Tag: genealogy

Victorian Bournemouth (243)
5th Period

Victorian Bournemouth (243): Perfect Thrift

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Victorian Bournemouth (243) has explored events that concerned Bournemouth’s two Perfect Thrift Building Society funds. Newspaper reports suggest that the savings society perhaps achieved a measure of success. Several people won the lottery prizes, although the draws did not happen often. Malpractice lay not far from building societies at this time and may have reached Perfect Thrift, in Bournemouth and across the network. The founder disappeared after a large shortfall emerged at Leeds, while the secretary at Bournemouth took his family to Valparaiso in 1896. Nevertheless, some working people at Bournemouth, attracted by the dream of thrift, economy, and independence, found themselves assisted by their Perfect Thrift.

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Victorian Bournemouth (242)
5th Period

Victorian Bournemouth (242): bus battles

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Victorian Bournemouth (242) has followed the fortunes of the two main local omnibus companies operating during the 1890s. Beneficial to their directors and shareholders for a while, a comfortable cartel between them, neither could withstand the commercial threat posed by motor traffic and the tramlines.

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Victorian Bournemouth (240)
5th Period

Victorian Bournemouth (233): Town Interest Association

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Victorian Bournemouth (233) has followed the Town Interest Association as it fluttered into public attention for a short time. Philpots blazed a short-lived trajectory through local politics, but, as did other gentlefolk, he abandoned the town. Perhaps the Association’s main success consisted of launching the community career of its secretary, John Armitage Crawshaw. He adhered to the model whereby others of humble origin achieved respectability at Bournemouth. He exemplified how individuals of modest origins could attain respectability in Bournemouth. His involvement in many activities would have established a broad presence within the community.

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Victorian Bournemouth (240)
5th Period

Victorian Bournemouth (223): a ratepayers’ association

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Victorian Bournemouth (223) studied the Springbourne and Malmesbury Park Ratepayers’ Association to examine the political and social identity among working people during the 1890s. The vocabulary used in their meetings indicates the presence of a strong, local culture. The members’ reaction to their exclusion from new secondary schools due to high fee levels suggests an interest in education as a means of advancement. During this period, local union organisers also focused more on education. Furthermore, in the year the Association was founded, Bournemouth experienced its first industrial strike.

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Victorian Bournemouth (218)
5th Period

Victorian Bournemouth (218): the second wave

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Victorian Bournemouth (218) examines the social backgrounds of men on the Malmesbury Park and Springbourne Ratepayers’ Association committee. Despite advocating for manual labourers’ issues, their elevated social status made them popular with voters, community stakeholders, and the establishment, allowing them to become prominent local politicians and even mayors, thus forming a second wave.

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Victorian Bournemouth (216)
5th Period

Victorian Bournemouth (216): a stag at bay

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Victorian Bournemouth (216) has provided an overall review of 1895, the year when Merton Russell Cotes became the mayor at bay. Appointed perhaps as an alternative to divisive political interests occupying the Council, his unilateral behaviour, descending at times into self-interest, proved fatal to his survival. Furthermore, despite claiming otherwise, his reactionary stance on the social aspects of Bournemouth’s commercial development perhaps constituted a much larger obstacle than overriding procedures within the chamber. The experiment of appointing a mayor without public representation appeared to fail.

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Victorian Bournemouth (215)
5th Period

Victorian Bournemouth (215): early mayors

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Victorian Bournemouth (215) has reviewed the profiles and activities found for the borough’s first decade. Commonalities and differences appeared. At the heart of this analysis lies the finding that almost all the mayors hailed from humbler backgrounds compared to the elevated social positions they reached in Bournemouth. In a new position, the magistrates had to learn the best way to manage affairs during their years. Analysis of their business and civic records suggests that while religious and community participation seemed mandatory, each found a way to build a proprietary reputation.

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Victorian Bournemouth (214)
5th Period

Victorian Bournemouth (214): civic success

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Victorian Bournemouth (214) has considered the origins, careers, and community participation evident for those serving as aldermen during the 1890s. The analysis has shown that most emerged from humble backgrounds, but, by commercial success and community involvement, they achieved social elevation and respectability. This formed the basis for their securing political positions far distant from their social origins. Their stories illustrate how, at Victorian Bournemouth, political influence became a reward for merit and enterprise. Aldermen, therefore, offered a model for advancement to younger ambitious men. Indeed, some became mayor.

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Victorian Bournemouth (213)
5th Period

Victorian Bournemouth (213): rising men

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Victorian Bournemouth (213) discovers that the resort’s earliest councillors epitomised respectability achieved through hard work and seizing opportunities. Their professional success laid the groundwork for attaining public office. The collective values of these individuals, shaped in the market’s melting pot, perhaps provided Bournemouth with a modern outlook, one that rejected inherited tradition. Other communities seeking to balance their society’s modernity with tradition would have found Bournemouth’s achievements instructive.

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