The Sun. — 1861-01-10 (London, England)

ROYAL B UJIANE SOCIETY.  - - - -A+  The annual meeting of the members of this society was held yesterday, at the offices, Trafalgarsquare; Mr. Benjamin Bond Cabbell in the chair. In the course of the proceedings it was mentioned that the annual subscriptions were not enough to pay the iceman's wages for one month of frosty weather, so that were it not for the bounty of a past age, the society would have to come to a standstill for want of funds, and that the last anniversary festival, instead of increasing the finances of the institution, involved a loss of more than £80. The following are the facts stated in the report :—The total number of cases of drowning brought under the notice of the society during the past year was 156, in which 187 persons were concerned. Of these 137 were successfully treated by the medical officers of the society, while 15 proved beyond recovery; 27 were cases of attempted suicide, and in 22 cases the gallant rescuers were rewarded by the society. The general court granted 24 silver medals, 65 bronze medals, 14 testimonials on vellum, 16 testimonials on parchment, and 72 pecuniary rewards during the past year. The number of bathers in the Serpentine last summer was 68,792, and the number of casualties 27, including 5 attempts at suicide, 2 of which proved fatal. Up to Tuesday night 112 had been rescued from drowning in the parks during the present frost, the number of skaters having been 396,850. The total income of the society for the past year, including a balance of £410 2s. 5d. brought forward from the accounts of the preceding year, was £1,897 12s. 7d., and the expenditure £1,689 12s. 2d., of which £604 19s. 11d. was paid in wages to icemen, &c., leaving in hand a balance of £208 Os. 5d. This report having been adopted, silver medals were voted to the following for their gallant intrepidity in saving the lives of others :—Mr. J. Pilbrow, 3d officer Peninsular and Oriental Company's ship Hindostan, saved the life of Major Ormsby, who fell off the gangway into the Hoogley, at Calcutta ; James Gant, A.B., on board H.M.S. Termagant, leaped into the sea and saved Jas. Harrington, a boy who, in a fit of insanity, attempted suicide ; Mr. Laurence Cluny, midshipman on board H.M.S. Fawn, rescued an A.B. seaman, Alfred Dray, who had fallen overboard at sea off the Cape of Good Hope ; William Anderson, master's assistant on board the Nile, saved on three occasions four lives under perilous circumstances. Had the funds of the society admitted of it Mr. Anderson would have been awarded a gold medal, Mr. J. Hawkins, acting mate, her Majesty's ship Curacoa, at Monte Video, saved William Dowsell, who, in falling from the rigging, fractured his leg in two places and was perfectly helpless. Anastacio Romaldo, at Para, in Brazil, saved John Brown, who, in a state of intoxication, had fallen into the river, which abounds with under-currents and is exceedingly mephitic. The particulars of this case were, forwarded dsbAeoeul rals,r. tmdai Austin nde midshipman, the ohrooi pprmeerqa, the Hobson's-bay. • ounf: stohtForeign-officefetoAhf e gp noah mnecoaeBuidrvrutie,tsrsibsc las eyhvul eLhrdwaeosrrishitdido, are t.JohnnflDetvlsoi. r Gardder, vaolAr rcei ildrs N.B., saved five persons who had been in a boat capsized while crossing theForth. Ensign Chute and Private Quigley, 8th Regiment, at Spithead, saved J. M•Kennys, a private belonging to the same regiment. Rev. Dr. Dill, at Portsteward, county Perry, saved a lunatic named Hammill, who had leaned off the rocks into the sea. Lieut. Kennedy, R.M., her Majesty's ship Wasp, at sea between the Cape and the Mauritius, saved John Sier, A.B., who had fallen overboard. Captain E. Hardinge, her Majesty's ship Persian, at sea. saved a boy who had fallen overboard. Mr. W. J. Harton, medical student, saved, at Banagher, Miss Matilda Broadbent, who had flung herself off the bridge into the Shannon ; and Joseph Killingbeck. who, At Hamlett, near Leeds, at a great risk to his own