The story
Trinity House was established as a result of a petition dated 19 March 1513 from a group of mariners based in Deptford, who wanted to regulate pilotage services on the River Thames. On 20 May 1514, Henry VIII granted a Royal Charter to "The Master, Wardens, and Assistants of the Guild, Fraternity, or Brotherhood of the most glorious and undivided Trinity, and of St Clement in the Parish of Deptford Strond in the County of Kent."
Their general business was listed as "to improve the art and science of mariners; to examine into the qualifications, and regulate the conduct of those who take upon them the charge of conducting ships; to preserve good order, and (when desired) to compose differences in marine affairs, and, in general, to consult the conservation, good estate, wholesome government, maintenance and increase of navigation and sea-faring men; and to relieve decayed seamen and their relatives."
The Sea Marks Act 1566 further authorised the Corporation to set up and maintain "beacons, marks, and signs for the sea" along the Thames, and in 1594 this was expanded to all public buoys in England.
With the increasing number of ships lost along the Newcastle to London coal route, in 1609 Trinity House established the Lowestoft Lighthouse, a pair of wooden towers with candle illuminants. Until the late 18th century, candle, coal, or wood fires were used as lighthouse illuminants, improved in 1782 with the circular-wick oil-burning Argand lamp, the first ‘catoptric’ mirrored reflector in 1777, and Fresnel’s ‘dioptric’ lens system in 1823. The Nore lightship was established as the world's first floating light in 1732. In 1803, the corporation established the Blackwall Depot as a buoy workshop, and six district depots were later established at Harwich, Great Yarmouth, East Cowes, Penzance, Holyhead and Swansea.
Under the 1836 Lighthouses Act, Trinity became the sole governing body for all British lighthouses, and any remaining private owners bought out. By 1847, revenue collected from this source was £11,000 to £12,000 per year.
During the First World War, the corporation served a number of functions: it buoyed shipping lanes and naval operations, moved lightvessels, and laid hundreds of buoys. During the Second World War, Trinity House kept sea lanes marked and lighted for Allied convoys. The Pilotage Service guided ships to their ports under hazardous conditions; at the time of the Dunkirk evacuation, a number of pilots helped in piloting vessels to and from the beaches.
On the night of 29 December 1940, Trinity House was destroyed by the most severe of the air attacks on London; the interiors were completely gutted and many archives and treasures were lost. (The restored building was reopened by Elizabeth II on 21 October 1953.)
In preparation for the D-Day landings on 6 June 1944, Trinity House laid 73 lighted buoys and two lightvessels to indicate a safe route for landing craft. Trinity House pilots were responsible for all commercial vessels involved and many of the service vessels. In the month following D-Day, nearly 3,000 vessels were handled by 88 river pilots and nearly 2,000 ships by 115 sea pilots working day and night.
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By the 1960s, Trinity House licensed about 500 pilots, of whom about 350 were in the London District, handling an estimated 60% of the nation's piloted tonnage. The Pilotage Act 1987 authorised Trinity House to pass its District Pilotage responsibilities to various local harbour authorities, becoming instead a licensing authority for deep sea pilotage.
In 1969, Trinity House initiated the debut of helicopter reliefs to and from offshore lighthouses, succeeding the boat reliefs. These had been susceptible to being delayed by months during inclement weather. Trinity House played a major part in the design of the IALA Maritime Buoyage System, laying the first buoy off Dover, watched over by representatives of 16 nations on 15 April 1977.
The completion of the lighthouse automation programme came with a ceremony held at the North Foreland Lighthouse on 26 November 1998, attended by the last six keepers and master, Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. On 9 June 1989, the last crewed lightvessel was towed from the Channel lightvessel station to Harwich.
In December 2002, Trinity House closed depots at Great Yarmouth, Penzance and East Cowes. Operations are currently run out of Harwich, with a support depot in Swansea and flight operations base at St Just in Penwith. It also has three support vessels, the tenders THV Patricia and THV Galatea, and Rapid Intervention Vessel THV Alert. A small headquarters staff remains at Tower Hill.
Richard Woodman served as elder brethren and member of the court from 2000 until his death in 2024. In 2011, Anne, Princess Royal succeeded her father as Master. She was aboard Trinity House Motor Boat No.1 during the Diamond Jubilee pageant.
In 2014, the Royal Mint issued a two pound coin commemorating the 500th anniversary of the grant of Trinity House's royal charter.
From 2011 to 2024, Ian McNaught, a Merchant Navy Officer served as Deputy Master. In 2024, he was succeeded as Deputy Master and Chief Executive by Rear-Admiral Iain Lower.
From Wikipedia’s article on Trinity House, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.4