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Topographical focus
Bournemouth
John Garrett celebrates the bicentenary of
the south coast resort
Bournemouth is a young town, having only just celebrated
its 200th anniversary, unlike its much older
neighbours of Christchurch and Poole. The town lies
in an area surrounding the mouth of the ‘Bourne’
stream on a wild, desolate heathland with a few fishermen’s
hovels on common land used for grazing,
and a few paths crossing the area. Its use in the 18th
century was as a popular route for smugglers, the
most famous of whom was Isaac Gulliver.
The Christchurch enclosure
act of 1802 passed by parliament
enabled much of the
common land to be enclosed
and sold to seven freeholders,
which cleared the way
for plantations of pine trees
to be planted replacing much
of the gorse and heath and
roads were developed from
rough tracks. An inn, long
since gone, was established
to provide facilities between
Christchurch and Poole. In
1796, when the shoreline
between Hengistbury Head
and Sandbanks was recognised
as a possible place for
an invasion by Napoleon, a
troop of Dorset Yeomanry
under the command of Captain
Lewis Dymock
Grosvenor Tregonwell was
responsible for the defence of
The coat of arms was
granted to the town on
March 24th 1891. The
crest on the top
consists of four English
roses surmounted
by a palm tree.
The town’s motto “Pulchritudo
et salubritas” is
below on an ornamental
scroll and means ‘beautiful
and healthy’. The
postcard, postmarked
Bournemouth, June 30,
1905 is one of the ‘Ja-Ja’
heraldic series of cards
designed and produced
in England.
the area. In 1810, whilst
holidaying with his rich
wife Henrietta at Mudeford,
they drove over
the beaches and sand
dunes to the mouth of a
little stream called ‘bourne’
where she fell in love with the
beautiful pine trees, sand
dunes and warm climate.
Captain Tregonwell, whose
main home was at Cranborne,
immediately purchased
8 1 /2 acres from Sir
George Tapps and in 1812,
built a house called ‘The Mansion’
which today
is the site of “The
Royal Exeter
Hotel” in Exeter
R o a d .
Bournemouth
owes its beginnings
to Tregonwell
who
has been
called ‘the
founder of
Bournemouth’.
He certainly
was the first to
Bournemouth, The Russell-Cotes Art Gallery and Museum
In 1894 Sir Merton Russell-Cotes Mayor of Bournemouth
built the East Cliff Hall on the East Cliff as a birthday present
for Annie, his wife. It was to be their private house
and on completion he announced he would give a large
part of his art collection and his wife, Annie, would give the
house and most of its contents to the town provided they
could live there during their lifetimes. It was opened as the
Russell-Cotes Art Gallery and Museum by Princess Beatrice,
Queen Victoria’s youngest daughter in 1919. This card
is unused and has no indication of printer or publisher.
see its potential as a health
resort for the wealthy, sick,
and elderly, but times have
changed and now the town is
regarded as one of the most
popular holiday resorts on
the south coast with a population
of 165,000. Tregonwell
died on January 18th 1832
aged 73 and his wife Henrietta
two months later aged 76.
They are buried in the Tregonwell
tomb in St. Peter’s
churchyard, the town’s mother
church. Bournemouth’s
remote location from London
meant its development into a
seaside resort was slow but
by the 1850s the town was
beginning to take shape. The
Bournemouth Improvement
Act of 1856 and the Board of
Commissioners began by
providing the facilities and
publicity needed to make it a
popular resort, the census of
1851 recording a jump from
700 to nearly 17,000 in 1881,
and its image as a centre for
the wealthy and ailing grew.
The Russell-Cotes family
came from Glasgow because
of Mr. Merton’s poor health,
and after visiting the town
and staying at the Royal
Bath Hotel, he acquired it in
1880. Later, as Sir Merton,
Mayor of Bournemouth, in
1894 he built the Russell-
Cotes museum on the East
Cliff as a birthday present for
his wife, Annie. Originally
called ‘East Cliff Hall’, it is
now the Russell-Cotes Museum
and Art Gallery and well
worth a visit. They donated
the house and contents to
the town provided they could
live there during their lifetimes.
In 1893 Sir Merton
became the only Mayor of
Bournemouth who had not
been a councillor. He was
made a freeman in 1908 and
knighted a year later. Travellers
wanti-
The earliest recorded postcard from
Bournemouth is dated 15th April 1897 printed
in Holstein, Germany. Originally classed
as a court card, the message appeared on
the front as only the address was allowed
on the back of the card prior to 1902 when
the divided back type of cards were sanctioned
by the post office. This card, dated
25 Feb 1899, shows an early coloured view
of “The Chine” and was sent from the Durley
Hall, Durley Chine with a very clear
Bournemouth cancel of 25 Feb 1899 printed
by the Pictorial Stationary Co at the
fine art works, Holstein.
14 Picture Postcard Monthly July 2010