Sailors' Society
The organisation has chaplains and ship visitors in 91 global ports, who help seafarers and their families, from all faiths and none, with welfare and practical support.
Social reformer Elizabeth Fry asked the charity to send books for her to pass on to men posted at coastguard stations and the First Lord of the Treasury Robert Peel made a grant of £500 to help the organisation's cause.
At this time, Sailors' Society's received patronage from not only the British royal family but also Czar Alexander III of Russia and King Umberto I of Italy.
The Lords of the Admiralty donated copper and wood from HMS Victory to Sailors' Society, which the charity made into coins, plaques and busts to fundraise with.
In 1918, Sailors’ Society marked its centenary with services and meetings at Mansion House, London, the People's Palace and a Jutland Day celebration at the Royal Albert Hall on 31 May.
In 1918 the Society opened new rests for seamen in Poole, Southampton, Dartmouth, Limehouse, Aberdour, Preston, Ardrossan, Rosyth, Buncrana, Bristol and Gosport.
The Prince of Wales launched a special appeal to raise money for the charity's cause in 1923 and the following year, the organisation built the Empire Memorial Hostel at Limehouse, which was opened by one of Queen Victoria's granddaughters, Princess Marie Louise, so that seafarers could have a 'clean and airy' place to stay.
The liner SS Athenia was the first British ship torpedoed during World War II on 3 September 1939 and resulted in the loss of nearly 120 people.
In 1939, crews from 41 ships hit by German action were cared for at the Society's stations and at the height of the conflict, the charity funded a sea ambulance to help injured seafarers.
In 1956 there were an estimated 156,000 Merchant Navy men sailing under the British flag and John Mills made a televised appeal to help the charity raise £150,000.
The organisation had a seafarers' centre in Hamburg, which in 1960 provided welfare support to the Beatles, who recognised Sailors' Society as the same charity in their native Liverpool.
Chaplains from the charity supported survivors and the families of the lost, the organisation has held the annual service of remembrance in Dover ever since.
In 1993, Queen Elizabeth II led the charity's 175th anniversary service, which was held at Southampton Docks and broadcast on Songs of Praise.
The Society is international and in addition to its presence in the UK it operates in Albania, Belgium, Brazil, Ghana, Réunion, Russia, India, Indonesia, Liberia, Madagascar, Mozambique, Myanmar, Singapore, South Africa, the Philippines and Ukraine.
