‘Well up in numbers’

Introduction

Victorian Bournemouth (193) explores aspects of the substantial increase in bookkeepers listed in the town’s census 1881-1891. During this period, the population recorded in the census doubled. The number of people listing their occupation as bookkeeper, however, increased almost eightfold. Women, most young and unmarried, accounted for the majority of the people practising this occupation. They illustrate the trend whereby women found office work as an alternative to traditional options. The analysis also draws a connection between business success and the use of professional office skills.

Victorian Bournemouth (193): background

Context

The Western Gazette‘s circulation, extended eastwards from its Yeovil base as far as Berkshire. The paper had an active advertising business. During the 1880s, the term ‘bookkeeping’ occurred often in its advertisements. Schools began to offer bookkeeping in their syllabus. Institutions situated in Bath, Crewkerne, Salisbury, Yeovil, and Stourpaine offered this subject. Bookkeeping as an occupation covered both ads placed by employers and by aspirational candidates. References to the subject in other papers suggests that it had gained traction amongst the country. At a Liberal meeting in Somerset, the speaker ‘strongly recommended the farmers to commence a system of book-keeping so that they would be able to show their profits, and claim to be assessed on this’. An employer in London advertised for a ‘clerk and bookkeeper’ at £3 per week, receiving almost 2,000 applications within a few days. Bookkeeping seemed to have a growing attraction as employment.

Jobs

Analysis of the bookkeeping jobs advertised shows that some employers wanted staff dedicated to that activity, while others wanted the successful candidate to multi-task. Most of the bookkeeping advertisements offered jobs to women. A few categories of business appeared often amongst advertisers. These included hotels, butchers, drapers, and confectioners. Hotels, for example, often looked for a barmaid who had a good understanding of bookkeeping. Other businesses wanted a housekeeper who could also manage the books. Employers looking for men also wanted staff who could keep accounts while acting as clerks or foremen. A difference separated men and women who advertised their employment qualifications and aims. The former offered the ability to manage books as an additional inducement for employers looking for clerks, bailiffs, foremen and so on. Most of the women, however, cited bookkeeping as their featured employment qualification. Thus, bookkeeping appeared as a main occupation more for women.

Victorian Bournemouth (193): local bookkeepers

Wider opportunities for women

Just over fifty bookkeepers appeared in Bournemouth during the 1891 census. From inspection, it seems that most consisted of residents not visitors. Women formed the majority. Some worked at the job during their late teens. Employers seeking benefits from having a trained third party handle their money would have had to balance this advantage against the need for trust. This may explain why, in several cases, female bookkeepers have a kinship relationship with the head of household. Daughters appeared most often, but cousins, sisters, sisters-in-law, and wives also featured. This assumes that the women did not work elsewhere as bookkeepers. Most of the rest perhaps worked for the head of the household where they resided. The census described them as servants or assistants. The evolution of commercial office structures offered women employment alternatives to domestic service or factory work. The female bookkeepers found at Bournemouth in 1891 illustrate that process.

Business categories

On the assumption that the listed bookkeepers worked for the heads of household in which they resided, an analysis of the business categories suggests parallels with the pattern found in the Western Gazette’s classified advertisements. Hotels with a few lodging-houses constitute the most frequent category employing female bookkeepers in Bournemouth, 1891. The other main clusters consisted of butchers and drapers. The skewed distribution of bookkeepers towards a few business categories cannot have occurred by chance. This similarity between the two sources raises questions about causation. If the presence of bookkeepers indicates a progressive approach to business management, then that interest appears to have penetrated some industries before others. If so, this may suggest that the adoption of new methods signifies relative adaptability according to business. In this context, the Liberal spokesman’s urging of farmers to adopt bookkeeping perhaps illustrates the relative conservative attitudes prevalent amongst farmers.

Victorian Bournemouth (193): bookkeeping and success

Signature hotels

Hospitality had become a substantial part of Bournemouth’s local economy, perhaps only behind construction. The category subdivided between about a dozen large hotels and many smaller entities, described as either small hotels or lodging-houses. A small number of the latter (three) employed a bookkeeper, all female and each related to the business owner. Almost all the large hotels, by contrast, employed at least one bookkeeper. Thus, the Highcliffe, the Royal Bath, the Pembroke, the Exeter, the Belle Vue, and the Mountdore all employed bookkeepers during 1891. In all but one, however, the management employed bookkeepers unrelated to them. The Highcliffe made the exception. Here Rosie Kilner, the owner’s daughter, kept his books for a while. Women accounted for all the bookkeepers. Thus, these substantial businesses transmitted two messages to the local commercial community. First, professional bookkeeping assists with profitability. Second, employment opportunities for women outside domestic service now existed.

Successful butchers

Genealogical analysis has followed the butchers who employed bookkeepers at Bournemouth during 1891. Four of the five employed a single bookkeeper, but Frank Wareham had work for four. The butchers’ probate records provide the basis for judging the relative success of their commercial lives. Only one left an estate worth less than a thousand pounds. The estate of Henry Taylor reached just short of £10,000. Edgar Shipp, who had employed his sister to keep the books for a while, and William Vye each left estates worth £10,000-£20,000. Although Vye employed an outsider as bookkeeper, by 1901 two of his sons worked in the business. The probate record suggests they remained there. Frank Wareham employed his sister-in-law and three other women as bookkeepers in 1891. This suggests a concern of no little scale. His subsequent history shows a long line of commercial and social success. His butcher business developed several branches across Bournemouth. It merged with a fishmonger to form Wareham and Dale. Although he eschewed politics, Wareham had an active social career in sport and other areas. He left an estate worth almost £50,000.

Takeaway

Victorian Bournemouth (193) has explored the profiles of people working in the town as bookkeepers. Most of them women, they illustrate the extent to which business owners accepted females into their commercial management. Furthermore, the presence of bookkeepers in the town’s signature hotels and in successful butchers suggests a correlation between professional office services and commercial prosperity.

References

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