William George Fleming GC (1865–1954) was a lifeboatman from Gorleston-on-Sea on the east coast of Norfolk, England. His service with the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) spanned nearly fifty years, in which time he won the George Cross and the RNLI Medal in Gold and in Silver, and the Bronze Medal three times.
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Early life
William "Billy" Fleming was born in Gorleston-on-Sea in 1865. As a young man, he worked as an ordinary seaman, working on small sailing vessels on the east coast of England. He is recorded on the 1881 census as a seaman working on the Charlotte Cole. He lived for most of his life in Pavilion Road, Gorleston, just a small distance from the Lifeboat station. He joined the crew of the Great Yarmouth and Gorleston lifeboat in the mid-1880s.
Coxswain
Billy Fleming served on the Gorleston lifeboat through the latter years of the 19th century, and the first four decades of the 20th century. He was in his late 50s when he became coxswain in 1922, a post he held until 1934. Over his 49 years of service he helped to rescue 1,188 people.