Out of all the evidence I think the early development of Southend was very successful, mainly for attracting the Royal family, the Royal Hotel was named because of this, this attracted the middle class to the area, they stayed in the hotel and took to the water, which brought more trade to Southend, i.e. the baths, restaurants, clothes shops etc. Southend was getting so popular they had to build a new Southend the new Southend still wasn’t even enough to keep up with the accommodation demand, so more facilities had to be built. Although there were some bad points about Southend the majority of points were good, this shows that Southend was very popular in the 1800’s.
Royal terrace was built in the 1790’s. Just by looking at the beautiful Georgian artwork on the window and doorframes this would have most certainly attracted the middle class. You can see by the name ‘Royal terrace’ that it is aimed for the higher class rather than the lower class. All the houses on Royal terrace had a range of magnificent metal working for their balconies, which showed that there were wealthy people living there. The houses had mews at the back. These were to store the horses and stagecoaches for the duration of their stay, an important factor in attracting the middle class.
By the1820’s Southend had most certainly tried to appeal to the middle class and I think Southend succeeded in doing this, and it was all thanks to one of the Royal Family who stayed there, Princess Caroline, she renamed the terrace ‘Royal terrace’ and the Grand hotel the ‘Royal hotel’ this would have most certainly attracted the middle class just because of the name. The houses in Royal terrace were very handsome, which I think would have made the middle class buy the property more as well as being called Royal terrace. Also the 1824 guide complemented Southend saying that it was a ‘Popular resort’ and a ‘Fashionable watering place’, this shows that Southend was clearly growing in popularity. Much to Southend’s disappointment the guide was clearly bias towards it, there is evidence to prove this, many travel writers were writing about Southend, not in a pleasant but more an embarrassing way ‘dreadfully dirty’ and ‘not at all popular’ these pieces of evidence I think are reliable because they had no reason to lie about Southend in that way. Another major problem was the arrival of visitors by road and boat, those people who arrived by boat had to tread up the muddy beach once they arrived at Southend which 9/10 times wreaked their clothes and shoes, by road they had an eight hour ride due to the poor road conditions, Brighton was only nine hours away from London so many people preferred to go there instead of Southend.
The railway
It was the arrival of the London, Tilbury and Southend Railway that really triggered the town to expand. Now people from London could get cheap and affordable transport to come to Southend for a day-trip. The main terminal was opened a little later being known as Southend Central. A second line was introduced from Shenfield to Southend Victoria, which again brought in many inquisitive and new tourists. Southend's very own local board was established around this time and the town very rapidly grew up and swallowed the once major port of Prittlewell. In the 1850's the population was about 3,000 but by the turn of the century, this figure had increased to 47,000 and again in 1921 a staggering 120,000 people. In the space of around 70 years the population of Southend had increased 40fold. In 1859 the L.T&S records a profit of £6,946. This offsets the £789,023 outlay on the building of the railway. Sir Samuel Peto purchases a 40acre site near the station at Southend and begins laying out houses; 50 are completed within a year. The business ‘commuter’ was provided with an express leaving Southend at 8.15am and arriving at Fenchurch Street at 9.37am. The ‘down’ version left Fenchurch Street at 4.24pm and arrived in Southend at 5.45pm. This shows how affective the railway was for the residents of Southend in the 1800’s and even today.
The Pier
In the early 19th century there was a growing need for a pier somewhere along the 150mile stretch of Essex coast. A former Lord Mayor of London, Alderman William Heygate, then a resident of Southend, championed this cause. A Parliamentary Act of 1829 finally permitted the building of the first pier at Southend to commence.
The 600ft (182m) wooden structure opened in June 1830 but, as it was unusable at low tide, this soon required an extension. By 1833 Southend Pier had almost tripled in length, and by 1846 had become the longest pier in Europe, stretching for nearly a staggering 7,000ft (2,133.6m). However, this work resulted in financial problems for the pier owners, and they were forced to sell in 1846 for the sum of £17,000. Several changes of ownership followed until, in 1873, Southend Pier came into public hands, being purchased for £12,000 by the local board.
Life was about to change in the quiet Essex resort. With the sudden advent of the railways, Southend was now accessible to the more boisterous folk of East London and it soon adopted the affectionate nickname of ‘Whitechapel by Sea’. Much discussion took place regarding the future of the pier and in 1885 it was decided that a new iron pier should now replace the original ageing structure.
Designed by James Brunlees, work on the new Southend Pier commenced in 1887 and was opened on 24th August 1890, complete with an electric railway. Various extensions and improvements over the next 30 years ensured that the pier kept pace with visitor requirements. These included an extension to the pier head in 1897, increasing the pier's overall length to 7,080ft (2,145m) - a world record for a pier. An upper deck to the head was opened on 25th July 1908, and the eastern 'Prince George Steamer Extension' was added in 1929.
During the war years Southend Pier was taken over by the Admiralty, and was renamed HMS Leigh. The pier’s role was primarily to serve as a convoy assembly point, and in the ensuing six years of conflict some 3,367 convoys, representing 84,297 vessels, sailed from Southend.
At the end of the war the pier enjoyed it’s heyday, with the electric train carrying some 4,713,082 passengers during the 1949/50 season, plus an additional 1,000,000 visitors coming through the turnstiles. In 1959 a fire destroyed a pavilion at the shoreward end, trapping 500 trippers along the pier length who had to be rescued by boat. In 1961 a bowling alley replaced the pavilion.
