Greater choice. Local landmarks.

Introduction

Victorian Bournemouth (94) surveys hotels present in the resort during its second period. It establishes their number, their commercial and social usage, and profiles the managers. The old duopoly comprising the Bath and Belle Vue hotels faded as new businesses entered the category.

Victorian Bournemouth (94): background

Hotel population

Bournemouth’s systematic commercial development began with the Bath Hotel. Its building appears to have anticipated the arrival of Westover Villas located in a strip nearby. Not long after this, the press began referring to the Belle Vue, at first a lodging house, but later, in part through acquisition of a licence, a hotel. They provided the only choice of hotels for visitors during most of the early period. The 1861 census listed the London Hotel, although a press clipping shows it in operation by 1858. Thereafter, the Victoria opened by 1864, a late venture of Samuel Bayly. A plan for the Bournemouth Hotel appears to have faltered in 1867, but by 1871 five additional hotels had arrived: Exeter Park, Lansdowne, Stewart, Westbourne, and a Temperance Hotel. The new hotels had scattered locations, most new buildings. The Stewart Family Hotel, however, arose from an amalgamation of properties within Richmond Terrace.

Usage

The hotels’ primary commercial usage lay in hospitality: rooms and board. The Bath and Belle Vue each had long had an adjoined ‘tap’, but by 1871 the Lansdowne made a third. The Victoria also had a bar. The hotels obtained revenue in addition to hospitality. Auctions had occurred in the early days of the Bath Hotel. These continued but the tradition extended to the newer venues. Auctioneers used the Lansdowne, London, and Victoria hotels for this purpose. Some hotels could also accommodate balls. This had happened at both the Bath and Belle Vue hotels in the beginning, but as time passed the latter appeared to prevail until the new Town Hall offered competition. Hotels also featured as stops on the omnibus system, perhaps participating in the business. The press reported a bad crash happened to a bus returning from a hotel on the way to Poole.

Victorian Bournemouth (94): managers and proprietors

Bath and Belle Vue

Both hotels experienced reasonable management stability during Bournemouth’s second period. Miss Toomer had the Bath from around 1841 to 1868 whereupon her niece, Emma Bailey, a young widow, appeared in charge for 1871. After Samuel Bayly’s bankruptcy, William Bill took over the Belle Vue. A butcher from the Midlands, his family farmed 110 acres. He plunged into Bournemouth’s public life. His name appeared in connected with several community events. These included the establishment of Volunteers, supporting the Poole-Bournemouth railway project, winning elections as a Union Guardian and churchwarden. Above all, this ‘well-known lover of British field sports’ helped steer the town as an active Improvement Commissioner. He took a prominent role in the Commission’s defence when local physicians attacked the drainage system. The arrival of gas and public lights also took his attention. At his funeral, after an early death at 47, some shops closed in respect.

New hotels

Men from different geographic and occupational backgrounds ran the new hotels. Some had relevant experience, some did not. For example, Nicholas Newlyn, had the Exeter hotel in Bournemouth in addition to an establishment in Christchurch. The son of a carrier, he had run Sturminster Newton’s Crown Inn before going to Christchurch. Newlyn’s sons appear to have managed the Exeter while he stayed in Christchurch. Edwin Ford took over the Victoria. A coachman and a coachman’s son, Edwin married a servant. Joseph Softlaw, who had run London hotels, took over the Lansdowne from another experienced manager. A Scotsman, James Stewart had run pubs in Calne and Fordingbridge before managing his eponymous hotel on Richmond Hill. A bricklayer’s son, James Knight, built, managed, and sold property in west Bournemouth, including the Westbourne Hotel. Thomas Waters, a joiner’s son, from Corfe Castle, at first a grocer, came to manage the older London Hotel.

Victorian Bournemouth (94): local institutions

Family linkage

Miss Toomer and Samuel Bayly had managed or maintained an association with their hotels for many years. Their lengthy tenure perhaps contrasted with early Bournemouth’s transient population. As had Bayly, William Bill established a prominent role in the town’s affairs, but early death ended his tenure. His widow, however, remarried, continuing to run the Belle Vue with her second husband for another decade. This pattern of retention applied for other hotels. James Stewart, seventy at the helm in 1871, died six years later, but his widow and then daughter continued the family’s association. The Newlyn family’s tenure lasted beyond Victoria’s reign, management going into the second generation also. The Softlaws’ tenure of the Lansdowne followed the same line as the Stewarts’. Joseph had become an Improvement Commissioner, as had William Bill. James Knight went bankrupt in 1875, his assets sold. The other hotels appeared to change hands during the 1870s.

Local landmarks

During Bournemouth’s second period, regimented development using streets replaced the earlier scattered distribution of villas. Other parts of its built environment combined to develop the town’s physical identity, for example, the Pier and the Sanatorium. Surviving photographs, although perhaps from somewhat later, show the hotels as substantial buildings having an individuality. They too will have contributed to the town’s presence and identity. Use of the hotels for local purposes – auctions, entertainment – extended their association beyond visitors. The hotels thus became part of the residents’ commercial and cultural life. Evidence from the press clippings suggests that the hotels became reference points. Nearby businesses advertised their location in relation to one of the hotels. Police reports, used in court cases for events occurring in the town’s streets, sometimes used one of the hotels as a reference point. Thus, in part because of their physical presence, but also, in part, because of their multiple uses, the hotels formed an important part of town life.

Takeaway

Victorian Bournemouth (94) has shown how Bournemouth acquired new hotels in its second period. Their managers came from different occupational backgrounds, not all having relevant experience. Of those in place during 1871, some passed away before the next census, but others continued running their hotels for many years.

References

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