Introduction

Immigrant contribution to local culture has formed part of the analysis already discussed for the Wimborne, Cranborne, Crane River and Allen River hinterland, a fertile recruiting ground for early Victorian Bournemouth. This analysis goes further by exploring immigrants’ demography, in particular gender.

Rural migration

Natives account for around half of residents

On average, around 40%-50% of adult residents in each village of the area counted as natives, the rest immigrants. Hence, enormous scope existed for immigrant contribution to the culture of the area and its villages. Because the immigrants’ origins varied so much, analysis first requires categorisation. The classification chosen consists of four parts: native, neighbourhood, other Dorset, and elsewhere. About a quarter of adult residents came from the neighbourhood, around a fifth from other parts of Dorset. The balance, about a sixth, came from people who originated beyond Dorset’s borders. Adding children back into the analysis increases the native proportion to over half. Hence, as they approached adulthood, many of these would leave in search of employment elsewhere. James Joy, already discussed, has provided a stark illustration of this process. He left home (Hinton Martel) aged nine to work as a ploughboy elsewhere in the district.

Migrants operated the support infrastructure

Demographic analysis offers a way to explore the immigrant contribution to both local economy and culture. For the most part, natives comprised almost half of agricultural labourers, a further third came from the surrounding district. Of farmers, on the other hand, while some worked in their native parish, the majority came from elsewhere. Servants, by contrast, differed in that about an equal number fell into each of the four categories. Although very few retailers existed across the parishes, while natives accounted for the largest category, they formed a minority. The largest proportion of professionals – clerics and teachers for the most part – came from outside the county. Hence, while natives worked the farms, immigrants provided the support infrastructure. These differences may have reflected policies of the local estate owners, Lord Shaftesbury the largest and perhaps most conservative, but local culture may have played a role in acceptance of immigrants.

Gender an important factor

Females more mobile than males

This analysis also suggests that differences in origin varied with gender. As an overall finding, almost half male residents originated in their native parish, but only around a third of women. In other words, women fell into the immigrant category more than men. The pattern varied across the estates and within the villages. Shaftesbury parishes had just above average of natives amongst their residential population, though for Woodlands, the figure climbs to almost two thirds. In the three Sturt parishes – Witchampton, and the two Critchels – of the female residents, natives accounted for only a quarter. In fact, for Long Critchel, this figure sank to around a sixth. These variations appear to reflect differences of choice, seigneurial and local culture. This suggests that any immigrant contributions to local culture, society and even the economy would come more from females than males, the latter perhaps more often the guardians of custom.

‘Foreign wives’ a common practice

Unions often combined natives and immigrants. The gender split here conformed to the above finding. Husbands tended to include a high proportion of natives, whereas wives would have had a greater tendency to immigrate. Marriages, however, consist of two people, for whom several origin possibilities exist. In some cases, a union might have both partners as natives, people born and brought up together in the same place. On average this happened in the case of just under a fifth of unions. At the opposite extreme – both partners originating outside Dorset – only about a twentieth qualified. About a tenth consisted of both parties having come from the district. The most common practice consisted of unions between a native and a partner from elsewhere in the district. This accounted for about a third of unions. Any immigrant contribution here, therefore, would have centred on the family.

Discussion

Immigrants connect to more useful networks

The relevance of this analysis for early Victorian Bournemouth’s residential society and culture lies in the WACC providing a noticeable proportion of its population. To an extent, the analysis forms part of the overall discussion about the seigneurial influence in closed and open parishes. This also touches a different but parallel subject of strong and weak networks. The former represents introverted groups, repellent to outside people and ideas, the latter the reverse. In very broad terms, this analysis suggests that natives might consist of males, immigrants females. Hence, women often comprised the outside force in a parish, their immigrant status increasing their chance of belonging to better networks. Thus, their background qualified them to make an important immigrant contribution. A wife’s cultural benefit to her family, therefore, might well balance the economic value from the cash delivered by her male working partner.

Good preparation for Bournemouth’s innovative culture

Men from this cultural background migrated from WACC parishes to work in early Victorian Bournemouth. Although little detail of their mothers’ origins has survived some males appear to have applied the model. The Joy brothers, natives of Hinton Martel, carpenters and builders in the resort, married women born in other parts of their local district. The builder Samuel Ingram, a native of More Critchel, married first a woman from the district. After her death, however, a woman born in Kent became his second wife. John Hibidage, another builder, native of Witchampton, married a woman born in Poole. These men flourished in the busy, competitive economy growing around the successful resort, a greenfield foundation. Its culture perhaps echoed that found in their native villages, where variation may have flowed from immigrant females. Such a background would have prepared them for a culture where, unlike innovation, custom had little role.

Takeaway

This analysis extends early studies conducted on an area from which several key individuals migrated to early Victorian Bournemouth. The focus here falls on the immigrant contribution to the rural culture, and, hence, its export through migration to the new settlement at Bournemouth. In particular, it suggests that females, as immigrants having good personal networks, might have brought significant benefits to parish and town culture.

References

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