New industries. Social networks.

Introduction

Victorian Bournemouth (82) reports on genealogical analysis conducted about men who joined Bournemouth’s Masonic Lodge (Hengist) 1862-1871. Identification for many has emerged, thereby supporting a study for patterns. The analysis offers insights on Bournemouth’s contemporary economic and social profile but also about networking. 

Victorian Bournemouth (82): members’ survey (1)

Old types of members

Bournemouth’s population almost doubled between 1851 and 1861. Over the next decade it more than doubled. These figures come from the census listings. The numbers of names found in trade directories for 1859 and 1871 reflect this level of increase. Membership of Hengist, the Masonic Lodge, however, more than quadrupled over a similar period. The pace of entry accelerated after the mid 1860s. Thus, the rate at which new brethren joined Hengist ran at around double that at which the overall population and commercial sector also grew. After Hengist’s transfer from Christchurch to Bournemouth in 1851, most brethren consisted of builders, professionals, and retailers. Several members also played a conspicuous role in the resort’s communal and civic life. A few would become Improvement Commissioners. Identification for most new members has emerged. The pattern of their occupations matched the earlier profile, but greater complexity and a new category appeared.

New types of members

According to the 1861 census, only one musician resided at Bournemouth, a music professor. Ten years later, however, this number had grown to sixteen, half of whom taught the subject as an occupation. Now, customers could buy pianos in Bournemouth. Six new Hengist brethren had musical abilities, some organists, some teachers. For many years, Bournemouth’s dentistry consisted of visits from travelling surgeons, but now one took up residence as well as joining Hengist. Joseph Moore would continue to provide dental services for Bournemouth at least until 1911. Some of Hengist’s new members came to Bournemouth as commercial travellers. They sold timber or metal products, but according to census listings lived elsewhere. During this period, the Improvement Commission took over the supply of gas and water from a London company. The 1871 census listed the gas-works manager resident in Bournemouth. He had perhaps arrived by 1867, the year he joined Hengist.

Victorian Bournemouth (82):  members’ survey (2)

A tilting to professionals

Reflecting Bournemouth’s continuing building activities, several builders joined Hengist, adding to the several older brethren. These included two successful local builder-developers, Joseph Lander and William Watton. The latter also became an Improvement Commissioner. Now, however, the numbers of professionals amongst the initiates appeared to tilt the old profile away from the construction workers. Medical men accounted for much of this. In addition to the dentist, five physicians or surgeons joined the lodge during the 1860s. Nevertheless, only John Snow joined Joseph Moore, the dentist, in becoming long-term residents of the town. Three lawyers also became lodge brethren, although two of them seemed to have their bases elsewhere: Poole and Ringwood. The third, the ubiquitous Matthew Webb, would pursue an extensive community and civic life at Bournemouth before circumstances caused his departure. An architect, a teacher, and a bank-manager also featured amongst the professionals initiated into Hengist.

Hospitality businesses

During this period, several new hotels opened for business in Bournemouth. Public houses also increased in number. New wine & spirits businesses replaced the former suppliers, but also increased the category’s size. These increases occurred despite the activities of an organised Temperance campaign within the resort. Once again, Hengist’s new brethren shadowed a trend within the commercial world. Two of the three wine & spirits merchants registered in the 1871 census became masons at this period. In addition, the two Briant brothers joined, both of whom would manage stores of this type in Bournemouth. A lodging-house keeper and two hotel managers became Hengist brethren, amongst them Thomas Waters. Publican at the Royal Arms and, later, manager of the London Hotel, Waters appeared to have a firm relationship with, if not membership, of the Odd-Fellows. Once again, therefore, the patterns amongst Hengist’s initiates corresponded to those within Bournemouth’s commercial sector. 

Victorian Bournemouth (82): members’ survey (3)

Kinship as a criterion for membership

The arrival of George Gooch, the gas manager, earlier seemed to reflect a change within supply of that commodity. Yet, Gooch had married Susannah Rebbeck. The Rebbecks, her father and her brother, played prominent roles in Bournemouth through their estate agency. Both also belonged to Hengist. The Tuck family had a similar history at Bournemouth, but in the associated business of construction. Old David’s granddaughter, Sarah Tuck, daughter of Peter, developer, architect, and Improvement Commissioner, married Henry Hitchcock, one of the physicians who joined Hengist at this time. The Tucks also belonged to the lodge. The hotelier Joseph Softlaw had married a woman who had Tuck as her middle name. She also may have had linkages with the Bournemouth family. It seems plausible, therefore, that both Gooch and Hitchcock, as well as perhaps Softlaw, became Hengist members more because of their kinship connections than their commercial associations.

Networks within networks

It seems possible that some of Hengist’s new entrants had at least professional if not personal acquaintance with each other. The physicians and lawyers must have known about each other if only as competitors within such a small market. The same will have applied to the musical new members – organists and teachers. The professional commonality in these networks would have inclined them towards strong structures having deep affinity. As such, they would have had limitations. By joining Hengist, these men added a weak tie to their networks. These would have situated them within a context for greater revenue opportunities. For example, well-to-do masons having social ambitions might want their children to have music lessons. Indeed, several of the initiates later moved away as part of their employment. Others, for example, the commercial travellers may have joined to access Bournemouth’s market. Thus, Hengist transformed some initiates’ personal networks.

Takeaway

Victorian Bournemouth (82) has suggested how the profile of Hengist’s new membership during the 1860s matched developing patterns within the resort’s commercial sector. In addition, it has explored such other issues as kinship and networking theory as they may have applied to Bournemouth’s Masonic Lodge.

References

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