Introduction Auction advertisements for house contents, published in local newspapers, provide glimpses into the lifestyle enjoyed by early Victorian Bournemouth’s affluent residents. Analysis suggests that the resort’s early retail trade included affluent as well as middling people. Research method A common historical process Using artefacts to learn about lifestyles and social positions characterises most historical […]
Introduction The Sanatorium, opened in 1855, represented a watershed in early Victorian Bournemouth’s positive national reputation. Once mooted, the project engaged the attention and efforts of the great and good, both local and in London. The Sanatorium arrives in Bournemouth Main steps London’s Royal Brompton Hospital decided to establish a branch sanatorium at a south-coast […]
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 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 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 A cricket team emerged in the settlement during the summer of 1852. It perhaps reflected an embryonic sense of Bournemouth’s cultural identity, but it may have had more to do with the settlement’s commerce. A curate’s egg of a season Beginnings At the end of May 1852 newspapers reported the appearance of a cricket […]