People or property. Well or wealthy. Introduction Victorian Bournemouth (64) completes the expanded study of the town’s drain wars which occurred in 1865. Public health provided the context within which the sanitary committee conducted its contest with the Improvement Commission. During the arguments, however, it became clear that the confrontation resulted from far more fundamental […]
Social difference expressed through civic action Introduction Victorian Bournemouth (63) explores differences in the social backgrounds and personal networks of the antagonists in this struggle (1865). An unofficial ‘sanitary committee’, led by the Sanatorium’s physicians, attempted to improve Bournemouth’s drainage system. The town’s Improvement Commission opposed them. Affluent and well-connected, the rebellious doctors brought pressure […]
Introduction Victorian Bournemouth (62) outlines the chronology of a controversy that ran through the resort’s early years. Early complaints about the unhygienic condition of the drains had stimulated Bournemouth’s Improvement Act (1856). Nevertheless, medical concern about the drains continued. A group of doctors waged a bitter, public, and personal war against the Improvement Commissioners. They […]
Dangerous market. Bad advice. Uneasy recovery. Introduction Victorian Bournemouth (61) studies the cases where speculators without building experience suffered bankruptcy in the late 1860s. Analysis of their bankruptcies and their social profile raises questions about the investment climate at Bournemouth. Bankruptcies for these people may have had a different social impact to builders in the […]