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Restored Lifeboat Model Returned to Whitby RNLI Lifeboat Museum after 75 years

Wednesday, 28 February 2024 06:00

By Matthew Pells

former coxswain and restorer of the model, Pete Thomson with current coxswain Howard Fields

The model was kindly donated by the granddaughter of Whitby's former honorary secretary.

The Mary Ann Hepworth model was built around 1940 by the then Lifeboat Mechanic, Jim Philpott.

Mr Philpott gained two RNLI medals during his time with the charity, a Silver and a Bronze. The 41’ Watson class Lifeboat had at that point been on station for two years. An old photo shows Mr Philpott outside the station with the model.

John Foster was a well-respected Lifeboat Honorary Secretary at Whitby, serving from 1904 to1948. He was presented with the Mary Ann Hepworth model on his retirement in 1948. The model passed through his family via his son to Mr Foster’s granddaughter Ruth Ruddick. Ruth remembers as a child playing with the model which has a ‘wind up’ engine. Sadly, through the years the model had deteriorated with age.

Museum curator Neil Williamson said:

'Mrs Ruddick contacted the Museum in June 2023 and asked if the Museum would like the model as a donation which was gratefully accepted, the provenance of the model made this an important donation to the RNLI Museum and the feeling was that it was really good to see the model return to Whitby.

Pete Thomson (retired Coxswain) was very keen to see the model restored to its former glory and has painstaking restored the model, making new items for the model that had been lost over the years; he even renovated the ‘wind up’ motor.'

The model returned to the Museum and was put in pride of place in the central display case.

 

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