Captain Joshua James, volunteer The Humane Society of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, better known as the Massachusetts Humane Society was founded in 1786 by a group of

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

citizens who were concerned about the needless deaths resulting from shipwrecks and drownings and wanted to find ways to save lives. It was based on the

Royal Humane Society The Royal Humane Society is a British charity which promotes lifesaving intervention. It was founded in England in 1774 as the ''Society for the Recovery of Persons Apparently Drowned'', for the purpose of rendering first aid in cases of near dro ...

, a similar organization established in

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It is ...

in 1774. The Massachusetts Humane Society became the model for the

United States Life-Saving Service The United States Life-Saving ServiceDespite the lack of hyphen in its insignia, the agency itself is hyphenated in government documents including: and was a United States government agency that grew out of private and local humanitarian effort ...

funded by Congress in 1848 and operated by the

United States Coast Guard The United States Coast Guard (USCG) is the maritime security, search and rescue, and law enforcement service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the country's eight uniformed services. The service is a maritime, military, mult ...

since 1915. Its first

lifesaving Lifesaving is the act involving rescue, resuscitation and first aid. It often refers to water safety and aquatic rescue; however, it could include ice rescue, flood and river rescue, swimming pool rescue and other emergency medical services. ...

activities consisted of publishing procedures for dealing with victims of

shipwreck A shipwreck is the wreckage of a ship that is located either beached on land or sunken to the bottom of a body of water. Shipwrecking may be intentional or unintentional. Angela Croome reported in January 1999 that there were approximately ...

and other water-related accidents, and the placement of lifesaving equipment, lifeboats, and shelters on the islands and coast of

Massachusetts Bay Massachusetts Bay is a bay on the Gulf of Maine that forms part of the central coastline of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Description The bay extends from Cape Ann on the north to Plymouth Harbor on the south, a distance of about . Its ...

. It also offered rewards to individuals who successfully rescued people from the state's waters. By the early 20th century the society operated more than 50 support stations along the state's coast, and provided all manner of equipment for the use of rescuers. In the 1810s the society was a major funding source for the establishment of

Massachusetts General Hospital Massachusetts General Hospital (Mass General or MGH) is the original and largest teaching hospital of Harvard Medical School located in the West End neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts. It is the third oldest general hospital in the United Stat ...

and an "Asylum for the Insane" which included what is now known as

McLean Hospital McLean Hospital () (formerly known as Somerville Asylum and Charlestown Asylum) is a psychiatric hospital in Belmont, Massachusetts. It is noted for its clinical staff expertise and neuroscience research and is also known for the large number of ...

. The organization's current focus continues to be on water-based lifesaving activities and general medical facilities. It still gives awards for rescues, and funds other organizations engaged in lifesaving activities.

Bibliography

* James W. Claflin: ''Lighthouses and Life Saving Along Cape Cod''. Arcadia Publishin 2014, .

References

External links

* *Goss, George Edward
''Life saving''

Finding aid for the Humane Society of Massachusetts records
at the

Massachusetts Historical Society The Massachusetts Historical Society is a major historical archive specializing in early American, Massachusetts, and New England history. The Massachusetts Historical Society was established in 1791 and is located at 1154 Boylston Street in Bost ...

Lifesaving in the United States Organizations based in Massachusetts 1786 establishments in Massachusetts Lifesaving organizations {{Massachusetts-stub