Legendary Coxswain's descendants meet at Fraserburgh Lifeboat Station
Andrew Noble was coxswain of Fraserburgh Lifeboat for 32 years until he was drowned on service aboard the “Lady Rothes “ in the first Fraserburgh Lifeboat Disaster on the 28th of April 1919.
On Friday the 7th of October 2016 several of Coxswain Andrew Noble's descendants met each other for the first time.
At the meeting of Coxswain Noble's descendants were great granddaughter Moira Thomson and her sister Jean Smith who had first visited the station 3 years ago with photos of Andrew and various documents.
Jean Martin and her cousin Barbara Kerr had visited the station more recently with different photos and documents. They are descended from Andrew Noble’s sister.
Moira arranged to meet Jean (Martin) for the first time on Friday and when they found that another of Andrew’s direct descendant’s Caitlin Brockette and her husband Jeremy were visiting from the USA then they were invited along as well.
Moira’s daughter Elaine Whyte and her baby son Oliver were there as well, making 3 generations of a branch of the same family of direct descendants.
Everyone had a great afternoon exchanging information and telling each other about their side of the family tree and stories handed down from the generations.
They were also very interested to hear what we could tell them about Andrews career and about other descendants who have been it touch with the station.
And there are plenty of them.
Andrew and Hellen had 10 children who survived infancy and some them had large families.
The afternoon concluded with all present making a commitment to keep in touch and keep each other informed about any developments and to share any new information about Andrew’s life and career.
Fraserburgh Lifeboat Station was proud to be part of Andrew Nobles family’s descendant’s meeting.
Andrew served the RNLI Fraserburgh as coxswain with distinction for an incredible 32 years and died while selflessly going to rescue strangers he’d never met.
As is written under his name which is commemorated on the Fraserburgh Lifeboat
Memorial Statue:
“Greater Love Hath No Man Than This, That He Lay Down His Life For His Fellow Man”
Key facts about the RNLI
The RNLI charity saves lives at sea. Its volunteers provide a 24-hour search and rescue service around the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland coasts. The RNLI operates 238 lifeboat stations in the UK and Ireland and more than 240 lifeguard units on beaches around the UK and Channel Islands. The RNLI is independent of Coastguard and government and depends on voluntary donations and legacies to maintain its rescue service. Since the RNLI was founded in 1824, its lifeboat crews and lifeguards have saved over 146,000 lives.
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