Introduction A cricket team emerged in the settlement during the summer of 1852. It perhaps reflected an embryonic sense of Bournemouth’s cultural identity, but it may have had more to do with the settlement’s commerce. A curate’s egg of a season Beginnings At the end of May 1852 newspapers reported the appearance of a cricket […]
Introduction A man of all people, Dr E. V. Mainwaring featured often in early Victorian Bournemouth’s press clippings as a physician and community member. Until his early death, E. V. Mainwaring had made a broad contribution to Bournemouth’s social and cultural development by having a foot in two camps: society doctor for wealthy vacationers, promoter […]
Introduction Healthcare for early Victorian Bournemouth’s invalids and convalescents began with its excellent climate, but other assistance came from medics, bathing and visiting quacks. Several of the larger households recorded in 1851 contained nurses amongst other servants. Medics, resident and transient, offered professional healthcare Three doctors In addition to providing healthcare to invalids and other […]
Introduction Working people formed a parallel settlement to the resort they had built for affluent visitors at early Victorian Bournemouth. Although the press concentrated on marketing the site to higher types, occasional reports show a range of attitudes towards improving the quality of working people’s lives. Apartheid Out of sight In 1843 Scrooge suggested exiling […]
Introduction Early Bournemouth’s meat demand in particular helped revive Christchurch’s commercial health. For most of Bournemouth’s early period much of the meat consumed there may have come from farming and butcher families active in Christchurch’s hinterland. Family networks, based in Christchurch, but in some cases their links reaching into Dorset, appeared to maintain control of […]
Introduction Changes in building format used during early Bournemouth’s property development suggest visitor types altered. At the initial stages, the built environment took the shape of large, Italianate villas. Single households, including large service retinues would take each building. Later, building designs appeared to encompass smaller properties, while subdivision allowed several parties, without apparent relationship, […]
Introduction In 1937, a book appeared entitled Shanghai, The Paradise of Adventurers. The book depended on but also supported the town’s association as a place that attracted roguish characters. The book observed how the word ‘adventurer’ had acquired a fresh meaning. ‘Adventurer is pictured to us as an expert exploiter, a clever trickster, a cunning […]
Introduction Two rural kinship networks, detected amongst the dairymen working in Stour valley villages, may offer insights into the societies in which they lived. The terrain and the people Settlements in rural Greater Westover ‘Milk, butter, and farm-house supplies of the very best description, the valley of the Stour abundantly yields.’ Dr A.B. Granville included […]
Introduction Rural poverty affected Greater Westover as it did other parts of the country during the early Victorian period. The defined area of ‘Greater Westover’ consisted of villages lying just to the west of the Stour river as well as the fledgling settlement at Bournemouth. Most of these villages fell within the orbit of the […]
Introduction The career of Bournemouth’s media entrepreneur John Sydenham illustrates how commercial and social success might result from marketing the written word. His main business established at Poole, the new resort, nearby at Bourne Mouth, attracted his attention. He lost little time in establishing a presence at the affluent colony. The press reported his opening […]