‘Carriage people’ keep away
Introduction
Victorian Bournemouth (223) follows the progress made by the Springbourne and Malmesbury Park ratepayers’ association during the 1890s. Extension of the franchise had increased the possibilities for electors to express their wishes. This association and others in the town influenced the selection of candidates as well as guiding their behaviour in the chamber. Inhabited for the most part by working people, the area evolved a hardening prejudice against those they labelled ‘carriage people’.
Victorian Bournemouth (223): background
Springbourne and Bournemouth history
In origin, a dormitory suburb to house working people away from the resort’s visiting gentry, Springbourne at first lay beyond the authority of Bournemouth’s Improvement Commission. Bournemouth’s strategy for creating a drainage system that helped sustain its reputation for health encouraged the Commission to absorb Springbourne, not without local protest. Springbourne’s minimal drainage and its residents’ habits of keeping pigs in their yards sharpened prejudice against the area amongst respectable people. Local press provided regular and full coverage of the frequent appearances in court made by Springbourne people. They heard charges for drunkenness and brawling but also rioting with arson. Editors spun the area as a human zoo, whose inspection offered endless amusement for respectable people. The area’s facilities attracted little attention from the civic authority. Perhaps in response, Springbourne’s residents evolved parochial programmes for social protection, for example, self-help financial schemes as well as becoming a focus for unionisation.
Association’s overview
In 1897, a group at Springbourne and Malmesbury Park had sufficient coherence and support to form a Ratepayers’ Association. Its organising committee held several meetings that year. They harnessed the local media, providing content for regular coverage. Although driven by a need to improve local facilities, the ratepayers also developed a political agenda. This resulted in a significant victory during the municipal elections later that year. Having secured a tighter connection with the council chamber, the association maintained a vocal presence over the next few years. Its interest ventured beyond the ward, opinions advanced on the council, affecting the whole town’s well-being. Keen to keep their rates low, they attacked expensive examples of the council’s aggrandising policies to enhance the town’s tourist appeal. Nevertheless, a local commentator referred to lethargy amongst the members. Revivals occurred, but the association inclined towards political commentary over formulating actions to achieve specific objectives.
Victorian Bournemouth (223): activity
Unseating Councillor Webber
John Webber, son of a Dorset wine merchant, worked as a representative of brewers Eldridge Pope for years. By 1881, he had taken on the South-Western Hotel, located in Springbourne, near the East Station. Webber used this as a base to establish substantial recognition and reputation within the area, and, later, the town. He translated himself into civic office, first as an Improvement Commissioner, then, during the 1890s, as a councillor. In the municipal elections for November 1897, Webber’s term finished, whereupon he offered himself for re-election. Under the leadership of John Aldridge Parsons, however, the Springbourne Ratepayers’ Association did not accept Webber unopposed. They put up Parsons against him, securing a large margin of 133. Parsons, a successful dairyman and member of the Board of Guardians, appears to have caught Webber unawares. Webber had shown little interest in the Association. Indeed, election details listed him as a ‘gentleman’.
Lobbying
The association perhaps had most success in driving the election of John Parsons. They turned to other issues. Some related to improving the local facilities within the ward. These included a recreation ground, swimming baths, a reading room, and improving roads and lighting. In addition, the association appears to have devoted much attention to obtaining greater representation in the council. Electoral statistics show that Springbourne and Malmesbury Park, both areas covered by one ward, had as many electors as three of the western divisions together. Yet the division, in common with each of the others, elected only three councillors. A wariness existed amongst ‘carriage people’ about extending civic influence to working people. Some thought the absorption of Winton and Pokesdown, other concentrations of working people, would create an imbalance on the council. Thus, Ratepayers’ attempts to obtain attention in extending representation for Springbourne fell on stony ground.
Victorian Bournemouth (223): assessment
Short shelf-life
Previous references to ratepayers’ associations suggest that, at Bournemouth, they had a limited life. A subject of specific interest and importance could unite people. After the Improvement Act, a turbulent meeting occurred when ratepayers expressed their discontent at having to fund the programmes through increased taxation. This did not lead to extended action, however. A Town Interest Association flourished for a limited period during the later years. At Springbourne, local columnists soon muttered about lethargy and the need to resuscitate their Ratepayers’ Association not long after Parsons won his seat. Indeed, there seems room to believe that his supporters had created the association to win Webber’s seat. Knowledgeable politicians would have known that he had to retire at that election, leaving an opportunity to oppose him at the polls. Thus, having achieved this, the Springbourne Ratepayers’ Association fell victim to civic lethargy outside elections.
Social pressure gauge
The Ratepayers’ Association may have had short-term political objectives, but it still provided a less ephemeral monitor for a valued collective identity amongst working people. In part, this perhaps originated in media smears about their lifestyle as seen by respectable types, but by the late 1890s, it had acquired a parochial resilience. This emerged when the ratepayers discussed fee levels for the two new secondary schools. To their disappointment, the price pushed the schools beyond their reach. In their aggrieved discussion, they described as ‘carriage people’ those able to educate their children here. The same people had hijacked the Free Library for their purpose. Nothing looked funnier than carriages drawing up outside the library. These comments came not from downtrodden people, kept in place by respectable zookeepers, but those who had evolved a confident identity built around valued proprietary beliefs. The Ratepayers’ Association became a channel for their expression.
Takeaway
Victorian Bournemouth (223) studied the Springbourne and Malmesbury Park Ratepayers’ Association to examine the political and social identity among working people during the 1890s. The vocabulary used in their meetings indicates the presence of a strong, local culture. The members’ reaction to their exclusion from new secondary schools due to high fee levels suggests an interest in education as a means of advancement. During this period, local union organisers also focused more on education. Furthermore, in the year the Association was founded, Bournemouth experienced its first industrial strike.
References
For references and engagement, please get in touch. Main primary sources: here and here (subscriptions needed). See also here and here.
Kitablios