Cooking for Royalty

We recently discovered this letter of reference, praising the cook at Crag Head, Bournemouth. It was written by the chamberlain for the Queen of Sweden and Norway, who resided at the property in 1881. The letter reads:

I have much pleasure in testifying to the thorough efficiency & excellent caracter [sic] of Sarah Hutchings, who for upwards of 4 months has filled the situation of Cook at Craghead, Bournemouth serving the Recidence [sic] there of Her Majesty the Queen of Sweden and Norway and also for 1 month of His Majesty the King in attendance of 7 [waiters?] and 19 servants altogether & has given entire satisfaction ~ Craghead May 29^th 1881

Count [Cranstedk?]

Chamberlain to her majesty The Queen of Sweden and Norway

Crag Head sat on Manor Road in Bournemouth, overlooking the stretch of beach between Bournemouth and Boscombe Pier. It was rented by the King and Queen of Sweden and Norway, Oscar II and Sophia of Nassau. It is unclear why the royal family decided to live in Bournemouth, but the town’s reputation as a spa may have attracted them, as Queen Sophia often suffered with poor health.

Sophia was a democratic and liberal queen, and she supported her son Oscar when he fell in love with a noble lady-in-waiting, Ebba Henrietta Munck. His intention to marry Ebba was something of a scandal when he told his family. He was forced to consider the relationship for a two-year waiting period, and if he pursued the marriage, he would lose his royal title and his right to the Swedish throne.

Love overcame tradition, and Oscar did not change his mind. The royal family gave their consent to the marriage, with a condition – his brothers would do no such thing. They even sign a document promising that they would not marry outside of Swedish constitutional requirements. Oscar and Ebba married at St Stephen’s Church in Bournemouth on the 15th March 1888, and continued to live at Crag Head for some time after.

After it’s time as a royal residence, Crag Head later became a boarding school for girls, a convalescent home for the Red Cross, and a hotel. It was demolished in 1972 and residential apartments have been built on the site.

Who was Sarah Hutchings?

As 1881 was a census year, we can find Sarah recorded at Crag Head. She was 25 and listed as the cook; with a kitchen maid, Fanny Hatcher, and a scullery maid, Rose Carter, working under her.

She married Alfred Wrenn, a butcher, at St Peter’s Church in Bournemouth on the 22^nd April 1889. At the time of her marriage, she was still living at Crag Head as a cook.

You can see in her marriage register that her father was William Hutchings, a postillion (someone who rides a harnessed horse that pulls a coach). In each census Sarah gives her birthplace as Southampton, but despite having all this information about her, we haven’t been able to trace down her baptism or birth records unfortunately!

In the 1901 census, we can find Sarah living at 5 Palace Colonnade, Christchurch Road, Boscombe, with her husband and their five children, and Maud Harris, their 14-year-old servant. Palace Colonnade was known for its iron veranda but was demolished in the 1990 during road widening works in Boscombe town centre. The veranda was dismantled and used to build a pergola in the Upper Gardens in Bournemouth, which you can still see today.

By 1911, the family are living on Christchurch Road in Boscombe, and in 1939 are on Wentworth Avenue, Southbourne.

A final mystery

The only name we haven’t been able to trace is that of the Chamberlain who wrote the original letter of recommendation – if you have any ideas about the Count, please let us know in the comments!

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Credit: A big thank you to Alwyn Ladell on Flickr, without whom this research would have hit a dead end much sooner! Do check his Flickr account for lots of images of Bournemouth’s history: https://www.flickr.com/photos/alwyn_ladell/albums/

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