows overlooking Cable-street. The library was in red brick to first floor level and finished with stucco above whilst he facade was in Portland stone with monolithic columns flanking the doorway and with an arched pediment above. Above the columns were two seated statues representing ‘Literature’ and ‘Art’ sculptured by Nathaniel Hitch in Portland stone, and commissioned by Passmore Edwards as an additional gift to the residents of the parish.

I have found this type written report on the initial arrangements at the library and the rearrangements that took lace over the 40 years beofer the commencement of WW2. It finished with a note that “This brief history of past adaptations provides justification for the claims that a building erected to meet the requirements and conditions of 40 years ago must of necessity have become restrict in its possible uses, not capable of meeting the greatly increased demands.” This report was sadly prophetic as incendiary bombs destroyed the Library during the 1941 Blitz. The shell, in an unsafe condition, was pulled down leaving just the front elevation which was eventually pulled down in the late 1960s.

A temporary single storey prefabricated Library was built in St George-in-the-East Churchyard in 1953 and this remained in use until the late 1980s when a new Library was built in Watney Market.

Edmonton Library

History

The Edmonton Local Board of Health had adopted the Free Libraries Acts in 1891 and opened a small temporary library in the Edmonton Town Hall in 1893. The Passmore Edwards library, in Fore Street, replaced that first temporary library. Passmore Edwards chose Mary Ward to lay the foundation stone in April 1897, at the same time that he was in negotiations with her over building the Settlement in Bloomsbury. Immediately after the short ceremony the procession returned to a public meeting in the Town Hall. In describing the ceremony that had just taken place, she prophesied the time when ‘generations of English people, both in and around London and in the remote towns of beautiful Cornwall, would still be entering the spiritual kingdom of knowledge and imagination, the Passmore Edwards Free Library’.

Designed by Maurice Adams, the library was dedicated to the memory of John Keats and Charles Lamb, both associated with Edmonton and she said it was pleasing to think that one day an Edmonton boy, through visiting the library they had just seen commenced, would produce a novel or a poem, or write a history, that would stir the English minds.
At the opening, undertaken by Dr Richard Garrett of the British Museum, in the following November, Passmore Edwards said that the people, mostly working men, now had a library and books but lacked the time to read. Hundreds of working men from Edmonton and other outlying districts of London had to travel into London daily – a journey that would take, on average, two and a half to three hours, each morning and evening. Referring to the engineers strike currently taking place, the engineers wanting an eight hour day, Edwards said that matters were made worse by the lack of workmen’s trains, resulting in long waits at the London Stations.
It was nearly forty years before branch libraries were built, at Bush Hill Park in 1923, Houndsfield Road in 1937, and Weir Hall, in 1938. In 1931 a new lending library was added to the rear of the Passmore Edwards building, which then became known as the Central Library, and a further branch, at Ridge Avenue was opened in 1963.

In 1991 the Central (Passmore Edwards) Library closed its doors for the last time, on the opening of the Edmonton Green Library. For some time the old library was used by the Sikh community but in more recent years it has been the home of the Mevlana Rumi Mosque, where visitors continue to enter the spiritual kingdom. The plaques of Lamb and Keats were removed to the Community House at 313 Fore Street.

Architect

The St Brides Library

The St Bride Library was an integral part of the St Bride Foundation formed, in 1891, through a union of several local London parish charities with the aim of providing ‘social, cultural and educational facilities within Fleet Street and the surrounding areas’.

History

After opening a printing school in 1894 the Foundation decided to create a reference library to support the school. The Governors were fortunate in being able to purchase the library of William Blades, the printer and bibliographer who had died in 1890, and this formed the basis of the technical reference library. However, they were also in need of modern works on printing, paper making, stereotyping, binding and other allied trades and so approached Passmore Edwards for assistance. He responded within days to say he would ‘cheerfully comply with your request’ offering £500; £400 for works already published and £100 set aside for Technical books published in the future.
Sir Walter Besant, the novelist and historian, opened the two libraries, the William Blades Library and the Passmore Edwards Library in November 1895. At the same time, William Blades’ widow and Eleanor Edwards unveiled terracotta medallion portraits of the two men fixed above the doorways to the libraries.
When in 1922 the Printing School moved to Southwark to form the nucleus of the London School of Printing (and Kindred Trades), later to become the London College of Communication, the Technical Reference Library remained at the Institute, and was formally renamed the St Bride Printing Library in 1952.
The Corporation of London took over management of the Library in 1966, offering both the Library and Foundation financial stability but this support was withdrawn in 2004 and management and ownership of the collections was returned to the St Bride Foundation. There was short time when the library closed and it was thought that the resources might be dispersed but with a successful Crowdfunding campaign the library was reopened. The Library celebrated its 125th anniversary on 20 November 2020.

