TftF (4): Bournemouth natives

Introduction

TftF (4) defines the term ‘Bournemouth native’ by matching the social structure of the army to the geography of the resort’s society. It outlines the distinction between natives and residents

Social geography

During the Victorian period, Bournemouth’s footprint spanned two distinct zones of social geography. Founded as a convalescent colony for the gentry, the older parts of the town accommodated people of that social level. The term ‘Bournemouth native’ would have applied to very few of such people. In time, the success of local commercial people introduced a slice of middling respectability into Bournemouth’s centre. Many of these raised families in the resort. Around this respectable and gentle hub, developers built suburbs to house working people and their young, native children. The earliest concentrations lay in the east and north-east of the town: Boscombe, Pokesdown, and Springbourne; Winton and Moordown. In the late Victorian period, Bournemouth, now a county borough, absorbed these suburbs. To the west, informal settlements housing labouring families emerged: Parkstone, Heatherlands. They did not then have distinct civil identities and did not join Bournemouth.

Military social structure

The army’s social structure mirrored British society. Its upper ranks consisted of officers from respectable and gentle families. The lower ranks, the most numerous, included infantrymen and non-commissioned officers, most of whom came from Britain’s labouring people. These encompassed both unskilled and skilled workers, as well as some tradespeople. Genealogical studies of Bournemouth natives who died in the first half of the war show that most fought in the ranks as infantrymen and non-commissioned officers. Due to Bournemouth’s social geography, most of these men’s families lived in the eastern suburbs and the western settlements. As a result, the term ‘Bournemouth native’ had a flexible nature. Without doubt, it applied to those born in the eastern suburbs, but those born in the west did not have as strong a claim to the label. Many, however, listed their birthplace as ‘Bournemouth’. Bournemouth residents who fought in the war would, as a rule, have their birthplaces elsewhere.