Introduction Lectures provided a means for delivering information across many audience types at early Victorian Bournemouth. For the most part, lecturers instructed or educated but they often introduced entertainment and interest by using visual material. Some used lecturing as ways to educate working people in a controlled context, while keeping them from the tavern. Subjects […]
Introduction Textile workers reached and left early Victorian Bournemouth, but, by the period’s end, established firms had got their start. The category covered tailors, drapers, a milliner, a furrier as well as many dressmakers. Their comings and goings, but also the beginnings of established firms, perhaps illustrates economic trends during the resort’s early period. Fluidity […]
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 […]
Introduction The Belle Vue, a prominent hotel equipped with or connected to an assembly hall, featured often in community activities held at early Victorian Bournemouth. These events taken together illustrate the range of activities that gathered the town’s inhabitants, permanent and temporary. The Belle Vue Boarding house, hotel, community centre At first a boarding house, […]
Introduction Crime and punishment in early Victorian Bournemouth featured in the resort’s press coverage. The early settlement lay within the jurisdiction of Christchurch’s Petty Sessions. Felonies ranged from petty theft to arson, the latter causing much concern to local landholders. Magistrates consisted of local prominent men, for the most part landowners, but also a sprinkling […]
Introduction Early Bournemouth in its commercial success may have had a negative impact on a category of business in rural Greater Westover. Young shoemakers, resident in a part of this area, appear to have built a commercial combine based on ties of kinship and friendship. Successful at first, its members later drifted away leaving only […]
Introduction Cultural life began early in the public world of Victorian Bournemouth. Press references suggest that, for the most part, it emphasised music, but other activities occurred. The presence of pianos in auctioneers’ advertisements testifies to the symbolic as well as perhaps actual importance that music played in private lives. Advertisements by music teachers also […]
Introduction Greedy lodginghouse keepers featured in a series of letters written to the Poole & Dorset Herald in 1854. Their author, Dr A.W.P. Pinkerton, adopted as his theme the ‘Capabilities of Bournemouth’. Pinkerton’s subject consisted of invalids, his concern lying in their obtaining the best conditions. He dwelt much on the standards of housing and […]
Introduction Female entrepreneurs appear to have played a major if not the main role in the key business category of lodginghouses at early Victorian Bournemouth. Female entrepreneurs Women in charge Although the documentation suggests that men participated in running some lodginghouses, female entrepreneurs perhaps took the lead in operations. Other evidence shows that for two […]
Introduction Lodginghouses developed into an important part of early Victorian Bournemouth’s economy, the fluid nature of the category reflecting the dynamics of the ever-expanding town. Not least, this business afforded opportunities for women to establish personal and economic independence. Early trends The earliest found directory (1849) listed a single lodginghouse keeper, Mrs Slidle. Before going […]