Current Use

The Library remains open to the public as the world’s foremost printing and graphic arts library, with its collection of early printed books, typefaces, rare newspapers and an archive covering the history of printing. The original Institute building included a swimming pool which has since been converted to form the Bridewell Theatre, whilst other rooms have been transformed into lecture rooms, exhibition space and meeting rooms, one of which is called the Passmore Edwards Room. A bust of Samuel Richardson, the novelist, was presented to the Library by Edwards and remains in place today, looking down on visitors as they enter the library.

Sheherds Bush (Uxbridge Rd) Library 1896

History

Passmore Edwards’ brother, Richard, was instrumental in persuading the Hammersmith Vestry to take up an offer from the Metropolitan Board of Works for use of Ravenscourt Park Mansion as a Library and Museum, the first Free Library in the District. When the Ecclesiastical Commissioners subsequently offered a gift of a piece of land in Uxbridge Road, Shepherds Bush, Passmore Edwards offered to give ‘substantial’ assistance in building another library, providing that he was assured that the authority could afford to maintain it. This was achieved by calling on the ratepayers to accept a further half penny rate.
Richard had originally asked his brother to help with providing an additional library but Edwards had declined, saying that he would leave the West of London to take care of itself and concentrate on the East of London. When after Richard’s death he was approached again, by a vestryman unaware of the previous request, Edwards initially declined but after further thought decided that there were sufficient workingmen in the area to benefit from his help.
Edwards provided £5,000 towards the £6,000 the library cost to build and furnish. The residents of the area showed their appreciation in the welcome they gave to Lord Rosebury, the Prime Minister, and Edwards when the library was opened in July 1896. The Uxbridge Road was decorated with flags, bunting and rustic flower baskets, whilst a handsome maroon and cream banner across the road announced the ‘Welcome’ to the visitors. Both private and commercial property was similarly decorated with banners, flags and floral arrangements.
Designed by Maurice Adams FRIBA, the library is in English Renaissance style constructed of red brick with Portland stone cornices and mullions. The front gable carries a life size sculpture representing the ‘Shepherd in the Bush‘.
Edwards dedicated the library to the memory of Leigh Hunt and Charles Keene, both of who lived in Hammersmith and returned to the library on two occasions, in 1896 and 1897, to witness the unveiling of bronze portraits of them. The medallion of Keene, an artist and Punch cartoonist, was subscribed for by about sixty of his friends, and unveiled by Edwards whereas Hunt’s medallion, installed on the foyer wall adjacent to that of Keene was commissioned by Edwards himself. Hunt was a poet and journalist.

Architect

Current use

In 2009 the Hammersmith and Fulham Borough Council closed the library after moving the library service to a new building in Wood lane. The Council proposed to sell the Passmore Edwards building and grappled with the restrictions set by covenants in the original deed of gift. There was a strong interest amongst the local community to prevent its loss as a public building and eventually it was taken over for use by The Bush Theatre.

Passmore Edwards Library, Dulwich 1897

The site for the Dulwich Library was given by the Dulwich College. Passmore Edwards dedicated the library to the memory of Edward Alleyne, the Elizabethan actor and founder of the College

History

After establishing a Central library and a branch library at Knatchbull Road, Minet, Chief Librarian Edward Foskett planned to build libraries at both Dulwich and Nunhead and wrote to Passmore Edwards for assistance. His response was that he would donate £2,500 for a library at Nunhead or £3,000 towards a library at Dulwich, preferring the latter as he knew the area more. Edwards had lived at Camberwell Grove for a while when he first moved to London as a young man, leaving when the house was demolished to make way for an extension of the railway into London.

