He then went to the Free Grammar School in King's Lynn, where he was a student of Rev Dr David Lloyd (died 1794).

In December 1793, he married the only daughter of Rev Dr Preston JP, of Waldingfield and Rougham, and inherited his wife's family's estates.

[10] He left her in 1801 after being shot by her lover Captain Pogson of the East India Company[11][12] and moved to Clifton, Bristol.

In 1803, his pamphlet An Englishman's Reflexions on the Author of the Present Disturbances, on Napoleon's plans to invade England, came to the attention of the Secretary of War, Robert Hobart, 4th Earl of Buckinghamshire, who was impressed and recommended Manby to be appointed as Barrack-Master at Great Yarmouth in September, 1803.

[13] On 18 February 1807, as a helpless onlooker, he witnessed a Royal Navy ship, HMS Snipe, carrying French prisoners run aground 50 yards off Great Yarmouth during a storm.

Several vessels were wrecked and (according to some accounts) a total of 214 people drowned, including French prisoners of war, women and children.

Manby carried out a successful demonstration of his apparatus before the Suffolk Humane Society, and a very large assemblage of ladies and gentlemen at Lowestoft, on 26 August and 10 September 1807.

[17] Another earlier design, similar to Manby's invention, had been made in the late 18th century by the French agronomist and inventor Jacques Joseph Ducarne de Blangy.

[20] Captain G Manby's invention of throwing a rope to a ship stranded on a lee shore, for the purpose of saving the crew, proved the certainty of its never-failing success on the Elizabeth of Plymouth, that was wrecked on the beach at Yarmouth in the tremendous gale of the 12th instant; the master, who is part owner, making so grateful an affidavit before the Mayor of that place, he expressed a desire to see the experiment tried, which took place on Monday last, in the presence of Vice Admiral Douglas, several officers of the navy, the merchants, and many persons from different parts of the coast; the wind was blowing very fresh on shore, and the spot chosen 130 yards from a stranded brig, with all her emblems of distress flying.

[22] In June 1808, Manby received a gold medal from The Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures, and Commerce, via the hands of Henry Howard, 13th Duke of Norfolk, for forming a communication with ships by means of a rope thrown over the vessel from a mortar gun on the shore.

SHIPWRECKED MARINERS.--On Tuesday last a most interesting and highly important experiment was made at Woolwich, by Captain MANBY, of Yarmouth, on a Vessel at anchor in the Thames, upwards of 100 yards from the shore, before a Committee of General Officers of Artillery, Commissioner CUNNINGHAM, Admiral LOSACK and several Officers of the Royal Navy, for the purpose of effecting a communication with a Ship stranded on a lee shore, and to bring the crew in perfect safety from the wreck.

The whole service was performed in a quarter of an hour, to the utmost gratification and highest approbation of every one present, particularly several eminent naval characters, who were heard to congratulate and express their warmest encomiums to the inventor for his very ingenious and laudable contrivance.

[25]The device was successfully used in rescues by Sea Fencibles from Great Yarmouth and Winterton in 1810[26] The Official Copy of a Report from the Committee of Field Officers of Artillery, containing an Account of the Experiments made at Woolwich on 18 and 20 May 1811 alluded to the work of Lieutenant Bell, RA and his successful demonstration of a mortar to shoot a line in 1791.

The first test indeed proved it to be floating when mostly filled with water; however, the seamen (who disliked Manby) rocked the boat back and forth so that it eventually turned over.

The gun was fired by use of a chemical to set off the charge, to overcome the problems caused by gunpowder getting damp in the storm conditions often experienced when carrying out rescues.

This consisted of a copper vessel of 3 gallons of pearl ash (potassium carbonate) solution contained within compressed air.

[33] On Friday 30 August 1816, a committee of the Board of Ordnance and Lords of the Admiralty observed a demonstration of Manby's fire extinguisher and other equipment.

[11] He published his account in 1822 as Journal of a Voyage to Greenland, containing observations on the flora and fauna of the Arctic regions as well as the practice of whale hunting.

[38] In the October the King of Denmark (via his consul) presented Manby with a gold medal "accompanied with a letter, communicating His Majesty's gracious approbation of his philanthopic and arduous exertions in saving the crews of shipwrecked vessels.

"[39] Manby was present at the London Tavern on 4 March 1824 when was founded the National Institution for the Preservation of Life from Shipwreck, later to become the RNLI.

[41] In 1825, the King of Sweden (via the mayor of Yarmouth) presented Manby with a splendid medallion in token of his Majesty's approbation of the Captain's humane merit, and inventions.

[44] On 4 August 1830, he attended court and presented King William IV with a Treatise on the Preservation of Mariners from Stranded Vessels, and the Prevention of Shipwreck, with a Statement of the number of subjects of different nations saved by that plan, by Sir Robert Peel.

[47] In April 1838, Charles Wood, aged 17, a drummer in the 1st battalion Grenadier Guards was killed by a fall caused by a faulty component when carrying out a Trial of Manby's apparatus for fire rescues from buildings.

[50] In 1838 he met Marshal Soult as part of his campaign to involve France and other nations in achieving a worldwide policy for the treatment of shipwrecked mariners and their cargos.

A plaque in the All Saints church, Hilgay reads IN THE CHURCHYARD NEAR THIS SPOT REST THE BONES OF GEORGE WILLIAM MANBY CAPTAIN.

OUT OF HIS EIGHT BROTHERS AND SISTERS, THE LARGE MARBLE STONE ALSO RECORDED THE DEATHS OF MARY JANE AUGUST 3rd 1772 AGED 10 YEARS.

[67] The plaque he had erected at his Yarmouth home is now in the Norfolk museums collection described as – Slate plaque, black, from the rear of Captain Manby's house in Southtown Great Yarmouth, commemorating the first life saved from drowning by use of Manby's mortar; inscribed with gold block letters 'In commemoration of the 12th of February 1808 on which day directly eastward of this spot the first life was saved from shipwreck, by means of a rope attached to a shot propelled by the force of gunpowder over the stranded vessel a method now universally adopted and to which at least 1000 sailors different nations owe their preservation 1842'[68] A lifeboat at Boulogne-sur-Mer was named the Captain George Manby.

Provenance: The book was accompanied by a manuscript note reading: "This work never was completed or published – was the printer's own copy.

"[74] No.1 Queen's Gold Coronation Medal "as a mark of the sense she entertains of the usefulness of his inventions in the Preservation of Lives from Shipwreck."