To forget and to forge
Introduction
Victorian Bournemouth (259) traces the resort’s rapid evolution from a quiet convalescent colony to a powerful municipal corporation. It achieved this transformation in just over half a century, but this did not occur without social conflict, a competition between old and new money. The images of the stream and the fountain symbolise that struggle.
Victorian Bournemouth (259): two visions
Arcadian refuge for the best people
In the Victorian period, the privileged used their inherited wealth for leisured living. They considered this behaviour a worthwhile activity. Such people sought to exclude lesser types by social and physical discrimination. They expected deference from perceived social inferiors. Some might demolish their labourers’ cottages and rehouse their inhabitants out of sight. Early visitors to the area surrounding the Bourne stream belonged to this social group. They came for two reasons. If ailing, the salubrious local climate facilitated convalescence. If well, the isolated site offered a fashionable watering place to enjoy secluded leisure. The site’s benefits attracted an increasing number of such people. Some residents may have hoped that the site would become an exclusive assembly point for the gentry. This seaside watering place could become an Arcadian colony, free from constraint and progress. The Bourne stream and a sylvan setting symbolise the privileged people’s pastoral vision of seclusion.
An opportunity for improvement from hard work
As the country’s economic centre of gravity shifted from agriculture to industry and commerce, opportunities arose for people without privilege to gain social advancement. They differed from the gentry in their values: hard work, earned wealth, profit, education, and self-help. Respectability became a significant ambition. As the gentry sought to increase rents from improving land, they obtained advances from self-improvement. To such people, the natural properties of the Bourne Valley offered opportunities to prosper. Municipalisation of the site represented a positive collective ambition that would resonate with their shared values. Urbanisation could empower these people, translating their earned wealth into authority. The creation of public amenities and expansive townhouses became important signifiers of their civic control and personal reputations. A population that grew with each census, an expanding economy, and the town’s widening fame represented markers of their success. A municipal fountain serves as an appropriate symbol for their enterprise.
Victorian Bournemouth (259): the inevitable clash
Affluent bullying
By the 1850s, successful commercial men of humble origins had attained a level of wealth and confidence that enabled them to champion their alternative vision to the Arcadian colony. Clashes resembled social firestorms. Inherited privilege utilised affluent bullying against perceived social upstarts. Well-to-do physicians brandished royal connections as they attempted to excoriate the Improvement Commission about drainage. The builders and retailers held their ground. A doughty hotelier resisted the bullying attempted by Lord Malmesbury concerning the establishment of a local volunteer unit. A reactionary cleric sneered at the lack of gentlemen serving on the Improvement Commission. They tried to monopolise the property market to control voters and to win seats on the Improvement Commission. During the 1870s, however, they pushed the Commission into several bad decisions. These incurred financial penalties. Privileged, but unqualified, members inspected drainage works, poking at them with their umbrellas. Derision dented hauteur.
Doughty persistence
Urbanisation offered a political space where improved, ‘better people’ could overcome the affluent bullying conducted by the ‘best people’. Municipal status favoured the commercial people over the established gentry and those with inherited privilege. Improvement, progress, and change reflected the entrepreneurial spirit of the town’s new power brokers. Opponents of municipal incorporation jeered at its supporters for wanting to wear the mayor’s robes and carry a mace. The New Men’s ambitions, however, lay in enhancing the town’s infrastructure and a series of public works to improve the amenities. They understood how corporate status enabled the use of advanced financial tools, for example, municipal bonds. Hand-to-mouth borrowing at high rates belonged in the past. Municipal (1890) and County (1900) Borough status introduced stronger governance and the ability to widen the town’s footprint by absorbing some suburbs. Most of the early mayors came from the ranks of ‘better people’.
Victorian Bournemouth (259): creating a community
Growing together
Organised religion, in the form of High Church ritual and the social anxiety generated by Temperance groups, attempted to assert its authority over the town’s emerging community. By the 1870s, however, worshippers had many choices. Securing a licence to build a theatre dampened puritan torches. Many types of collective behaviour occurred. Cricket, music, amateur dramatics, art exhibitions, natural history, workers’ associations, and football attracted adherents. The town’s municipal progress offered a protective shield under which people could develop personal interests and build connections. Some of these flourished for reasons of self-interest, others blossomed through charitable inclinations, often in favour of the hospital or similar foundations. At signs of a harsh winter, groups rushed to establish a framework for administering soup kitchens and coal deliveries for the unemployed poor. Some groups gathered respectable people, others collected labourers. The latter practised self-help through slate clubs, Thrift Building Societies, and similar groups.
The chrysanthemum
In the 1890s, national interest in chrysanthemums grew, and in Bournemouth, this enthusiasm led to organised efforts to celebrate the flower. Locals formed an association, established a committee, and promoted involvement from prominent members of society. The group hosted annual exhibitions where people competed for prizes, attracting royal participants and official backing. Social norms of the time shaped the association; most winning entries reflected the hard work of gardeners, whose names appeared in brackets in news reports. Although cottagers could enter, their contests focused on vegetables instead of flowers. Still, behind the scenes, working gardeners—including the treasurer—guided decisions as the true experts, albeit offering their skills for compensation. In this way, the celebration of chrysanthemums united all levels of Bournemouth society. A simple, colourful flower provided a way for the town to forget the social conflict and puritan zeal of earlier years and to forge a unified community.
Takeaway
Victorian Bournemouth (259) traces how the greenfield Bourne Valley became a County Borough within sixty years. Local leaders and groups guided the community through various challenges, promoting unity beyond religion, politics, and puritanism. The example of the Chrysanthemum Society demonstrated cooperation between classes to create successful events, such as flower shows. Ultimately, the “Fountain” vision prevailed over the “Stream,” although the stream continues through the valley.
References
For references and engagement, please get in touch. Main primary sources: here and here (subscriptions needed). See also here and here. The featured picture shows an imagined scene.
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