Graham Raines is a member of the Hayling Lifeboat and is currently researching the history of the lifeboat station as his great grandfather was a crew member.
During his research he has discovered that Laurence Trent Cave was the anonymous donor of one of the lifeboats stationed on Hayling from 1888 – and he has contacted the Buriton Heritage Bank to share the information.
The boat was named ‘Charlie and Adrian’ after Laurence Trent Cave’s children and a photo of the naming shows one of them onboard with the coxswain.
The Cave family lived at Ditcham House from 1885 when Laurence Trent Cave bought the estate – and after his death in 1899 his eldest son, Charles moved in [in 1903], living there until they sold to Lord Rea in 1922.
It seems that, amongst many other interests and commitments, the Cave family were members of the RNLI’s Committee of Management. LT Cave had served on the Committee for 20 years until his death in 1899 and had also been a Vice-President.
His son Charles, Captain CJP Cave, was elected to the Committee in 1905 and appointed a Vice-President in 1948. He died in 1950 but in the meantime his son Laurence had been elected to the Committee in 1947. Three generations of service to this important national institution.
