‘Mostly mechanics and working men’

Introduction

Victorian Bournemouth (202) examines how Oddfellows, working people in combination, achieved growing acceptability as a mutual aid provider. Oddfellows provided sick-pay and health-care for its members as well as paying for funerals. Their insurance schemes financed the associated charges. Most Oddfellows consisted of working people, skilled and unskilled. Every Coronation Day, the Oddfellows’ parade and tea had a prominent place in the day’s celebrations. Analysis of press reports about the Oddfellows may reflect attitudinal changes towards working people during this period.

Victorian Bournemouth (202): Oddfellows in Bournemouth

Forty years of growth

Bournemouth’s first Oddfellows lodge, founded in the 1850s, formed part of the Poole district, by then well-established. In 1859, the Loyal Bourne lodge had 54 members, but by the early 1880s the movement had grown to almost fifteen hundred divided across three locations. For its respectable readers, an early press report positioned the Loyal Bourne as ‘mostly mechanics and working men’. Financial stability troubled the lodge early in its life. Also, it had a brush with Rev A. M. Bennett and the local temperance movement. Although not supporting intoxication, members believed that a ‘man may enjoy his pint’. They agreed not to meet in public houses, but by the 1880s their celebratory dinners often took place at the Pembroke Arms. Loyal Bourne used a financial model whereby it invested membership fees into local freehold mortgages, the interest derived used to service sick-pay, medical, and funeral costs for its members.

1880s

During this decade, the Loyal Bourne lodge appeared to experience significant growth in membership and support activity. Press reports, in addition to public dinners, also provided details of the lodge’s annual report. In 1885, it had 400 members, paid £300 out in support, and planned to assist Moordown establish a lodge. Next year, it reported almost £5,000 invested in mortgages, returning almost 5% through interest. Its outgoings increased on the previous year, yet it still added £200 to its capital. In 1891, membership had reached almost 500, its capital base over £6,000, the majority of which lay out in mortgages. Average age had declined through the establishment of a Juvenile Branch. The lodge increased its sick-visitors to four and created an organisational structure, quartering the town and suburbs. Together with the Foresters, Loyal Bourne created a mechanism whereby they applied a common practice of Hospital Sunday collections.

Victorian Bournemouth (202): Identified Brothers

Survey

According to the local directory published by the Bournemouth Guardian in 1883, John Elgar and Michael Kitteringham performed the duties of secretary for their lodges, Loyal Bourne and the Pride of Bournemouth. John Elgar had come to Bournemouth at least twenty years earlier. Most of his entries list him as a tailor, but he had worked as a postman. Kitteringham’s name appeared often in the press, advertising his company, a monumental mason. Thus, both men met the description of ‘working men’. Other than this, occasional references to Oddfellows’ committee men appeared in press reports of events. The men, if identified, all belonged to the same social category. They included another postman, a builder, a painter, a licensed victualler, and the manager of a bookshop located on Commercial Road. In 1885, those involved included more of the same: builders, a cab-driver, a cabinet-maker, and an agent for the steamboat company.

The Hounsells

Two men having this surname appeared connected with the Oddfellows during this period. F. A. K. Hounsell (1858-1923), born in Melcombe Regis, had arrived in Bournemouth by 1871, aged 14, working for the post-office as a telegraphist. He remained in Bournemouth, working at higher levels in the same business. The Oddfellows appeared to suit him, in 1885, two years after joining, he had become secretary to Loyal Bourne. By 1891, he had become a Grand Master, but perhaps working at a senior level within the Poole district, which covered several lodges. The other Hounsell, called George, has a less clear identification. Perhaps born in Corfe Castle, he occupied one of Westover Villas, running it as a lodging-house. He perhaps had a distant kinship with F. A. K. Hounsell. According to press accounts, however, he also played a distinguished, senior role for the Oddfellows in both Bournemouth and the district around.

Victorian Bournemouth (202): labouring identity

Social clarification

During speeches at the 1859 dinner, when issues of temperance arose, a speaker made an explicit comparison. ‘… he did not see why a poor man should be debarred from taking his pint of beer at his lodge any more than a gentleman his wine at his club …’ At the 1885 dinner, a speaker made a similar reference to social differences. This concerned Dean Park, referencing ‘the monopolising of the Dean Park which prevented any but an exclusive use being made of it’. Working men should make another piece of ground their own  and ‘see whether they could not manage their own affairs as well as the gentlemen could (cheers)’. This seems a reference to Bournemouth’s cricket club, an elite group who wanted £25 from any working men’s team to use the ground. Thus, Oddfellows provided an opportunity for working people to secure a clear and proprietary social position.

Social acceptance

Early press accounts of the Loyal Bourne Oddfellows’ public banquets directed readers to the local grandees attending. Most consisted of men, often of humble origin, who had achieved middling respectability through commercial success. They had not joined the Oddfellows. Press reports made little effort to name lodge members. Furthermore, little if any attention fell on examples of the lodge’s purpose, delivering social benefits. By the 1880s, however, an apparent change had occurred. Names of committee members appears. A letter written by George Hounsell achieved publication. The Oddfellows’ role in initiating a Hospital Sunday programme received notice. Loyal Bourne had secured significant financial respectability as a mortgage provider. Perhaps, by now, respectable people had forgotten Chartism and Tolpuddle. Combination might have specific social benefits, a kinder, more constructive alternative to the Workhouse. Loyal Bourne had demonstrated that working people could make positive contributions to society while retaining a separate and respected identity.

Takeaway

Victorian Bournemouth (202) has explored aspects of the Oddfellows’ presence in the resort during the period 1850s-1890s. It has found that the main lodge, Loyal Bourne, had made remarkable progress in building membership and capital. Interest from the latter, invested in mortgages, financed their social benefit programmes. Although functioning as capitalists, they appear not to have abandoned their social position as labouring people. They offered a capable alternative to respectable people. By the 1880s, the press, mirrors of respectability, appear to have accepted that working people in combination did not pose a necessary threat to order.

References

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