More people: more problems

Introduction

Victorian Bournemouth (106) analyses key aspects of the resort’s population during the 1870s. It charts population growth, identifying changes in geographical distribution and social texture. These developments brought increasing administrative pressure on the Improvement Commissioners and Bournemouth’s system of government.

Victorian Bournemouth (106): overview

Substantial residential growth

Census figures for Bournemouth included its visitors as well as residents. In a footnote attached to Bournemouth’s population figures published for 1871, the survey office calculated that around 15% of the population recorded on census night did not reside in the town. Thus, visitors, although a minority, still accounted for about a sixth of Greater Westover’s population. This figure provides the basis for calculating the rate of increase within the area’s residential population. Most of the visitors tended to stay in the original part of the town, not the rising suburbs. Thus, the 15% should relate to the former, not the latter. Applying this factor to the same areas for 1881 suggests that the residential population of Greater Westover may have grown from around 8,000 almost to 19,000. This rate of growth in its inhabitants pushed Bournemouth, already large for the time in 1871, to become a substantial urban settlement.

Changes in population distribution

Greater Westover at this period consisted of Bournemouth, the eastern territories of Springbourne and Boscombe, and the rural settlements. In round numbers, the population for 1871 split across these three areas in these proportions: 50%, 30%, 20%. A decade later, the same broad pattern applied, but the actual figures showed some variation in the rate of increase across the geographic components. Bournemouth went from 54% to 51%, the eastern area from 27% to 34%, while the rural settlements dropped from 18% to 15%. In the middle of the decade, as part of the eastward extension of Bournemouth’s drainage system, the town’s Improvement Commissioners annexed Springbourne and Boscombe. The Commission thereby achieved a large increase in its rating base. The proportion of Greater Westover’s population now under its control rose from 60% to 90%. The social composition of their area changed much. Other articles will study this event in some detail.

Victorian Bournemouth (106): the subdivisions

Suburban growth: rural decline

The rural areas of Greater Westover experienced both growth and stagnation. The old villages either increased at a lower rate than the entire area or lost population. The former applied to Tuckton and other riverside villages, the latter to the ancient village of Holdenhurst. In contrast, the Red Hill area almost tripled its population over the decade. A tenth larger than adjoining Holdenhurst in 1871, within ten years it contained over three times as many people as its neighbour. Red Hill covered both Moordown and Winton, once tiny settlements. As early as Bournemouth’s second period, however, the press carried advertisements for building plots in Winton on a regular basis. The area attracted many residents, though two of the main landowners – lord Malmesbury and Mr Clapcott Dean – lived closer to Holdenhurst than Red Hill. Thus, they seemed to keep their land developments away from their homes.

New affluent settlements

Concentrations of servants act as rough guides for an area’s social texture, domestic staff employed by affluent people. Overall, the number of servants present increased almost as much as total population. A shift in the geographic distribution pattern occurred, however. In 1871, the census reported almost half the servants present within the area of west Bournemouth. This comprised the settlement lying west of the stream. A decade later, however, although the number of servants here had increased, it now accounted only for about a third of the total. Thus, fewer households had servants present. This suggests that the area had increased its number of working people. At the same time, a sharp increase in the presence of servants occurred in the east. Here, wealthy people had settled, not only on the area known as East Cliff but also on strip lying just to the south of working people in Springbourne. 

Victorian Bournemouth (106): a new world to administer

Pressure on the Commissioners (1)

Under the 1856 Improvement Act, the main task of equipping Bournemouth with a suitable drainage system fell to its Commissioners. The building programme continued at speed as investors saw value in real estate and renting. This provided the Commissioners with a constant difficulty in trying to match the drainage system to the settlement’s spreading footprint. More tourist amenities evolved: pleasure gardens, a pier, the Winter Gardens complex and other signature projects. These required attention and finance. In addition, the Commissioners started to absorb tasks that increased its work as a governing council. For example, they assumed overall control of building work by instigating a process of planning approval. The Commissioners’ habit of micro-managing projects put the system under administrative strain. The eastern extension of the drainage system fell into an expensive chaos. The second or improved pier caused many problems and took attention from the sewage network. Complaints arose.

Pressure on the Commissioners (2)

After the formation of the Improvement Commission, the government began to exert its control over urban administration. Several laws came into being, concerns about the levels of urban hygiene acting as a constant undercurrent. Thus, in addition to pressure from an increasing workload and its finance, the Commission had to address concerns expressed by the new Local Government Board. The decision to annex Springbourne and Boscombe brought new pressures of a different sort. Boscombe contained some affluent areas, some of whose residents harboured ambitions of rivalling Bournemouth as a resort. Springbourne, for the most part housed working people. They resented the Commission’s gradual interference in their lifestyles. For example, worried about hygiene, the Commission banned pigs from properties here. Complaints arose. Thus, population increase and change in their area’s social balance presented the Commissioners with substantial challenges over and beyond their difficulties with managing the infrastructure.

Takeaway

Victorian Bournemouth (106) has explored changes in population size and texture which the resort experienced during its third period. Annexing Springbourne and Boscombe increased the area under the Commission’s jurisdiction by more than twice 1871’s level. Social complexity deepened. These developments brought extreme pressure on Commissioners, exposing weaknesses within the system, and quickening the approach of substantial change.

References

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