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Jane Austen Society of Australia

Southend & Cromer

The rival merits of two seaside resorts greatly preoccupy Mr Woodhouse in Jane Austen’s Emma, and result in a particularly delightful comic dialogue:

The gruel came, and supplied a great deal to be said – much praise and many comments – undoubting decision of its wholesomeness for every constitution, and pretty severe philippics upon the many houses where it was never met with tolerable; but, unfortunately, among the failures which the daughter had to instance, the most recent, and therefore the most prominent, was in her own cook at Southend, a young woman hired for the time, who never had been able to understand what she meant by a basin of nice smooth gruel, thin, but not too thin. Often as she had wished for and ordered it, she had never been able to get anything tolerable. Here was a dangerous opening.

‘Ah,’ said Mr Woodhouse, shaking his head, and fixing his eye on her with tender concern. The ejaculation in Emma’s ear expressed, ‘Ah, there is no end of the sad consequences of your going to Southend. It does not bear talking of.’ And for a little while she hoped that he would not talk of it, and that a silent rumination might suffice to restore him to the relish of his own smooth gruel. After an interval of some minutes, however, he began with:

‘I shall always be very sorry that you went to the sea this autumn, instead of coming here.’

‘But why should you be sorry, sir? I assure you it did the children a great deal of good.’

‘And, moreover, if you must go to the sea, it had better not have been to Southend. Southend is an unhealthy place. Perry was surprised to hear you had fixed upon Southend.’

‘I know there is such an idea with many people, but indeed it is quite a mistake, sir. We all had our health perfectly well there, never found the least inconvenience from the mud, and Mr Wingfield says it is entirely a mistake to suppose the place unhealthy; and I am sure he may be depended on, for he thoroughly understands the nature of the air, and his own brother and family have been there repeatedly.’

‘You should have gone to Cromer, my dear, if you went anywhere. Perry was a week at Cromer once, and he holds it to be the best of all the sea bathing places. A fine open sea, he says, and very pure air. And, by what I understand, you might have had lodgings there quite away from the sea - a quarter of a mile off - very comfortable. You should have consulted Perry.’

‘But, my dear sir, the difference of the journey; only consider how great it would have been. A hundred miles, perhaps, instead of forty.’

‘Ah, my dear, as Perry says, where health is at stake nothing else should be considered; and if one is to travel, there is not much to choose between forty miles and a hundred. Better not move at all, better stay in London altogether, than travel forty miles to get into a worse air. This is just what Perry said. It seemed to him a very ill-judged measure.’

Emma’s attempts to stop her father had been vain; and when he had reached such a point as this, she could not wonder at her brother-in-law’s breaking out.

‘Mr Perry,’ said he, in a voice of very strong displeasure, ‘would do as well to keep his opinion till it is asked for. Why does he make it any business of his to wonder at what I do? – at my taking my family to one part of the coast or another? I may be allowed, I hope, the use of my judgment as well as Mr Perry. I want his direction no more than his drugs.’ He paused and growing cooler in a moment, added, with only sarcastic dryness, ‘If Mr Perry can tell me how to convey a wife and five children a distance of a hundred and thirty miles with no greater expense or inconvenience than a distance of forty, I should be as willing to prefer Cromer to Southend as he could himself.’

Southend

Southend, which the John Knightleys visit, is 45 miles east of London in Essex. It began as a humble hamlet called the South End of Prittlewell, but when the boom in resort towns took place, it soon grew into a town of its own and became known as Southend. Jane Austen’s brother Charles took his family there in the summer of 1813 and rented a house. The Prince Regent, who favoured Brighton himself, despatched his hated wife Caroline there. The street she stayed in was promptly re-named The Royal Terrace. In 1801 the Royal Physicians sent five year old Princess Charlotte (the Regent and Princess Caroline’s only child) there for her health and this temporarily increased the fashionableness of the place, but Southend never became one of the exclusive resorts. A contemporary guide book of the time described Southend as having ‘terraqueous beauties’ and as being an asylum to ‘the lovers of quiet and retirement’. In fact, it sounds ideal for the unsociable John Knightley who just wants a quiet holiday with his wife and children, away from the bustle and noise of London.

Although Isabella stoutly declares that her family ‘never found the least inconvenience from the mud’, the mud did deter many visitors and gave the place a reputation for being less healthy than cleaner resorts. Situated on the Thames estuary, Southend did have a problem with mud and silt, but its easy distance from London made it a convenient holiday spot for many city dwellers. Even in the 1930s, Southend was the place for those who needed a cheap holiday near the city: ‘For us Londoners, Southend was the place. If you were a bit richer it was Margate and Ramsgate. If you were very rich, you could go to Bournemouth.’

Southend is now, however, one of the biggest seaside resorts in Britain, with the longest pleasure pier in the world (at one and a third miles long), a 60 foot floral clock, fairs, cliff gardens and seven miles of seafront.

Cromer

Cromer, preferred by Mr Woodhouse, was much further from London, and in a more exposed situation. A contemporary account, however, shows just why it would appeal to Mr Woodhouse:

There are no places of public amusement, no rooms, balls, nor card assemblies. A small circulating library, consisting chiefly of a few novels, is all that can be obtained, but still, for such as make retirement their aim, it is certainly an eligible situation.

The place had a reputation in Jane Austen’s day for being select, partly because it was more difficult to get to.

We can only wonder if this is the honeymoon destination chosen by Emma and Mr Knightley for their ‘fortnight absence in a tour to the seaside’. Will Mr Woodhouse be able to succeed in making Emma choose Cromer, when he failed with his other daughter Isabella?

Cromer today is a bustling holiday resort with a zoo, pier, boating lake and many hotels. The narrow streets of the old town twist around the 160 foot tower of Saints Peter and Paul, the tallest church tower in Norfolk. There are good cliff walks to enjoy and excellent crab fishing.

Susannah Fullerton

References:

Jane Austen’s Letters, Ed. Deirdre le Faye, Oxford University Press, UK, 1995
Jane Austen: A Family Record, W. Austen-Leigh, R.A.Austen-Leigh, Deirdre le Faye, British Library, UK, 1989
The Englishman’s Holiday: A Social History, J.A.R.Pimlott, Faber &

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05 July 2003