Problems: economic, commercial, personal

Introduction

Victorian Bournemouth (60) investigates several bankruptcies involving builders during the town’s second period. In some cases, prosecution occurred because of financial overreach combined with market downturns. On the other hand, personal conflict amongst the individuals involved in the developments may have played a role.

Victorian Bournemouth (60): smaller enterprises

People

Charles Gubbins

Charles Gubbins, a painter, went bankrupt in 1864, owing around £1,700. He blamed insufficiency of capital and creditors’ pressure. Gervis House caused him the problems. Although he may have lived in part of it, a tenant occupied another part for his business. The 1861 census identified James Thornton, a builder, living there. He had died by 1864, but his name appeared on the creditors’ list. Perhaps Gubbins became involved in bad speculation, advertising the property for sale in 1863. Later, he moved to Oxford Road, still active in 1891. 

Samuel Horner

The business of Samuel Horner may have consisted of monumental masonry rather than building. In 1870, he won the contract to create Daniel de Foe’s statue, situated in Bunhill Fields burial ground, London. A year before, he entered bankruptcy, owing over £1,200, because he had incurred ‘loss from sale of a building’. He appears to have speculated on St Ives House, a commercial property named perhaps after his birthplace, advertising it as early as 1867. Money problems had dogged him as early as 1865. 

Levi Butler

Described as a carpenter, builder, grocer, baker, and general dealer, Levi Butler tried to build a pair of six-bedroom villas situated in Palmerston Road. He attributed his bankruptcy to losses by building and pressure of creditors. He had subscribed for £530 of shares in the Bournemouth Building Society but his losses amounted to more, so could not pay. The society foreclosed pushing him into bankruptcy.

Diagnosis

Although described as builders in their bankruptcy reports, these three men seemed to operate on the periphery of the trade, otherwise working as craftsmen employed by contractors. They had perhaps watched full-time builders make good profits from speculation, but their inexperience and the economy worked against them. It seems possible that others, having an interest, took advantage of their difficulties, seeing the properties as a prize. This happened in another case and may have explained the relationship between Gubbins and Thornton, a professional builder. A solicitor may have provided funds to Horner, a common occurrence in development at the time, despite a possible conflict of interest. Questions about his property speculation would cause one solicitor to leave Bournemouth. The Bournemouth Building Society foreclosed on Butler’s inability to fund his shares, even though his house met most of the liability. It seems a hard decision, but the full story has disappeared.

Victorian Bournemouth (60): Joseph Cutler, a larger builder

Person

Joseph Cutler, part of a Christchurch fishing family, had had an adventurous life long before his building enterprise went bankrupt in 1869. During the previous decade he had taken his family to the gold diggings in Geelong, Australia. After returning he became a decorator, transforming this business into a successful property enterprise. His obituary attributed around a hundred houses to him, constructed during Bournemouth’s transition from resort to borough. A generous man, he once rewarded his workers with a celebratory dinner, held in the drawing room of a West Cliff villa just finished. He had a reputation for working fast, taking only six weeks to complete it, but events in 1869 moved too fast even for him. At that time, he had fourteen houses in development, a financial exposure of more than £6,000. Bankruptcy beckoned. His work-in-progress had depreciated too much for him to meet his liabilities.

Diagnosis

Cutler owed money to at least two investors, Thomas Rawlins, a Wimborne solicitor, and a Balham gentleman. He also could not pay suppliers: a timber merchant, a cement supplier, and an ironmonger. Others, bankrupted for less, seemed not to recover, even leaving the community. Joseph Cutler, however, seemed to take matters in his stride, in part perhaps because he had over £5,000 security against his debts. If he made a mistake, Cutler had fallen prey to operating at too great a scale. He had the misfortune to do so at a time when a tide of financial nervousness swept across the country, taking him in its wake. Plugged not only into the local economy, but society as well, Cutler went on to civic success and cultural ubiquity across church, sports, and masonic activities. The case of Henry Joy, however, a comparable builder to Cutler, may tell a different story.

Victorian Bournemouth (60): Henry Joy, another larger builder

Person  

Henry Joy achieved success at Bournemouth as a builder of major projects. In particular, he built the Gervis Arcade. This development also seemed to involve constructing 24 villas. A man of humble origins, a carpenter by trade, he and his brothers had migrated to the resort during its early period. They came from Hinton Martel, a rural parish lying between Wimborne and Cranborne. In 1870, James Haggard, a creditor, sued Joy and his business partner, Charles Rose, also from Hinton Martel, for £200. He alleged the debt went back two years or more. The case drove a wedge between the business partners, for Joy’s defence consisted of asserting that Rose had secured this loan on his own behalf and not that of the partnership. Despite his arguments, the jury did not believe any of it, finding for the plaintiff in the full amount. Bankruptcy could have followed.

Diagnosis

Joy must have had the resources to fund his share, because no evidence of his bankruptcy has emerged. By this time, he had achieved some social eminence, but not enough to help him win a position on the Improvement Commission. Mr Haggard also enjoyed local prominence, perhaps because of his social position, perhaps because he lent money. He featured on the creditors’ list for the bankrupt grocer Joseph Burton. Mr Haggard had already served on the Improvement Commission by the time he prosecuted Henry Joy. A year later, Joy once more came into court, this time for obstructing the public way, the Improvement Commission as plaintiff. The Bench, however, dismissed this, stating that the Commissioners had employed ‘sharp practice’, the obstruction not offending according to the law cited. Hence, perhaps Henry Joy had a bad relationship with the Commission or Commissioners, this bringing him to court and, almost, to bankruptcy. 

Takeaway

Victorian Bournemouth (60) has analysed in so far as possible the bankruptcies affecting builders occurring at the end of the 1860s. Economic downtown and creditors’ pressure perhaps played a part in these bankruptcies. On the other hand, personal issues between people involved in the developments may also have contributed to the court cases.

References

For references and engagement, please contact here. Thanks to Alwyn Ladell for this picture showing Henry Joy’s Gervis Arcade.