Hear, hear! Applause!
Introduction
Victorian Bournemouth (205) studies how Joseph Cutler, local politician, used a celebratory dinner as an election launch-pad. A public figure, in some ways divisive, lampooned in the press, Cutler had a long career in Bournemouth’s civics and community. Genealogical examination of identified diners, the chronology, and the speakers’ content suggests that this occasion, described as ‘complimentary’, had not only a social purpose but also political. The dinner, given in December 1889, looked ahead to next year and the new borough’s first elections.
Victorian Bournemouth (205): background
Joseph’s dinner
Another episode in the eventful civic life of Joseph Cutler, one-time builder, occurred at a special dinner given for him on December 3rd, 1889. Almost a hundred associates and supporters gathered in his support. Flags and flowers on the tables set the tone. Cutler’s ‘breast, covered with medals,’ amplified the glitter. Speeches, songs, and toasts prepared the ground for the celebrant’s eulogy and his response. The event praised the armed forces, then the town and its trade (i.e. the diners), before reaching Cutler. The chairman introduced him with a biographical panegyric. The songs and glees matched the content of each step. A glee consisting of ‘The mighty conqueror’ prepared diners to hear the section dedicated to Cutler. Local born, after a period in Australia, Cutler had spent his life in Bournemouth, building the town and community. A political man, he featured often in the town’s press.
The context
For most of the 1880s Joseph Cutler had played a prominent role in events leading up to Bournemouth’s securing its borough charter. Early opposition to the initiative extended the process, during which Cutler went from supporter to opponent to supporter. A press column lampooned him as ‘Joe Weathercock’. The chairman’s opening remarks at Cutler’s dinner spun this as a joke. He ‘had known [Cutler] in all shades and sizes’: Liberal, Conservative, Congregationalist, good Churchman. The battle for incorporation had ended the previous August, but now the next stage had begun. Elections to establish the new council would take place in less than a year. An erstwhile member of the now defunct Improvement Commission, Cutler had his gaze set on becoming a councillor, if not mayor, his long-held dream. Thus, the dinner, while celebrating Cutler, in reality provided a basis for his political campaign in next year’s elections.
Victorian Bournemouth (205): the diners
Present
Of the near hundred diners, the report named about a third, plausible identifications, via census and directories, emerging. Most came from at least a generation later than Cutler, then aged almost sixty. Few if any labouring people appeared in the names. The cost of attendance perhaps proved prohibitive. Nor did any gentry appear in the lists. They had once ensnared Cutler, plying with then plausible alternatives to incorporation, but he had turned his coat once more. Thus, most of those identified formed part of the middling social group, their income deriving from commercial activities, their outlook and behaviour characterised by aspirant respectability. Some will have owned their businesses, others worked as managers. Occupations covered skilled artisans (carpenter, mason), retailers (chemist, butcher, fishmonger, lodging-house keeper, hotelier), and professionals (bank manager, auctioneer). Joe’s supporters, therefore, belonged to the group which had advocated incorporation against opposition from the gentry and upper middling types.
Absent
Analysis of absentees supports the possibility of the dinner serving as a political rally. Three who refused invitations had served on the Improvement Commission. William Fisher had chaired it for the last two years. James McWilliam, one of Bournemouth’s godfathers, had engaged in civic and community affairs for years. His firm had built much of the town. Next year he would serve as provisional mayor. His obituary would describe J. R. Ridley as one of the ‘most respected townsmen of Bournemouth’. Nicholas Newlyn, did not attend. A former mayor of Christchurch, he had an important commercial stake at Bournemouth. His son would become Bournemouth’s mayor twice. Personal matters may have called them away, but political issues seem more plausible. T. J. Hankinson also appears not to have attended. Cutler had caused him much trouble during his incorporation initiative. After the elections, he would become Bournemouth’s first mayor.
Victorian Bournemouth (205): the speeches
Chairman
The choice of chairman, H. Nelson Jenkins, advertised a personal linkage between his and the Cutler families. H Nelson Jenkins, a successful builder at Bournemouth, belonged to an important family at Christchurch. His father had served as mayor of that town. Cutler’s family had a fish business there. Their connection had history. Both Jenkins had also served on Bournemouth’s Improvement Commission as had Cutler. The chairman’s father had given Cutler a start by involving him in his firm at Bournemouth. This personal and commercial connection between two power-brokers contributed an important brick in Cutler’s political edifice. Jenkins perhaps had the best qualifications to plaster over the cracks in Cutler’s political history. Cutler’s ‘ideas sometimes might not be the ideas of all of them’ but he had applied ‘energy’ to his actions. The joke about political changeability – Liberal and Conservative, etc – came from the chairman’s speech introducing Cutler.
Joe Weathercock
Cutler rose to deliver a masterful political speech. He borrowed interest from Stanley and Roberts, two contemporary Imperial heroes. Observing the Royal Bath Hotel’s construction in the late 1830s illustrated his long connection with Bournemouth. Carrying fish in a basket to the early villas comprising Bournemouth emphasised his humble origins. His chest of medals advertised his Australian success. A successful entrepreneur and business proprietor, he had started as a labourer. His populist actions began when he increased the wages of his building labourers. His public service began working on a project together with M. H. Cox, T. J. Hankinson, and J. McWilliam, Bournemouth grandees, yet men of humble origins. Several public activities proved the width of his community involvement, but without any fundamental victories, despite some boasting. The speech did not mention incorporation or future elections. It positioned him as a jolly good fellow, successful but of humble origin.
Takeaway
Victorian Bournemouth (205) has examined how Joseph Cutler used a public dinner given in his favour as a platform for furthering his political career, Bournemouth now entering a new civic phase. His support came from respectable, middling businessmen but did not include the town’s political grandees, his opposition when arguing against incorporation. Back on the election trail in a few days, Cutler featured in a press report, at a local water-polo gala, presenting prizes he had donated. Unlike the dinner’s chairman, though, at the polls in November 1890, Cutler did not win election.
References
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