With package holidays becoming ever popular, and greater car ownership, the inevitable decline began and, in 1970, Southend Pier's entertainments were franchised to a catering and leisure firm. This arrangement seemed to work well, and £250,000 was spent in providing a new restaurant, amusement arcade, pub, cocktail bar and nightclub. However, in the mid 1970's as a result of rising costs, demolition was again a threat.
The council thankfully decided on a 15year restoration plan, but these plans were put in jeopardy in July 1976 when the worst chapter in Southend Pier's long history unfolded. A serious fire completely gutted the extensive pier head. People stranded on the pier at the time were evacuated along the railway and by boat. Whilst firemen tackled the blaze from the structure, fire-fighting tugs tackled it from the sea, and a crop spraying light aircraft was used overhead. A year later the bowling alley at the shoreward end was badly damaged in a second fire, and 1978 saw the railway closed for safety reasons.
Southend Pier’s fate was once again in the balance, but a local action group fought a stubborn campaign to secure it's future. Rebuilding of the pier began in November 1984. Princess Anne opened a new pier railway, just two years later. Further problems were encountered in 1986 when the ‘Kings Abbey’ collided with the pier, temporarily sectioning the structure near the head. A museum was constructed at the shoreward end, near the railway station, in 1989. Another fire on 7th June 1995 finally destroyed the shoreward end bowling alley, as well as causing considerable damage to the adjacent railway forcing it's closure for a period of time.
The Kursaal
Marine Parade
In the Early 1900’s, Marine Parade was full of pubs, shop, hotels and restaurants; here are some examples the Falcon public house, Grocer refreshment rooms, Ivy house public house and the Granville hotel. The masterpiece of Marine Parade has to be the Kursaal. Once inside there are amusements, a roller coaster, a water shoot, a wall of death, a helter skelter, a toboggan ride and a roundabout. The Kursaal along side the Pier was the main attraction for the day-trippers; there was a problem with this because so many day-trippers were going to Southend the litter, noise, overcrowded streets and drunkenness drove the middle class away, the class that the developers wanted in Southend.
During the summer on weekdays there was a variety of entertainments with seats for 1,200 people. They showed plays, musicals, and even comic operas. Punch and Judy shows were popular. When on 8th of August 1901, Thomas Day, a showman from Leyton, staged a performance at the top of pier hill, a crowd of 2-300 people gathered to watch. The crowd was so big the Mr. Day was prosecuted for obstructing the footpath.
If you get to walk down Marine parade today you will see the remaining facilities, the Kursaal, the Hope hotel, the Falcon pub and the Ivy hotel, all of the old facilities have been replaced with, Arcades Pubs and Night Clubs. There is also Adventure Island it’s a fun fair this is today’s main attraction for today’s equivalent of the day-tripper.
The pictures below are today’s marine Parade.
The Palace hotel, which over look’s the whole of Marine parade was the hotel which most middle class people stayed in whilst in Southend in its day it was a five star hotel now apart of the hotel is a snooker hall and the rest is a home for refuges,
In the 1900’s Marine Parade was at a very high standard including The Palace hotel and a range of hansom apartments clearly attracted the middle class. There were also Ice-cream stalls and oyster rooms these would have no doubt attracted the day-trippers to Southend.
You can clearly see just through the advertisements of the hotel that they aimed to attracted the middle class one because of the price if the rooms no working class family could afford to pay the amount of money the hotels wanted, the menu was also written in French which no working class person would be able to read, this piece of evidence shows that Southend only wanted to attracted the middle class to the area.
Marine Parade also attracted the working class as well mainly because of the cheap Ice-cream stalls and oyster rooms, luckily for the middle class Marine Parade was far away from Westcliff this was probably done on purpose so that the upper class didn’t have to associate with the working class.
Now Marine Parade is a day-trippers Paradise. If the developer of Marine Parade was still alive he would most certainly be embarrassed for Southend in letting it get run down.
The Development of Clifftown
The development of the Clifftown area was closely tied up with the LT&S railway. In July 1859 sir Samuel Peto took a 99-year lease of 50 acres of land on the cliffs and in august of that year Peto held a meeting about the production of the 50 houses on the cliff and whether they could be erected this would them attract more commuters from London to come and live in Southend, this would then increase the trade of the railway so the railway introduced a season ticket for the residents of Southend, the train journey was quite convenient for the business men commuting to London the journey was only one hour. The houses in the Clifftown area were made with no money spared these houses were quite magnificent the fabulous door and window surrounds were beautiful and expensive the middle class dream home would be one of these, Clifftown the best place in the whole of Southend.
The sea front Trams
Conclusion
Over all I think Southend was a big success with the middle class, even bigger with the working class, mainly because they got great value for money. There was also hundreds of thing to do on the Pier, Marine Parade and the Kursaal not to mention bathing in the sea. Southend’s success wouldn’t have been as big as it was if it wasn’t for the steam boat and Railway especially the train because it cut down an eight hour journey down to a one hour journey from London. Southend was no doubt a popular resort for over a hundred years with both working and middle class. Now Southend is an old run down seaside resort and as they would have said back then unfashionable. Daniel Scraton had a dream and that dream came true. The dream was to make Southend a popular and fashionable resort in the nineteenth and the twentieth century with the help of others Southend had two great hotels the Royal and the Palace, the longest Pier in England, Marine Parade: a great stretch of land full of entertainment for both working and middle class. They really made Southend the ‘IT’ resort.