working people Archives - News from the Past

5th Period

Victorian Bournemouth (228): Oxford University Extension

May 19, 2025 by Kitablios 0 comments

Victorian Bournemouth (228) has suggested that marketing myopia contributed to the local Oxford University Extension scheme’s failing to achieve commercial success. The lecturers, motivated by their belief that educational success should not rely on ‘mere material benefits,’ failed to recognise that their commercial opportunity lay in providing afternoon entertainment to respectable individuals. Embracing this perspective could have alleviated financial constraints. The education sought by working people to improve their conditions presented a different marketing challenge better comprehended by others.

5th Period

Victorian Bournemouth (227): cage birds

May 12, 2025 by Kitablios 0 comments

Victorian Bournemouth (227) has delved into the contributions of its members to the Cage Bird Association, shedding light on their social standing. The study reveals that a group of working individuals formed the club’s backbone, some of whom may have cultivated friendships and connections beyond its confines. In particular, the involvement of both a coachman and his employer (a wealthy physician) suggests that a shared love for birds transcended social boundaries.

5th Period

Victorian Bournemouth (226): chrysanthemum show (3)

May 4, 2025 by Kitablios 0 comments

Victorian Bournemouth (226) has speculated on how experienced men, although designated as servants, guided respectable and privileged people in making decisions about the chrysanthemum show’s management. To explain how this may have succeeded, it offered, as an analogy, how the army’s non-commissioned and commissioned officers made shared decisions. Relevant experience overcame the need for deference and induced mutual respect. Victorian masters referred to their servants by surname alone. In contrast, the speeches congratulating James Spong’s organisational efforts used the title ‘Mr’.

5th Period

Victorian Bournemouth (225): chrysanthemum show (2)

April 28, 2025 by Kitablios 0 comments

Victorian Bournemouth (225) has explored wider social and symbolic factors associated with the resort’s chrysanthemum show. The society encouraged the idea that cultivating chrysanthemums, as well as fruit and vegetables, might engender moral improvement amongst the labouring sector of society. Horticulture offered additional support or, even, an alternative to Temperance, as a mechanism of social control.

5th Period

Victorian Bournemouth (224): chrysanthemum show (1)

April 21, 2025 by Kitablios 1 comment

Victorian Bournemouth (224) examined the resort’s Horticultural and Chrysanthemum Society, tracing its development and social impact. An annual Chrysanthemum Show provided the society’s focus. The society served as a networking hub for the privileged but also helped working people, or ‘cottagers,’ improve their lives by growing vegetables.

5th Period

Victorian Bournemouth (223): a ratepayers’ association

April 14, 2025 by Kitablios 0 comments

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 (214): civic success

February 10, 2025 by Kitablios 0 comments

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.

4th Period, Thought-pieces

Victorian Bournemouth (208): Q4 summary

December 30, 2024 by Kitablios 0 comments

Victorian Bournemouth (208) has revisited articles published in the preceding quarter. Most of its attention has fallen on social rather than economic or commercial subjects. It has looked at examples taken from the lifestyles of gentility and labouring people. Furthermore, it has examined the occasions when the lives of these people, as a rule separate, interlocked and the results of such encounters.

4th Period

Victorian Bournemouth (206): Methodist ministers

December 16, 2024 by Kitablios 0 comments

At Victorian Bournemouth, the foundation of several chapels provided wide opportunities for Wesleyans to worship. Their ministers had similar social backgrounds: middling, respectable. Often, their father’s occupations in trade and commerce, perhaps helped them to introduce efficiency into their Bournemouth incumbency, for example clearing debts. Others found high positions within the Wesleyan organisation. Their focus on working people enabled them to combine without provoking anxiety amongst middling people and the gentry.

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