Eastern promise

Introduction

Victorian Bournemouth (108) explores the background to the process whereby the Improvement Commission annexed the resort’s eastern settlements. Bournemouth also increased its representation on the Board of Guardians managing the Christchurch Union. This subject covers several articles.

Victorian Bournemouth (108): geography

Population increase

During the 1870s population continued to grow within Greater Westover. Much of it came from immigration, but the native births grew in number also. To the east of the original settlement development proceeded from Malmesbury Park in the north down to the area known as East Cliffs near to the sea. Growth also occurred further to the east. The separate settlements of Boscombe and Springbourne now flourished. The census of 1871 listed about two thousand people living in these areas, but ten years later the population had increased fourfold. These areas lay outside the authority of Bournemouth’s Improvement Commission. Some appear to have developed initial feelings of communal identity, including an intention to manage their own affairs. This raised the possibility of clashes with Bournemouth’s Improvement Commission which had plans to extend the resort’s drainage system through part of it to the sea at Boscombe.

Social texture

According to the census, the population of these two external areas covered the entire social spectrum. Malmesbury Park to East Cliffs consisted of several sub-divisions each having a distinct social profile. Wealthy and privileged people populated the East Cliffs area up to and including Southcote Road. There followed the strip known as Springbourne. Much of its working population laboured at both skilled and unskilled activities. To its north, Malmesbury Park had a broader social mix, including retailers as well as labourers and annuitants. Boscombe flourished around the developmental activities of two privileged men, Sir Florence Shelley and Sir Drummond Wolff, the latter Christchurch’s M.P. for a while. In effect, their activities provided the economic impetus to attract working people much as had improving manorial lords in the past. At this stage, Pokesdown appears to have remained separate to the improvements generated by Shelley and Wolff.

Victorian Bournemouth (108): competition for resources

Drainage outlet location

From its establishment, Bournemouth’s Improvement Commission had occupied itself with how best to drain the resort. The progress of this project from time to time attracted public attention and forceful argument. Medical professionals, resident or visiting the town, took much interest on the hygienic aspects of draining Bournemouth. The question of outflow, the destination of the sewage, concerned both medical and commercial interests. Sporadic discussion occurred around sending it inland, but, for the most part, people saw the sea as the most obvious destination. Much of Bournemouth’s commercial appeal, however, depended on the quality of its bathing and the beach. The possibility of raw sewage despatched into the sea but returning onto the beach displeased commercial and medical interests alike. Thus, discussion centred on directing the outflow far enough away to avoid this possibility. Hence, attention focussed on the area east of the main settlement, that is the Boscombe area.

Parallel objectives

Sir Percy Florence Shelley planned to improve his land by substituting property rentals for farming income. Sir Henry Drummond Wolff had already played a leading role in establishing the Boscombe Spa Hotel. He saw Boscombe, which had good quality water, as an alternative tourist destination to Bournemouth. The East Cliffs area did not connect to Bournemouth’s drainage network. Two cess pools sufficed. This self-contained area consisted of about forty houses occupied by tourists and some residents, most belonging to the privileged part of society. The Improvement Commissioners had a loose grasp on the physical details of the area. Attempts to extend the road eastwards, near the cliffs, stimulated the inhabitants to act. Letters began to appear in the press, one signed by almost fifty people. Suspicion arose in these areas that the Improvement Commission wanted annexation to solve its drainage problem and to acquire new rate revenue to fund it.

Victorian Bournemouth (108): empire building

Interested parties

Bournemouth’s Improvement Commissioners chased two strategic objectives at this time. In addition to the drainage system’s eastward expansion, they planned a new pier. Their income provided insufficient funds for these projects. Borrowing offered the only source of finance. Some thought that money needed would reach £50,000, a huge sum. On two accounts, public health and financial accountability, these projects required the consent of the Local Government Board, of late established. The Commission had had much liaison with the Board during the design of the drainage extension as well as its possible cost. Furthermore, the recent Public Health Act rendered Boards of Guardians as responsible for sanitation outside urban areas. This raised the possibility that Guardians of Christchurch Union might become involved. Thus, these two bodies had a statutory interest in the Improvement Commission’s intentions. The residents, however, had a proprietorial interest that involved community identity as well as cash.

Seeing the future

In 1872, ‘a Boscombite’ had written to the Christchurch Times. The writer warned against signing anything that brought the area within the jurisdiction of Bournemouth’s Improvement Commissioners. The letter gave a clear, simple reason for avoiding this move. ‘Of course, if this were done, all the Boscombe property would have to share in paying the expenses so lavishly incurred by the Commissioners at Bournemouth.’ The residents of the ’70 acres’ area on East Cliffs cast their initial opposition within environmental concern. Further development of the road might damage the cliff structure. The inhabitants of Springbourne seemed quiet during the early years of this development. Many of them may not have regarded the media as a primary avenue through which to voice their opinion. Social groups, pubs, and places of worship might have provided better media for opinion exchange. Nevertheless, once matters came to a head, a representative group assembled.

Takeaway

Victorian Bournemouth (108) has sketched the background to Bournemouth’s successful annexation of Springbourne, Boscombe, and East Cliffs. Despite much debate, including no little opposition, the Local Government Board supported the Improvement Commissioners in their empire building. Further pieces provide deeper analysis of the events and people involved in this process.

References

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