Victorian Bournemouth (221) has considered the main themes explored in the first quarter of articles published covering the resort during the 1890s. It has discussed how the decade involved change in many areas and levels. The new civic status of a borough required councillors and mayors to handle matters and adopt procedures in ways comparable to similar towns. The social profile of these men changed from that characterising the Improvement Commission in that men of leisure gave way to meritocrats, albeit of humbler origin. The continuing process of shaping Bournemouth’s image appears in the model of civic heroism propounded within magistrates’ obituaries. Presenting the town in a positive way to the new audience of institutional and personal investors applied these skills in the new discipline of Corporation Stock issues.