The Lifeboat Baronet: Launching the Rnli

In this historical biography, the life story of the founder of the United Kingdom’s royal charitable lifeboat service is revealed for the first time.

Established in the nineteenth century when death from shipwreck was a tragic reality, the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) was created with the sole mission of saving lives. But little is known about the RNLI’s founder, Sir William Hillary. A handsome, charismatic figure known to be something of a philanderer, Hillary was a social climber born to a slave-holder’s family in Liverpool who mingled with royalty and married an heiress. So how did Hillary become one of England’s national heroes?

Historian and bestselling author of The Arcanum Janet Gleeson reveals for the first time how a charming adventurer was inspired to lead the historic campaign for the creation of the National Institute for the Preservation of Life (today’s RNLI). Despite having never learned to swim himself, Hillary braved terrifying storms to save hundreds of lives during his quest. Drawing on previously unpublished letters--many of them written by Hillary himself--Gleeson narrates the fascinating story of the RNLI’s development, along with the Hillary’s political ties and private tribulations.

For history lovers and fans of maritime adventure stories, Lifeboat Baronet is an absorbing account of how a Regency rake improbably became an important Victorian philanthropist and reformer.

Janet Gleeson is the author of works of fiction and nonfiction which have been translated into more than a dozen languages. Her books include The Arcanum, which was Radio Four Book of the Week and a Sunday Times bestseller; The Money Maker; which was serialized Radio Scotland and included in Radio Four Book of the Week’s compilation on the financial crisis; An Aristocratic Affair; The Lifeboat Baronet; as well as three historical crime novels. Gleeson has a Bachelor of Arts (Hons) degree in English and art history from Nottingham University and a Masters from Birkbeck College, University of London. Before starting her writing career, she worked at Sotheby’s and Bonhams as a cataloguer and valuer of old master paintings, and at Reed Books as an editor responsible for many of the Miller’s Antique Collecting Guides. Gleeson has served as an antiques correspondent for House & Garden and written for numerous magazines and newspapers including the Times, Daily Mail, the Literary Review, New Statesman, Apollo, the Antique Collector, and Portcullis, the magazine of the House of Commons. She lives in a medieval barn in Dorset.