Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Greathead, Henry
GREATHEAD, HENRY (1757–1816), lifeboat inventor, was a twin child, born at Richmond, Yorkshire, on 27 Jan. 1757. His father, who was in the civil service, removed to Shields in 1763. Greathead was at first apprenticed to a boatbuilder, and subsequently went to sea as a ship's carpenter. In 1785 he returned to South Shields, and set up in business on his own account as a boatbuilder, marrying in the following year. The ship Adventure of Newcastle stranded in 1789 on the Herd Sands, a shoal off Tynemouth Haven, not far from Greathead's home. The crew were all lost in sight of many spectators, and Greathead resolved to construct a lifeboat. Luken had written a pamphlet upon 'insubmergible boats,' and took out a patent in 1785. Wouldhave, parish clerk of South Shields, had also studied the subject. A public subscription was now got up to offer a reward for the best lifeboat. Greathead won it against the competition of Wouldhave and many others. Dr. Hayes in a letter to the Royal Humane Society described Greathead's boat, in minute detail. It was 30 feet long by 10 feet in width, and 3 feet 4 inches deep. The whole construction much resembled a 'Greenland boat, except that it was considerably flatter, and lined inside and out with cork. Greathead's was a ten-oared boat, and although of very light draft, it could carry twenty people. It succeeded admirably. Greathead made his first lifeboat for the Duke of Northumberland, who presented it to North Shields. Numerous learned societies awarded honours to Greathead, and voted him money grants. The Trinity House gave him handsome recognition, as did also the Society of Arts, and eventually government paid him 1,200l. in consideration of the value of his invention to the nation. Dr. Trotter, physician to the fleet, wrote an adulatory ode. Greathead published 'The Report of Evidence and other Proceedings in Parliament respecting the Invention of the Lifeboat. Also other Documents illustrating the Origin of the Lifeboat, with Practical Directions for the Management of Lifeboats,' London, 1804. He died in 1816. There is an inscription to his memory in the parish church of St. Hilda, South Shields.
[Tyne Mercury, 29 Nov. 1803; European Mag. (which gives a fine portrait of Greathead), vols. xliii. xlvi.; Public Characters of 1806 (upon information from Greathead); Romance of Life Preservation.]