Commerce. Kinship. Key men. Introduction Victorian Bournemouth (91) provides a summary of this year’s third quarter articles. The main themes to emerge include the commercial landscape, kinship, and key men. Victorian Bournemouth (91): commercial landscape Stable growth In the resort’s early period, its commercial sector remained both small and simple. Few business categories existed, while […]
Gossip. Bathing-suits. Respectability. Introduction Victorian Bournemouth (74) explores society at the resort during its second period as revealed in press clippings. A review of Grantley Berkeley’s book of satirical essays included excerpts about how the author saw Bournemouth’s society. A comment published by a local paper touched on a similar subject. The cuttings suggest the […]
Role. Contribution. Support Introduction Victorian Bournemouth (73) analyses the social and economic contributions made by visiting-kin present in households of 1861 and 1871. It suggests that roles varied according to personal situations and social background. Victorian Bournemouth (73): background Determining relationship and role Census forms included a field describing the relationship connecting each member to […]
Success. Disaster. Success. Introduction Victorian Bournemouth (69) studies the career of Corporal Candy, publican at Victorian Bournemouth and member of its Volunteer Rifles. Although born into a poor rural working family, at his daughter’s wedding he had become a gentleman. Charles Candy’s career illustrates how, during the Victorian period, hard work, resourcefulness and luck could […]
Image. Identity. Challenge Introduction Victorian Bournemouth (65) provides a summary of this year’s first quarter articles. The main themes to emerge include image, identity, and challenge. Victorian Bournemouth (65): image Press coverage During its first half-century, Bournemouth achieved increasing coverage from the press and longer entries in trade directories. The extent of the press articles […]
People or property. Well or wealthy. Introduction Victorian Bournemouth (64) completes the expanded study of the town’s drain wars which occurred in 1865. Public health provided the context within which the sanitary committee conducted its contest with the Improvement Commission. During the arguments, however, it became clear that the confrontation resulted from far more fundamental […]
Introduction Christmas, 1856, at Bournemouth drew press attention because of the Sanatorium’s monster tree. Eight years earlier, the Illustrated London News had depicted the Royal Family standing around their Christmas tree. This festive practice, a part of German tradition, gained popularity in the British Isles. A tree at Bournemouth would have suited its image as […]
Introduction Documentary sources under-reported the economic, cultural, and social contributions made by working people at early Victorian Bournemouth. The nature of these documentary sources’ control and usage explains a reason for this omission. Documentary sources Overview To date fifty posts have appeared on this site, that together provide insights on Bournemouth’s history between the 1830s […]
Introduction Conflicts divided several local interest groups as they competed to control early-Victorian Bournemouth’s structure and identity. In several cases, these conflicts became public confrontations, often fought out in the press. This made a sharp contrast to the settlement’s otherwise glittering media image as a tourist resort. Internal initiatives, however, created the basis for social […]
Introduction Local servants, from Poole, Christchurch, and the Greater Westover villages, worked at different domestic duties in the early Victorian Bournemouth local economy. Servants found in the larger vacation villas appear to have accompanied their employers. People local to the area, however, appear to have provided service to retailers, professionals, some lodging-houses, and the hotels. […]