Memorial to honour fishermen who died in rescue

Rob Blann is the great-great-great-grandson of John Belville, who died in the incident

A memorial service is being held to mark the 175th anniversary of a disaster in Worthing which saw 11 fishermen lose their lives at sea.

In November 1850, the men died trying to rescue the cargo ship Lalla Rookh which was in trouble during a storm and the tragedy prompted donations which were used in part to build a lifeboat station in the West Sussex town.

Following the incident, a second rescue was launched and 20 local fishermen successfully saved the vessel and its crew.

The service will be held at Broadwater Church, where the men are buried, on 23 November.

A number of relatives from the 31 men have been traced and will be attending the service, but The Worthing Society is trying to find more descendants.

Rob Blann is the great-great-great-grandson of John Belville - who told Tom Blann to not get on the first boat so he could marry his daughter Fanny.

"We've already traced quite a number of relatives from different parts of the United Kingdom and there must be many, many, many more out there," Mr Blann said.

The men who died during the rescue were Henry Bacon, John Belville, James Edwards and his brother Stephen Edwards, William Hoskins, Henry Slaughter, William Wicks, Henry Newman and his brother James Newman Sr, and his sons James Newman Jr and John Newman.

More than £5,000 was raised following their deaths and a lifeboat was stationed in the town in 1853, which the RNLI took over in 1865.

The station served the town until 1930, when Shoreham's new motor lifeboat rendered Worthing's traditional rowing and sailing craft obsolete.

The fishermen who were part of the successful rescue were Jim Benn, John Teasdale, George Steere, John Tester, Harry Head, Tom Coppard, William (Bill) Marshall, Jim Searle, J Burtenshaw, Alex Churcher, John Collier, Edward and Peter Edwards, Stephen Parsons, George Wingfield and his brother Henry, Tom Blann and his brother Edwin, William Field, and Bob Hills.