Charles Lee (1833–1910), Coxswain of Worthing Lifeboat ‘Henry Harris’
unknown artist
Worthing Museum and Art Gallery
© the copyright holder. Image credit: Worthing Museum and Art Gallery

Transcript

Charles Leee, 1833 – 1910, Coxswain of Worthing lifeboat, Henry Harris.

The lifeboat is the Henry Harris that he was the coxswain of and he’s Charles Lee, and we don’t know the artist.

I just feel when I see that photo. I feel a bit grubby. I don’t know. Why does the colour of it just makes me feel grubby, dirty brown, yeah.

Well, you can imagine, can’t you, as that life jacket is gonna be well used and worn, I bet it was white once.

I can see a portrait of a man with a grayish brownish like a dirty chocolate hat, his sou’wester hat, big fisherman’s hat. He looks very he looks worn out, doesn’t he? Yeah, he looks worn out.

And he has an enormous beard and Mustache, I bet you. It takes ages to dry. He is wearing, what we worked out is a wooden life jacket. So each tiny, small planks of wood that cover his chest, which look battered and with a possible leather strap, holding it together, holding it on. It actually looks heavy, which is maybe something you don’t want in the water. But then again, planks float.

Would that work in theory?

So wood floats, so in theory? Yeah. But as you say, if it was heavy, dense wood, but not very nice to wear. My feelings about the painting. The beard kept him warm.

His eyes. There’s a slight bit of obviously, he has worries, obviously surviving. But also he sees himself as a man of the sea.  He is because he’s he is he relates to the water, and he loves the water, and he looks as if, though he’s looking out to sea. He might just have the sun in his eyes a bit, but he looks as though he’s looking out to sea, and he feels as if  he really relates to the waters,

he looks thoughtful, doesn’t he does? Yes.

He probably thinks a lot about the mammals there and the fish and everything like that, and lifeboat and he probably loves the waves and the sea. He loves being in the boat and the smell of the smell of the sea, the smell of the water. It makes you want to be part of the sea, in the water. It’s working at sea, doing a job to do with the sea. It’s a way of life, the sea is the water is the waves. When you go to Worthing, do you smell the sea? Yes, oh, yes. I’ve done some research, both on Ancestry and local newspapers.  So, born in Lancing in 1833 but his family lived in Broadwater in Worthing. So if my geography is correct, Broadwater isn’t exactly very close to the sea. So if he’s a lifeboatman, and he’s at home and he’s called out, either he’s got to do a very big run before he gets to gets to the lifeboat, or he’s got a horse to hand, or a horse and cart, carriage, something like that. So in the census records, his occupation is written different in each one. So it’s written as a mariner, an Able Seaman, a fisherman, a waterman and a boatsman. So he spent his life doing stuff at sea,

and he was part of the Worthing lifeboat.

I found his pension records and the highest rank he was as part of the Worthing station was coxswain superintendent.

Some information from 1891 Charles Lee was awarded the RNLI Silver Medal for his gallantry during the storm on 11 November 1891 he was 58 years old. Do you know anyone who’s 58, years old who’s like a bit of a hero going out and rescuing people? So he was in the lifeboat, Henry Harris. They rescued seven men from one ship in distress, then came back to shore, relaunched the boat again, and rescued another seven from a different ship. So that gives him silver medal, which might be why we’ve got the portrait. You just become part of the sea, part of the water, part of the seaside life. Sometimes it’s the wind, birds, how the birds flock together? You know, when there’s bad weather. He’s got rosy cheeks, certainly slightly weather beaten, skinny.

He’s got a very good skin complexion because he’s had lots of the fresh sea air. So it’s not as though he’s pale, and it’s not as if though he’s got any skin problem, he looks as though he’s got a nice skin because he’s had a lot of the fresh air and the sea air. So and I think what’s kept him healthy is that the fresh sea air going into your body, cleansing toxins out of your blood, and all that, and that’s kept him healthy. I think he looks healthy.