The Oddfellows in Victorian Bournemouth evolved from a small lodge in the 1850s to a significant mutual aid society by the 1880s, supporting working people with sick-pay, health-care, and funerals. Their financial model centered on investing membership fees into mortgages, demonstrating their growing social respectability and communal identity amidst changing attitudes towards laborers.
Victorian Bournemouth (199) explores how the resort’s fine arts culture flourished and broadened during the 1880s.
Victorian Bournemouth (196) uses auctioneers’ advertisements for house contents to learn about the taste exhibited by the resort’s residents.
Victorian Bournemouth (195) provides a summary of the recent subjects and themes covered in the last quarter’s articles.
Victorian Bournemouth (194) analyses the town’s property market (1884) from both economic and social perspectives.
Victorian Bournemouth (193) examines the significant rise in bookkeepers in Bournemouth from 1881-1891, correlating their presence with business success. Mostly young, unmarried women pursued bookkeeping as an alternative to traditional roles. Key sectors employing bookkeepers included hotels and butchers, illustrating women’s increasing role in professional office settings and contributing to business prosperity.
Victorian Bournemouth (191) finds some extreme business methods practised by money-lenders during the 1880s.
Victorian Bournemouth (184) finds artisans in increasing number practising a widening array of trades and crafts during the 1880s.
Victorian Bournemouth (182) summarises articles that touched on working people and different aspects of their lives.
Victorian Bournemouth (181) finds compassion on occasion softening the dark prejudice with which Guardians managed the local workhouse.