The Governors of Dulwich College were willing to donate the land required but were legally unable to do so and it took an amendment of the Free Libraries Act to allow this to proceed. Built to a design by Charles Barry & Son, the foundation stone was finally laid by the actor Sir Henry Irving on 24 October 1896 and it was opened a year later by Lord Halsbury, the Chancellor, and dedicated to the memory of Edward Alleyn, the founder of the Dulwich College. By this time Edwards had increased the amount he had given for the library to £5,000.
During the 1940 air raids a bomb landed on the north-west corner of the library causing considerable damage but as part of the post war rebuilding an extension was added which included a public hall.

Current use

Today, the Dulwich library, one of a diminishing number of Passmore Edwards libraries in London still in use, is thriving. Disabled access has been cleverly fitted into the internal structure of the library giving access to the computer suite and the public hall. To the rear of the library the gardens are well maintained and provide a pleasant relaxation from the passing traffic.

Architect

Charles Barry & Charles Edward Barry

Charles Barry (1823-1900) attended Sevenoaks Grammar School and was in the office of his father Sir Charles Barry from 1840 to 1846 in which year he was elected to ARIBA. Barry was later in practice with Robert Richardson Banks from 1847 and until Bank’s death. Became Architect and Surveyor to the Dulwich College Estate from 1858. Awarded Royal Gold Metal in 1877.
Charles Edward Barry (1855-1937) was a pupil and assistant of his father being elected to ARIBA in 1878. In partnership with Charles Barry and later with Carly Arthur Ransome Barry, his son. Became Architect and Surveyor to the Dulwich College Estate, succeeding his father.
Extracted from Directory of British Architects 1834-1914, British Architectural Library.

Passmore Edwards Jubilee Cottage Hospital, Nursing Institute and Invalid Kitchen, Acton 1898

Founded in June 1897 to mark Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee, and for the first 50 years a voluntary hospital for the “sick poor”, and after WW1 as the Acton War Memorial, the hospital has continued to serve the local community.

In 1897, the year of the opening of the Tate Gallery and of the Blackwall Tunnel, Acton was a growing town. Trams ran through to Shepherd’s Bush and there were bus and train services into London. The population was increasing rapidly, rising from 24,206 in 1891 to 37,744 in 1901. The newly formed District Council discussed plans for a new Fire Station, a Library, Swimming Baths and an Isolation Hospital, but it was not within their powers to provide a General Hospital. The local Poor Rate already did that, although for the destitute poor only, at the Brentford Union Workhouse Infirmary in Isleworth.
There were over 200 laundries in Acton mostly in the working class district of South Acton and Acton Green, providing work for both men and women. To the north and at East Acton were residential districts, dairy farms and sports grounds.
In addition to the many churches of all domination, there were charitable institutions that aided the less well off, including the Philanthropic Society whose president W Carrington Smith, a silversmith living at Fremington Lodge, made approaches to Passmore Edwards the philanthropist who was giving grants to establish hospitals and libraries. He promised £2,500 for a hospital provided that someone gave the land. The Lord and Mr. Leopold Rothscild, wealthy Jewish landowners and bankers of Gunnersbury Park were persuaded to do so, giving c 1/2 acre of land in Gunnersbury Lane. E F Hunt, an Acton solicitor, who in 1898 was elected to the District Council becoming its chairman from 1898-1900, did the administrative 
The deed of Trust was settled in May 1897, and collection boxes went around Acton for funds.
The Passmore Edwards Acton Jubilee Cottage Hospital, Nurses Home and Invalid Kitchen was opened in May 1898 by Mrs Creighton, wife of the Bishop of London. The amazing sum of £1178.13s.7d had been given by local people in collecting boxes and donations towards its upkeep.
From “Acton Hospital 1897-1997” produced by Acton History Group ©

The English Mechanic Lifeboat

Long before Passmore Edwards began his major philanthropic works, the English Mechanic, of which he was proprietor, was involved in raising funds for the replacement of the lifeboat at Broughty Ferry, near Dundee, Scotland. This was launched in 1876.

