Founded by and George Hibbert and Thomas Wilson (1777–1849) at a meeting at the London Tavern as the National Institution for the Preservation of Life from Shipwreck. On 20 March the king allowed it to be renamed the Royal NIPLS. Renamed as the RNLI in 1854.
Its first HQ were at what is now Furniture Makers’ Hall, 12 Austin Friars. Established there in 22 May 1824, the RNLI moved out in 1826.
Operates about 238 RNLI lifeboat stations around the coast including four along the tidal reaches of the Thames. These were set up, following the inquiry into the Marchioness disaster, at Teddington, Chiswick, Tower (beside Waterloo Bridge, on the north-east bank) and Gravesend. These stations are consistently among the busiest, with Tower being the most busy; in 2013 crews there rescued 372 people and saved 25 lives.
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