Introduction

Hengist, a Masonic lodge established in Christchurch, moved to Bournemouth in 1851. Analysis of its early members provides insight into the resort’s early economy. The transfer marked an important stage in Bournemouth’s development, not least for the town’s relationship with Christchurch.

Hengist

Background and arrival

The surviving list of Warden Masters suggests that Christchurch masons founded Hengist in the latter part of the eighteenth century. Initiations, attendance, and meetings fluctuated during the next half century. Membership once reached 25, but otherwise ran well below that. Samuel Bayly, then a Christchurch draper, became Master first in 1830, then another six times by 1840. He helped the lodge acquire a new building, for which he provided part of the funds on mortgage. Unable to afford the interest, members conveyed the property to Bayly in 1845. By then, Bayly had become prominent in Bournemouth’s commerce, culture, and civics, the Belle Vue Hotel one of his interests. Hengist’s apparent financial difficulties perhaps caused Bayly to advocate its transfer to Bournemouth in 1851, the Belle Vue its new home. John Sydenham, a member of Poole’s Amity lodge, helped. His reading-room and bookshop stood next door. Bayly became the new Master.

Early days at Bournemouth

Meeting and attendance figures suggest that Hengist at Bournemouth got off to a reasonable start. Although press reports adopted a formulaic tone when describing communal dining, the masons at Bournemouth did not appear to stint themselves. On St John’s Day, 1852, ‘the wines were of choice vintages, and the repast … afforded the most unbounded satisfaction’. By 1854, Hengist had progressed enough to host a meeting of Hampshire’s Grand Lodge. The press reported attendees coming from towns along the south coast as well as inland. Hence, the Belle Vue and town would have benefitted. Samuel Bayly held the wardenship another three times during the next decade or so. Other prominent men in the town’s life held the office in the lodge’s early days: Dr Mainwaring, a doctor, W.E. Rebbeck, the prospering estate agent, and W.B. Rogers, a draper, later important in civic issues of the 1860s.

A reflection of local society and commerce

Society

The masonic membership rolls recorded not only details about members’ initiations and payments, but also their occupations. Taken together with other local records, in particular the census, the rolls prove a valuable resource for social study. Overall, early members at Hengist fell into two categories. On the one hand, members included local professional men, for example, Dr Mainwaring and Thomas Kingdon, the solicitor. Retailers, for example W.B. Rogers, and such successful artisans as Peter Tuck, builder, formed a second category. Many of the lodge members did or would occupy important places in the resort’s society. Some became involved in the Improvement Commission’s management. Members often received mention in press reports of local activities. Several left respectable estates. Subsequent appearances of sons on the rolls signified stability not only in the lodge, but also in the town’s society. At their fulsome dinners, active builders of Bournemouth’s society would sit down together.

Commerce

Analysed in aggregated form, a lodge’s occupations characterise the commerce and economy of its urban context. The membership rolls for Poole’s Amity lodge have survived, a contemporary of Hengist. Listings’ analysis of Amity members’ occupations shows several blocks of commercial activity. About a quarter came from the categories of professionals, retailers, or artisans. The largest group, however, accounting for about a third of the members, had maritime occupations, a reflection of Poole’s trading in the Newfoundland fish business. Maritime membership declined after the Napoleonic Wars, an echo of Poole’s maritime depression at the time. At Hengist, by contrast, the occupations of its members showed a very different pattern. Property development and construction had boomed during Bournemouth’s early period. Hengist’s masons included craftsmen, developers, and solicitors, who helped to raise finance as well as conducting conveyancing. Hence, as at Amity, Hengist’s membership provides an indication of a town’s contemporary commercial emphasis.

An index of identity and progress

Identity

The transfer of Hengist to Bournemouth established the town in the masonic world. As early as 1854, members of other lodges experienced the resort’s offering at Hampshire’s Grand Lodge meeting. Attendees, opinion leaders in their social and commercial contexts, would have spread word-of-mouth on their return home. Hence, the lodge wove Bournemouth into a social and commercial network stretching across Dorset and Hampshire. Hengist arrived when the early resort had approached the condition of township. The extreme force of independent building programmes had meant that the town’s drainage network had fallen behind. This led to the establishment of an Improvement Commission, a step on the ladder of civic ambition. Bournemouth beat Hastings in a competition as the site for a sanatorium which London’s Brompton Consumption Hospital wished to establish on the south coast. Hence, a frenzy of activity and success characterised Bournemouth’s public identity. Hengist’s transfer belonged to that.

Progress

In 1831, the Boundary Commission had this to say about Christchurch. ‘No trade or manufacture is carried on here. The town presents no symptom of activity or industry. The houses are of a middling description, and the appearance of the inhabitants, who are thinly scattered, gives no indication of prosperity.’ Less than a decade later, however, a significant change had occurred. Substantial building had occurred. Structures made from Bath stone had replaced dilapidated thatched hovels in the High Street. Shops and dwellings had undergone ‘enlarging and beautifying’. The press account traced much of this change to ‘the contiguity and the increasing celebrity of Bournemouth, which is a component part of the borough of Christchurch’. Hence, Bournemouth’s momentum and success had tipped the balance in its favour compared to Christchurch. It seems suitable, therefore, that Hengist, in need of revival, should choose the new town over the old.

Takeaway

The departure of the Hengist masonic lodge from Christchurch and its relaunch amongst the heady success of Bournemouth marked an important stage in the town’s identity and civic progress in the region.

References

Thanks to Alwyn Ladell for photographic evidence on Hengist.

For references and engagement, please get in touch. Main primary sources: here and here (subscriptions needed).