The English Mechanic was a weekly newspaper published from 1865 to 1926. Much of the content was supplied by the readers in as much that it discussed scientific, engineering and such matters of the day, to such an extent that the readers affectionately referred to the paper as “ours” Readers and contributors spanned the world and from all sections of society. John Passmore Edwards purchased the paper during its first year of publication and it was his management that made it such a success. Its success clearly contributed to his substantial wealth which he later applied to his philanthropic work.
The 15 October, 1869, edition of the English Mechanic and Mirror of Science, to give it its full title, contained a detailed account of the design and build of an English lifeboat. The purpose was stated as “to convey a clear and distinct conception of the manner in which this boat can be built in any part of the world where a boat builder can be found, and thus contribute, through the English Mechanic, towards the great and sacred object of the Lifeboat Institution-that of saving a brother’s life in peril by shipwreck”. The unnamed contributor gave instruction not only on building the lifeboat but also the transporting carriage, a summary of the Lifeboat associations regulations and the association’s arrangements at that time, all within no more than 3 pages of the Journal. The account was, however, sufficient to arouse an interest amongst a number of readers to fund the building of a lifeboat. At that time there had been a number of lifeboats built by subscription through publications of the day, amongst these being the People’s Journal, which funded 2 lifeboats,
Within a couple of weeks letters appeared in the Journal suggesting that the readers should contribute to a lifeboat to be called the English Mechanic. George Luff, of Staunton Harold, Ashby de la Zouche, suggested that with a readership of 100,000, a contribution of a mere 1d, one penny- less than 1/2p, would raise the required £400 to build a fully fitted out boat and that a further 1/4d a year would adequately support its operation.
Passmore Edwards responded to say that whilst he had been apprehensive that such an appeal may not evoke a sufficiently wide and deep response, “we now feel constrained to render any assistance in our power towards the accomplishment of such a desirable object.” He said that he left the matter in the hands of the readers but if they respond to the appeal then “We should be happy to head the subscription list with a hundred guineas” (£105).
As contributions arrived as the offices of the English Mechanic, in 31 Tavistock Street, Covent Garden, London, often in the form of unused postage stamps, they were acknowledged in the following edition of the Journal, whether they amounted to a few pence or several pounds. In keeping with the tradition of many of the contributors to the Journal in the use of pseudonyms contributions were credited to Semper Paratus (1 shilling), Two at sixpence each or six at one penny each and A little collection amongst the bicyclists and their friends at the Bromsgrove Railway Station- 7 shillings. However, in spite of the contributions from the more enthusiastic contributors such as Mr Luff, who in February 1870 sent in the results of his first collection, amounting to £10 6s 3d, and the proceeds from concerts, such as the £3 6s 0d sent in by Mr Hurst after a concert at the headquarters of the 1st Essex Engineers, Heybridge, near Malden, Essex, the fund grew very slowly and it was not until October 14 1870 that the contribution list, including the results of Mr Luff’s third collection, £2 2s 0d, passed £200; Sufficiently slow for Passmore Edwards to question the enthusiasm of the readers of “ours” to the project. Rallying appeals appeared, such as that, in February 1871, signed by A Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society, The Harmonious Blacksmith, Sigma, and others who, after calculating that a lifeboat would save two to three hundred lives in its career, suggested that “A hundred wives will have their husbands restored to them” and “Three to four hundred children will have been saved from orphanhood”. ”Readers of the English Mechanic” they pleaded, “do not listen to us, our words are cold and weak. Listen to them.” “Think that three hundred sailors are begging their lives of you, think that a hundred now happy wives are praying you not to let their husband’s perish; think that hundreds of the little ones our Saviour loves are beseeching you to have pity on them; and remember that it is no idle dream, but a stern reality that we have to face. As surely as the months pass, the winds and seas will demand their prey; as surely as our shores will be strewn with wrecks, so surely will there be those amongst the shipwrecked crews who will perish if our lifeboat is not built. Be it ours to save them.”
Passmore Edwards was content to leave the subscription list open and weekly recorded the steady rise, although some weeks this was by no more than 5 shillings and sometimes less. In June 1872, he wrote that he had not encouraged the fundraising as much as he might for “the best of all. reasons” Thanks to the National Lifeboat Association and British philanthropy, there were, it appeared, but few places on the UK coastline where a new lifeboat was required. If he had known at the outset that so much had already been done he would have hesitated before endorsing Mr Luff’s proposal. It was true that one or two replacement boats had been launched during this time but it was common at the time to name the new vessel after the one it replaced and since it was desired that “our” lifeboat should be called the English Mechanic it may be some time before such a boat could be brought into use.
