The RNLI station opened in 1884, with a 37-foot self-righting lifeboat called Honourable Artillery Company (ON 31) built by Forrestt and Son of Limehouse.

On 29 December 1917, the James Stevens was called out in a gale to assist the 780-ton SS Peregrine of London, which was stranded just off Clacton-on-Sea.

After dropping the passengers off, the lifeboat returned to the ship, which had broken in half, and saved the remaining 32 crew members.

The James Stevens No.14 was badly damaged during the rescue, and her first and second coxswains were awarded RNLI Medals in Silver and Bronze, respectively.

She was commandeered and crewed by the Royal Navy for transporting soldiers on the beach to larger ships waiting offshore.

[citation needed] In 1977, Edian Courtauld was replaced by a self-righting 48ft 6in Oakley-class boat, The Earl and Countess Howe (ON968), which had been built in 1963 at a cost of £40,348.

[14] In 1993, the second prototype Tyne-class lifeboat Sam and Joan Woods (ON 1075), built in 1982, was allocated to the station after spending nine years in the RNLI Relief Fleet.

Sam and Joan Woods stayed at Walton for less than three years, launching on service 67 times and saving 10 lives, before being replaced in May 1996 by the 1989-built Tyne-class vessel Kenneth Thelwall II (ON 1154).

[13] In 2005 the station was once again improved with a new berth and wave break constructed alongside the pier, allowing quicker and safer boarding response times.

[17][18] Kenneth Thelwall II served at Walton until May 2011, when the station received its first brand new lifeboat since 1953, the Tamar-class Irene Muriel Rees (ON 1299).

[19] In 2018, the RNLI had to relocate Irene Muriel Rees to a mooring at Titchmarsh Marina, after safety concerns were raised over the structure of Walton Pier.