More hotels. Two markets.

Introduction

Victorian Bournemouth (85) compares the social profiles of the resorts’ hotel guests during its second period to explore whether the venues served different demographic segments. Census listings for 1861 and 1871 provide some data. Additional insight comes from a special analysis of all arrivals (and their venues) conducted on the figures reported each week by the Poole & Dorset Herald for 1864. 

Victorian Bournemouth (85): marketing background

Beginnings of segmentation in early 1860s

As Bournemouth’s earliest venue, the Bath Hotel catered for the resort’s early adopters. The press trumpeted the site’s appeal to affluent, fashionable people. In 1861, a duke’s daughter and a duke’s future wife stayed at the Bath. It also hosted a gentleman, member of a very wealthy northern family. The Belle Vue, once a lodging house, may not have enjoyed the same level of prestige. In 1861, its guests included a draper, a master-mariner, and an army Cornet. According to the 1864 analysis army and navy officers featured amongst the guests of each venue. The Bath hosted admirals, a general, and a VC winner, while lower-ranked officers stayed at the Belle Vue. A third hotel – the London – appeared during the 1850s. Its guests in 1861 included farmers’ daughters and a glass merchant. Thus, during the early 1860s, Bournemouth’s three hotels attracted people having different levels of social prestige.

Established segmentation in late 1860s

Analysis of guests listed by the 1871 census for all the hotels suggests that this social division between hotels continued. The Bath, Belle Vue, Lansdowne, and the Stewart applied the adjective ‘family’ to their names at this time. The London, in contrast, used the term ‘commercial’ as part of its identification. The Victoria fluctuated between these terms. Genealogical exploration suggests that commercial hotels catered to middling people and artisans. A builder’s foreman stayed at the Westbourne. Two commercial travellers featured amongst the London’s guests. These hotels may also have competed for trade with local taverns. In contrast, the ‘family’ hotels catered to the established Bournemouth segment consisting of affluent people. People who stayed here for the most part continued to belong to the upper social levels. Aristocrats, senior clergy, lawyers, and landed proprietors featured amongst them. In some cases, their connections extended to Europe, the West Indies, and China. 

Victorian Bournemouth (85): new elite hotels

Lansdowne and Exeter

Genealogical exploration suggests that the Lansdowne proved attractive to established members of society. Amongst those identified featured a baronet’s sister-in-law, having considerable wealth of her own, an aristocratic party, and a deputy lord-lieutenant who also served as a magistrate. No lesser people came to the Exeter. Here a barrister, a builder, a beef-raiser, and a boilermaker stayed, all privileged, some to leave substantial estates. Thomas Woodhouse, an undergraduate, born in Tours, staying at the Exeter would become a clergyman. His father, a civil engineer, had worked in France, Italy, and Surinam. He had left his widow funds and mortgages to provide for the boy. Thus, the new hotels and their managers seemed to appeal to the same audience as did the Bath. As this volume first expanded beyond the Bath’s capacity, it had gone to the large villas. Now, however they had hotel facilities perhaps equal to the Bath for choice. 

Stewart

The Stewart advertised often for staff, perhaps as it came to operate on greater capacity, or because hotel staff did not stay long. The advertisements presented a consistent image, appealing also to its clientele. Words such as ‘first-class’ and ‘private’ appeared as descriptors of the hotel. Its owners wanted ‘active’ and ‘clean’ staff. Time and again, the copy emphasised a need for staff experience in similar hotels. Genealogical exploration shows that they attracted customers having similar social backgrounds to those of the other elite hotels. Hugh McNeile, the fiery evangelist Dean of Ripon, stayed there in 1871, no friend of Tractarians (amongst whom numbered Bournemouth’s incumbent Reverend A. M. Bennett). The Stewarts, nevertheless, balanced a clerical tightrope because they welcomed, staying at the same time, the daughters of the Bishop of Sodor and Man, a well-known Tractarian. This suggests that perhaps, amongst such people, social commonalities overcame professional divisions.

Victorian Bournemouth (85): family and famous

Family

Deeper genealogical exploration suggests that some guests staying at the elite hotels, despite different surnames, belonged to the same family. For example, at the Exeter, without census indication, the Goldsmids (Alice, 21, widow and her son Harold, 3) and the Fendalls (Augusta, her mother, plus two adult brothers) all belonged to the same family. Augusta Fendall, born in Jamaica, came from a plantation family, while her husband, how deceased, had worked as a Queen’s Messenger during the Crimean War. At the Stewart, the Bishop of Sodor’s three daughters, surname Powys, stayed at the same time as their cousin, Archibald Campbell-Colquhoun, though the enumerator appears not to have known this. Other guests at the Stewart, without apparent connection, may also have shared links since Ireland features in their personal histories. These discoveries show the extent that affluent people having extended kinship or friendship connections may have formed combined travel groups.

Famous

Perhaps travelling as a friend of Archibald Campbell-Colquhoun, another guest of the Stewart had an international background: Augustus Hare, born in Rome. Listed as a landed proprietor, Hare wrote several books, some on aspects of his family, some about travel. Somerset Maugham would later become a friend. Both the clergymen guests, Hugh McNeile and Horatio Powys, had prominent public profiles stemming from the active articulation of their religious beliefs. Sir William Lawrence, one of the Exeter’s guests in 1871, served in Parliament as did two of his brothers, fame in a different quadrant. Other guests would have enjoyed fame within their own circles and the audiences that watched them. The press always found the arrivals of aristocracy and others of good name worthy of ink. Baroness Egerton would have qualified for such attention, but many of the others had similar social connections. Thus, Bournemouth continued to attract celebrity attention.

Takeaway

Victorian Bournemouth (85), therefore, has found that Bournemouth’s hotels perhaps fell into two separate marketing categories. Four, perhaps five if including the Belle Vue, catered to the resort’s original market: affluent tourists. Another three sought business from commercial travellers and artisans as well as the town’s drinking population. Genealogical exploration has revealed that holiday groups of affluent people might include wider kin and friends.

References

For references and engagement, please get in touch. Main primary sources: here and here (subscriptions needed). See also here for more on Bournemouth’s tourists.