Victorian Bournemouth (256) describes how the resort went through significant social changes after the mid-1800s. The old Arcadian world—where the gentry received automatic respect from those of lower status—disappeared. Instead, a merit-based town emerged, where successful individuals saw respectability as just as valuable as gentility. Reverend Pretyman’s awkward efforts at social engineering only highlighted the transformations taking place in Bournemouth.
Victorian Bournemouth (245) has analysed the social and career profiles of bank managers who had retired to the resort by 1901. They emerge as social stalwarts. The study also reveals how, during this period, banks and staff hid their marketing activities within a cloak of social respectability. This apparent generosity seems in sharp contrast with the advertised pursuit of Mammon practised today.
Victorian Bournemouth (239) has surveyed the category and social profiles found for female drapery assistants working at Plummer, Roddis, and Tyrell during the 1890s. In most cases, the girls came from respectable backgrounds, yet proved willing to work for a living. Their social profile suited them well to assist well-heeled customers drawn by the new super-stores.
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.
The family of bride and heiress, Lena Lance, could have formed the basis of a novel written by Trollope, Hardy or others. Humble origins to substantial wealth in a generation. A rich old man living in a coterie of single women kin to his wife. A sensational court case about forged wills, an uncertain solicitor, and much money. A society wedding sparkling with bling. Marrying into money only a generation older, she escaped Bournemouth’s nouveau riche nervous society for Midland respectability.
Victorian Bournemouth (187) surveys the cultural and commercial terrain deterring professional theatrical productions until the 1880s.
Victorian Bournemouth (185) traces how successful local businessmen, from humble origins, stepped into wider civic and community roles.
Victorian Bournemouth (172) analyses signatures made by bride and groom on wedding certificates after ceremonies at several local parish churches.
Victorian Bournemouth (149) finds that established residents perhaps upgraded Oxford Road’s society with a collaborative social protectorate.
Victorian Bournemouth (148) provides a demographic analysis of Oxford Road’s inhabitants during the late nineteenth century.