Introduction

Wealthy tourists populated early Victorian Bournemouth’s Westover Villas during 1851. A trade directory for 1849 observed that only a ‘few poor fishermen’ had dwelt on the Bournemouth site. Now ‘aristocracy’ frequented it to a great deal. In July 1838, the Dorset County Chronicle talked about ‘this picturesque and beautiful spot, already the residence of several highly respectable families’.  A genealogical analysis of traceable people staying in Westover Villas, the marine village’s original buildings, sixteen in number, at the time of the 1851 Census suggests that, as a group, these characterisations reflected reality. More subtle social differences, however, may have separated them.

Affluent spa society

Affluence

For the most part, wealthy tourists comprised the bulk of families staying at Westover Villas at the time of the 1851 census. The Wingfield Digby daughters (grandfather a baronet) and Douglas Stuart (kinship with the Earl of Moray) had aristocratic lineage. Furthermore, traceable estates suggest the remainder enjoyed reasonable wealth. Most estates had a worth of five figures, including a widow’s at more than £50,000. Clement Royds, villa 5, a Lancashire businessman, had created a large fortune based on textiles and then banking. In addition to other bequests, each of five children received £10,000. Robert Gill, villa 11, another Lancashire textile merchant, had an estate worth around £20,000. More traditional money also had its representation: John Wyndham, a landed proprietor left over £25,000. The wealth appeared in the number of servants working in each of their villas. On average each family had three servants, two households had seven, another six.

Spa society

Philip Pedler, villa 4, born in Devon, had served in the Indian Army. He and his family would go to Brighton, where he died in 1862. Douglas Stuart, villa 9, also passed away in Brighton. The Percival sisters, villa 1, landed proprietors, came from Acomb, Yorkshire. The three women had a taste for spa society, visiting together on each recorded occasion. Records show them at Leamington for 1861 and 1871, then by 1879 they had arrived at Dover. A few of the 1851 Westover Villa set developed a taste for Bournemouth, for they returned in later years. The Pedlers came again in 1861 before going to Brighton. The Wingfield Digby family seem to have developed an attachment to Westover Villas, the father dying there in 1878. The Census for 1881 and 1901 recorded daughter Edith there also, president of Bournemouth’s YWCA in the latter year.

Professional and commercial wealth

Professional

Some of Westover Villas’ wealthy tourists had professional connections: church, law or army. Some families combined more than one of these spheres. Three families belonged to clerical families. Take Arabella Richards, villa 14, for example. Her sister married a cleric, a cleric’s son, while her brother Joseph, remained at Exeter College, Oxford, becoming its rector. Later he served as chaplain to the Prince Consort. Two of the male heads of family also had clerical connections. John Wyndham, villa 5, followed his father to Oxford (Oriel and Wadham colleges), but did not continue into the church. Instead, he chose law (Lincoln’s Inn), later becoming a J.P. for Somerset, and making money from land. Villa 10 contained another clerical family: Wingfield Digby. Several crossovers occurred: Colonel Philip Pedler (Indian Army) married an attorney’s daughter, whereas the attorney, John Wyndham, married a colonel’s daughter, while businessman Robert Gill had a cleric as father.

Commercial

Wealthy tourists Robert Gill and Clement Royds had fortunes stemming from northern textile businesses, wool and cotton. The Royds family had a long establishment in that part of the world, as did perhaps Gill’s, despite his Dorset baptism. He appears to have made money as a cotton broker in Liverpool, a daughter baptised there not long after his marriage. By 1861, however, he described his occupation as ‘landed proprietor’, an improvement. The 1851 Census listed the wool merchant Clement Royds as Deputy Lieutenant of Lancashire and Yorkshire, a suitable acknowledgement for such a grandee. By this time, however, Royds had already stepped into the world of finance, by acquiring a bank. His neighbour at Westover Villas, George Ledgard’s family had followed a similar trail. His father, a Poole merchant, wealthy from trade with Newfoundland, established a bank. Until the bank failed, the Ledgards appeared often in local society events.

Respectable society

Cross-section

On the basis of the profiles established here, the term ‘highly respectable’ used by the local press would seem to apply to more of these visitors rather than the word ‘aristocracy’ fielded by the directory. Several members of the aristocracy, even a royal, had come to early Bournemouth, but, perhaps by 1851 the town’s appeal had moved to the affluent respectable.  F.M.L. Thompson talked about the ‘traditional ruling class’ comprised of landed people and gentry linked with their ‘traditional allies in law and the Church’. The richest sections of the business community, he defined as ‘friends, allies and in-laws’ to landed and gentle people. Analysis has shown such a combination present at Westover Villas on 30^th March, 1851, census day. These wealthy tourists therefore provided a cross-section of affluent respectability when seen from outside, but did a pecking order exist and how did it work?

Cohesion

Within the context of wealthy tourists on holiday, staying in close proximity, this analysis prompts considerations about the level of group cohesion. To a working person, they all seemed rich, requiring deference without exception. Inside the group, however, various combinations of wealth (amount and source) and status (occupation and lineage) might have created subtle social differences. Consider the cases of Douglas Stuart’s wife and Clement Royds. Married to an aristocrat, she would leave one of the largest estates of the group. Royds, however, enjoyed enormous wealth derived from commerce. Almost neighbours, personalities aside, to what extent would these families seek or avoid each other’s society? This, therefore, raises the further question of the role that spas might play in blending different strains of respectability. Bournemouth perhaps could combine the timeless perspective of landed people with time-driven needs of wealthy manufacturers to create a third alternative.

Takeaway   

While each of the Westover Villas resembled the others, they incorporated differences in look or specification. In a similar way, their occupants perhaps all appeared to qualify as wealthy tourists to observers outside their social group. Inside the group, however, subtle differences in status and wealth perhaps created a hidden pecking order.

References

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