Public success from groceries

Introduction

Victorian Bournemouth (185) traces how successful local businessmen, from humble origins, stepped into wider civic and community roles. This article looks at how those amongst grocers and bakers became big dogs.

Victorian Bournemouth (185): context

Survey

At the beginning of the 1880s, according to a business directory and the census, around fifty grocers lived in the Bournemouth area. About twenty businesses seem to have become established during this period. For the most part men in the twenties or thirties, they often combined grocery with other categories: drapery, beer, carpentry, insurance. The majority prospered enough to leave money to beneficiaries, in some cases a great deal. Augustus Gould, an agricultural labourer’s son, built an estate worth almost £100,000 by 1929. Some appear to have led private lives, but others walked out into the community, playing roles in civic or social affairs. In some cases, a man might sell sugar to a customer on the same day as voting in the council or administering justice on the bench. Or, he might play the harmonium with energy at a Good Templars’ event for which he had provided the tea.

The model

The archetype for grocery big dogs, Matthew Cox, arrived in the resort by 1844, where he sold groceries from his shop located in The Square. The 1871 census showed three shopmen working for him. A grocer’s son, he prospered early, needing his first shopman by 1861. During that decade, his social progress had reached the stage at which he sought and won a seat on the Improvement Commission, not yet ten years established. For the next twenty years, his name appeared in public affairs, until he decided to leave Bournemouth, retiring to a Wiltshire village. During the 1870s, he secured an exit from his business, by selling it to Leverett & Frye, one of the country’s early multiple grocers. The rise of Matthew Cox illustrated the possibilities for social mobility occurring within Victorian Bournemouth, despite its gentle origins and early society. Commercial success created civic prominence.

Victorian Bournemouth (185): big dog grocer profiles

Establishment

Eight of the grocers listed in 1881 spent much of their lives in Bournemouth, leaving estates greater than £2,000. Half came from Dorset and Hampshire, the rest from further. They built their businesses in the suburbs: Moordown, Springbourne, Boscombe, Pokesdown. After Matthew Cox’s sale to Leverett & Frye, the opportunity for independent grocers trading in central Bournemouth may have diminished. They created businesses which lasted over decades, in some cases extending their lives by at least a generation through their sons’ involvement. As part of his election drive, Frederick Street featured in a splash appearing in the Bournemouth Guardian (1901). Garnished with a photograph, the piece portrayed a long-established individual whose prosperity accompanied that of Boscombe from when it ‘was about nothing’. The account highlighted the bakery and business expertise exhibited by his two sons. The article displayed a political and media astuteness that had perhaps grown from commercial practice.

Social standing

Except for Gould, son of an agricultural labourer, the rest had come from the upper levels of working people. Their fathers had small-holdings, worked as craftsmen, one having a coal merchanting business. Alfred Lickfold’s father farmed almost 300 acres, Frederick Street’s much less, but he still had his own land. Chamberlain England’s father, a bailiff, will have had literacy, numeracy, and business expertise edging him into respectability. Charles Frampton’s father had qualified as a master carpenter, having three employees. They married women who came from similar social contexts, craftsmen fathers. England married a cabinetmaker’s daughter, Lickfold a carpenter’s. Augustus Gould reached up to marry the daughter of a man farming almost 300 acres. Gould’s estate included over 100 rental properties. George White had invested in several similar properties. Some advertised their position by purchasing motor cars. These successful grocers had become established members of respectable society.

Victorian Bournemouth (185): civic and community men

Local Government

Most of these successful grocers used their commercial achievements as the basis for local civic activity. This appears to have occurred once their businesses became established. Pokesdown and Winton at this time, while flourishing, lay outside the authority of Bournemouth Borough Council. George White, William Bolton, and Charles Frampton became active in the early civic structures emerging here. In time they became members, some chairman, of the more formal District Councils. They took active roles in the debates that preceded the incorporation of these suburbs into the borough. In some cases, they opposed this action. Frederick Street represented Boscombe West on the borough council, later becoming an alderman. Alfred Lickfold became councillor for Springbourne at the turn of the century, served on committees. He also became an alderman. Often, their political careers developed from participation in community affairs. They chaired Sunday Schools, swimming societies, Templar groups.

Justice and social care

The establishment trusted some of the grocery big dogs beyond local governance. Alfred Lickfold, for example, also became a Justice of the Peace. Another grocer, William Bolton, did the same. They would have assessed transgressions of law in the company of other local elites, including mayors. George White reached upwards to national politics by becoming an important member of Winton’s Liberal Club. Bolton, ‘one of [Bournemouth’s] most useful citizens’ extended his community activities further by become a Guardian for the Christchurch Union. Later, he served as Chairman. As such, he oversaw the lives of people incapable of maintaining their position within society. Although having acquired different levels of wealth, their emergence into civic and social administration provided them with equal positions at the apex of local society. Commercial success and good name awareness through community participation left far behind their humble origins, albeit on the edge of respectability.

Takeaway

Victorian Bournemouth (185) has studied the origins, careers, and achievements of the area’s grocers who emerged as big dogs in local civic and community affairs. The high footfall occurring in grocery shops will have played an important part in establishing their names within the community. Participation in social activities together with their wealth provided the cornerstone for their political careers. Some, however, eschewed this. Augustus Gould, perhaps the wealthiest, appears to have paid little attention to public life.

References

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