Sir William Hillary founded the Royal National Lifeboat Institution on March 4th 1824, however it was not until 1882 that a Lifeboat Station was established in Weston-super-Mare.

A legacy of £450 was received from the estate of Col. W. J. Holt of Bangor "for a lifeboat to be placed on the shores of the Bristol Channel"

The first lifeboat 'William James Holt' was hung from davits on Birnbeck Pier, she was 25ft long and was an 8 oared self-righter, cost £266.10.0d and she arrived in Weston on November 5th 1882, beginning a long association of Weston Lifeboat with Birnbeck Island.

'William James Holt' served for 7 years, but was only launched on service twice.

On August 4th 1887 it was agreed to replace this boat with a larger boat. To accommodate this boat a boathouse, with a slipway 100-foot long, was built on the north side of Birnbeck Island, close to the Pier and still visible to-day. This boathouse cost £718.1.4d and the new boat, which arrived on July 16th 1889, also called 'William James Holt', cost £463.

The second 'William James Holt' was not called out for 6 years and then only 3 more times in her 14-year career in Weston.

Birnbeck pier at Weston-super-Mare is one of the few remaining piers designed by Eugenius Birch (1818-1884) who designed 14 seaside piers. It was built by the Isca Iron Company of Newport, Gwent, and was opened in the presence of Birch himself in June 1867. The pier is unusual in that the pierhead is in fact the small Birnbeck Island, which was levelled and stepped to form a promenading area. Wrought iron girderwork 1150 feet long, with a 20 feet wide timber deck and supported on 15 clusters of eight piles, connects the island to the shore. The island also accommodates the house and launching slip for the Weston-super-Mare lifeboat.
 
In 1933 the opening of a fun-fair on Weston’s rival Grand pier not only tempted customers away to a new entertainment, but shifted the town’s focus away from the Birnbeck end of the sea front.