Page 83 - KBHA Bulletin 16

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THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE CAPE PENINSULA RESORTS 1910 – 1939

PART 1: THE ATLANTIC COAST - TABLE BAY TO CAMPS BAY

Barrie Gasson

Introduction

The inspiration for this paper came from John Hannavy’s book The English Seaside in
Victorian and Edwardian Times. Hannavy is a writer and broadcaster on the history of

photography, and professor in Art and Design at Bolton Institute, UK. Photography really

developed in the era from the 1870s to 1914, which also happened to be the time when
the seaside holiday rose to prominence. So there was a ready market for photos and post-

cards that captured memories of seaside holidays. His book is a post-card celebration of
such happy times during the close of the “long nineteenth century” that ended in 1914.

Underlying everything that was done at the Peninsula resorts was the English model of

coastal resort development that is described in Hannavy’s book. He notes that 1750 was

the pivotal date in the development of the seaside holiday. In that year Dr Richard Russell
published a book drawing attention to the benefits of taking the seaside ‘cure’ consisting

of breathing ozone-laden fresh air, bathing in seawater and even drinking it, particularly
on the English south coast at a place called Brighthelmstone, later shortened to Brighton.

(Fig. 3.1.) From 1783 Brighton’s pre-eminence as a health resort was entrenched by
regular visits of the Prince of Wales (later George IV).

While royal patronage was important to the popularity of the fortunate place the
innovation that underpinned the growth of coastal places was rail access from the 1840s

onwards. Cheap rail services, coupled with the introduction of statutory holidays from the

1850s onwards, opened seaside holidays to all classes and mass recreation began.
Accommodations of all kinds grew in response – rooms-to-let in ordinary homes,

purpose-built boarding houses, and hotels. But visitors sought more than the bathing from