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Trade profiles (5): professionals (1)
Introduction
Trade profiles (5) shows the proportion of all Bournemouth commercial listings taken by professionals as reported by directories published during the period 1859-1898. Listings used appear within the entire Greater Westover area
Trade profiles (5): tables
| Professionals: share of all enterprises | 1859 | 1871 | 1880 | 1889 | 1898 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Professional | 3% | 6% | 6% | 5% | 5% |
| Else | 98% | 94% | 94% | 95% | 95% |
| Split between professional types | 1859 | 1871 | 1880 | 1889 | 1898 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Financial | 0% | 17% | 36% | 29% | 30% |
| Land | 25% | 11% | 11% | 19% | 12% |
| Auctioneer | 0% | 6% | 7% | 10% | 14% |
| Architect surveyor | 25% | 33% | 21% | 19% | 15% |
| Solicitor | 50% | 33% | 25% | 23% | 28% |
| Indexed growth rates | 1859 | 1871 | 1880 | 1889 | 1898 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Professional | 1.00 | 4.50 | 14.00 | 27.00 | 36.25 |
| Else | 1.00 | 1.93 | 6.15 | 13.29 | 19.22 |
| All categories | 1.00 | 1.99 | 6.35 | 13.64 | 19.65 |
| Geographic distribution across Greater Westover | 1859 | 1871 | 1880 | 1889 | 1898 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bournemouth | 100% | 100% | 96% | 69% | 56% |
| Boscombe Pokesdown | 0% | 0% | 2% | 16% | 31% |
| Springbourne | 0% | 0% | 0% | 6% | 7% |
| Southbourne | 0% | 0% | 0% | 3% | 1% |
| Westbourne | 0% | 0% | 2% | 4% | 1% |
| Winton Moordown | 0% | 0% | 0% | 4% | 3% |
| Rural Greater Westover | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% |
Trade profiles (5): discussion
The professionals’ sector covers people working in finance, land, and law. Although only 3% of business listings in 1859, this proportion grew to around 6% for the rest of the period. These businesses rank in the top five for the whole period.
This group grew at rates much higher than other businesses, almost forty times as many at the end of the century as in 1859. This compares to about twenty times for the entire commercial category.
Changes in the proportions taken by the constituent sub-groups occurred over the period. At first, businesses concerned with land accounted for the about half the category, but financial and legal businesses surpassed them by the end of the period. Together, they took almost 60% of the category in 1898.
As time passed, other categories have included businesses spreading out into ‘Bournemouth East’, as well as Westbourne and Winton. This process occurred for the professionals as well, but not to the same extent. More than half of such businesses had their addresses in Bournemouth still by 1898.
This category in its development over the period appears to follow a trajectory which moved from building Bournemouth to concerning issues with managing it, that is finance and legal matters. Hence, it reflects the town’s history.
References
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