A further plea from Mr Luff not to close the subscription list, had been printed in July 1871 when the fund stood at around £280, and the list of contributions remained a weekly feature until, in August 1875, it reached the targeted £400, appropriately with contributions of £2 19s 6d, collected by Mr Luff. On 13 August Passmore Edwards published a letter received from the Lifeboat Institute in receipt of the sum of £402 9s 6d and on 6 January 1876 the news that the English Mechanic lifeboat was to be stationed at Boughty Ferry, near Dundee, as a replacement for the Mary Hartley which had been instrumental in saving upwards of 60 lives, being on station at Boughty Ferry since 1867.
The launch of the English Mechanic took place on Whitsun Monday, 5 June 1876. An account of the launch and of an almost immediate call to arms was reported in the Dundee Advertiser and repeated in the English Mechanic Journal on 16 June.
The weather was fine and many thousands assembled to watch the proceedings. The boat, placed on its cradle and fully manned (each member of the crew having on a lifebelt and red nightcap- the coxswain, George Anderson and John Knight, being in their places at the stern), with her masts fully rigged, the main mast bearing the flag of the Royal Lifeboat Institution, presented a gay and attractive appearance. Shortly after 11am the procession left the West Railway Station, Dundee, the boat being drawn by six horses belonging to the Caledonian Railway Company. The procession was headed by a naval band and following behind the lifeboat an open carriage in which were seated Mr Yeaman, MP and Mr James Hunter, the secretary of the local branch of the Lifeboat Institute. The procession was met at the King William’s Dock by local dignitaries and a densely packed crowd of onlookers.
Passmore Edwards had intended to be present but Mr Yeaman explained to those assembled that he could not be present in consequence of engagements that had arisen when he was about to start from London. He, Mr Yeaman, had the honour of representing him today and handing over the new boat to Rear Admiral Robertson, who represented the Royal National Lifeboat Institution on that occasion. After the customary speeches Mrs W O Dalgleish named the vessel the English Mechanic and a few seconds later the lifeboat was plunged into the dock. The boat was then pulled back to the quay and after the crew had disembarked, and with the use of ropes attached to a crane the boat was overturned to demonstrate its self righting ability. Within 25 seconds the boat was again upon her keel and with the whole of the water she had shipped out of her.
Immediately following the launch the boat set sail down the river to undertake exercises under sail, the local dignitaries following in the steamer Fairweather. Having just arrived arrived off Boughty Ferry a telegram was received at the Custom House from the Buddonness lighthouse that a schooner, flying an English ensign, had been observed riding close inshore and in danger of being driven ashore by the strong WNW winds. The message was relayed to the steamer, which had pulled into Boughty Ferry to allow a passenger to alight, and the Fairweather immediately steamed off down river after the lifeboat, which was running with full sails set but at that point unaware of the incident. The two boats proceeded to the schooners position where 5 of the lifeboat’s crew were put on board. The schooner was the Brothers of Sunderland. Her sails were split and she was making water, although not yet aground. The lifeboat crew soon had the vessel under weigh and had manned the pumps. She was taken under tow by the Fairweather and accompanied by the English Mechanic, she was taken into Dundee. A large crowd assembled at Boughty Ferry to welcome the new boat where she was hauled up into her new quarters.
The English Mechanic Journal contained several other reports of the lifeboats career and subscriptions continued to arrive at the publisher’s office towards the boats upkeep. On 8 September 1876 it was reported that the English Mechanic had gone to the assistance of the schooner Emerald and a Norwegian vessel, both laden with timber and having gone ashore on the bar of the Tay in a severe gale. In heavy seas the English Mechanic made great efforts to get alongside the Norwegian vessel but without success, breaking four oars in the attempts. The vessel then broke up a portion of the vessel on which the crew of four had gathered, floated into the river and the men were picked up by the lifeboat. The crew of the Emerald had taken to their own boat and were picked up by the English Mechanic. In April 1877 the lifeboat saved the crew of 14 of the barque Frederick, lost on the banks of the Tay and in June picked up the crew of the schooner Aurora, of Frederickshaven, which had taken to their boat after the vessel, laden with pit props, had been driven ashore on the Abertay sand bank at the mouth of the Dundee River.
The English Mechanic remained at Boughty Ferry until 23 June 1888, when she was replaced by the Samuel Shawcross. (I am indebted to Andrew Jeffery, of the current Broughty Ferry Lifeboat, for this account).