genealogy Archives - News from the Past

5th Period

Victorian Bournemouth (254): books for all

November 17, 2025 by Kitablios 0 comments

Victorian Bournemouth (254) charts the successful establishment of Bournemouth’s Public Library through the collaborative efforts of two men having different social backgrounds and political leanings. Despite the opposition stemming from social segregation, the Conservative (Leveson Scarth) remained steadfast in working with the Liberal (Whitting) to create an educational resource that transcended social boundaries. This partnership between the sons of a clergyman and of an innkeeper united a broader team to achieve this transformative goal.

5th Period

Victorian Bournemouth (252): companions (2)

November 3, 2025 by Kitablios 1 comment

Victorian Bournemouth (252) has found that, underneath the stereotype depiction of a companion, considerable variation applies. Furthermore, the nature of a longer-term appointment may have changed over time. Also, employers of social ambition may have described an employee as a ‘companion’ to enhance their personal reputation.

5th Period

Victorian Bournemouth (251): companions (1)

October 27, 2025 by Kitablios 0 comments

Victorian Bournemouth (251) has explored employment and social aspects relating to the women who worked as companions in the resort during 1901. Overall, the profile derived from analysing over a hundred people appears to match that found in contemporary fictional literature as well as modern third-party studies. The job may have offered the women a port in a life-storm, but the nature of the work environment and the relationships may have tested some.

5th Period

Victorian Bournemouth (249): British Indians (5)

October 13, 2025 by Kitablios 0 comments

Victorian Bournemouth (249) reports on a notable concentration of Anglo-Indian individuals listed by the 1901 census for Boscombe, Bournemouth. These individuals, most native to the Madras and Bombay Presidencies, shared common social characteristics: involvement in colonial administration or commerce, and a transient lifestyle within the British Empire. While some family connections have emerged, more may have existed. After 1901, some continued their travels while others settled in Bournemouth, drawn perhaps by its idealised English atmosphere, a reflection of their own complex cultural identities.

5th Period

Victorian Bournemouth (243): Perfect Thrift

September 1, 2025 by Kitablios 0 comments

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.

5th Period

Victorian Bournemouth (242): bus battles

August 25, 2025 by Kitablios 0 comments

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.

5th Period

Victorian Bournemouth (233): Town Interest Association

June 23, 2025 by Kitablios 0 comments

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.

5th Period

Victorian Bournemouth (223): a ratepayers’ association

April 14, 2025 by Kitablios 1 comment

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.

5th Period

Victorian Bournemouth (218): the second wave

March 10, 2025 by Kitablios 0 comments

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.

5th Period

Victorian Bournemouth (216): a stag at bay

February 24, 2025 by Kitablios 0 comments

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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