Henry Blogg

Henry George Blogg GC BEM (6 February 1876 – 13 June 1954) was a lifeboatman from Cromer on the north coast of Norfolk, England, and the most decorated in Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) history.

Blogg of the Cromer Lifeboat Station is referred to as "the greatest of the lifeboatmen". Blogg was brought up in the family of James Davies (whose son John became Henry's stepfather after John Davies married Ellen Blogg in 1881), himself coxswain of the Cromer lifeboat. He first went to sea as a lifeboatman in 1894 in the rowing lifeboat Benjamin Bond Cabbell In 1927, Blogg was awarded a gold watch and his crew a silver watch each after a rescue on the Haisborough Sands.

He received a Silver Medal from the RNLI in 1932 At around the same time it was announced that the Empire Gallantry Medal he was awarded in 1924 was to be substituted with the George Cross Name Rank Henry G Blogg Coxswain John J ("Jack") Davies Second Coxswain Henry W ("Swank") Davies Mechanic James W ("Jimmy") Davies Assistant Mechanic Edward W ("Boy Primo") Allen Signalman William T ("Captain") Davies Bowman John J ("Young Jack") Davies, jnr Crewman Sidney C ("Kelly") Harrison Crewman Henry T ("Shrimp") Davies Crewman William H ("Pimpo") Davies Crewman Robert C ("Bob") Davies Crewman James R ("Dick") Davies Crewman

Henry Blogg's Bronze Bust on the Cliff Top in North Lodge Park, Cromer.

Legacy When Henry Blogg retired in 1947, after 53 years service and at age 71, 11 years past the usual retiring date, the new lifeboat at Cromer was named after him. He had been coxswain for 38 years of his service during which he had launched 387 times and rescued 873 people. Henry Blogg's nephew Henry "Shrimp" Davies took over as coxswain of the Cromer Lifeboat.

A museum dedicated to the memory of Henry Blogg – "the greatest of the lifeboatmen" – opened in 2006. Unveiled by Ronnie Corbett who started his stage career in Cromer, the museum is the first purpose-built RNLI museum to be opened since the Grace Darling museum opened in 1938. On 15 April 2008, the museum was successful in bidding for two watches that had been awarded to Blogg.

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