Victorian Bournemouth (134) concludes an analysis of how a housemaid brought a case of criminal libel against her employer and social superior.
Month: July 2023
Victorian Bournemouth (133): the missing £5 note (1)
Downstairs v Upstairs Introduction Victorian Bournemouth (133) examines events concerning a parlourmaid who sued her former employer for libel in 1872. The case has a tangential association with Bournemouth, but it highlights how the law could on occasion balance the relationship between affluent and working people. In this case, Lydia Crouchman, a parlourmaid, sued her […]
Victorian Bournemouth (132): brewster courts (1870s)
Spirited opposition Introduction Victorian Bournemouth (132) analyses attitudes towards increasing the resort’s licensed establishments during the 1870s. Before 1869, a trader might obtain a licence to sell alcohol by paying a fee to the local excise officer. Thereafter, magistrates, sitting in session, controlled the supply of such licences. Their annual ‘brewster courts’ provided good copy […]
Victorian Bournemouth (131): watchmakers & jewellers
Successful, family businesses Introduction Victorian Bournemouth (131) explores the lives of watchmakers & jewellers working in Bournemouth 1871-1881. Their numbers had increased in response to the opportunities offered by the growing number of visitors and residents. Jewellery and watchmaking often ran in their families. Many enjoyed commercial, some also civic, success. Victorian Bournemouth (131): landscape […]
Victorian Bournemouth (130): Q2 summary
Violence. Servants. Giving. Tourism. Introduction Victorian Bournemouth (130) surveys articles written in the second quarter, covering a range of subjects. These included incidences of mob violence, advertising for domestic staff, patterns found in church donations, and developments in the tourist business. Overall, they support a view that Bournemouth had advanced from a resort colony into […]