Southend-on-Sea, United Kingdom

equal, if not to rival any of the watering places to which the genteelest company usually resort; there being nothing wanting but such a place of accommodation, where the agreeable distance from the metropolis, and the excellence of the roads, added to the incomparable fineness of the water, have induced so much polite company down these last two summers.

The planned hotel was not built, but the Chronicle reported in 1787 that "Southend is likely to become a place of fashionable resort, and that there are a greater number of genteel families there this season than was ever known before". By the end of the decade, the number of bathing machines had increased and the hamlet was recorded as containing the Ship Inn and 25 houses and cottages; reported visitors included Lord Cholmondley. The coach service from London to Rochford was extended to Southend for the summer season of 1790. The main occupations were in agriculture, fishing, boat repairing and working the barges to London and back.

In 1790, the local lord of the Manor of both Prittlewell and Milton (now Westcliff-on-Sea) and landowner Daniel Scratton set aside 35-acres of land at the top of the cliffs to the west of South-end. The development was called New South-End, and the original settlement was renamed Old South-end. A road was cut through the development, which would later become the High Street. The Chelmsford Chronicle wrote at the time,

There seems but little doubt of its becoming a place of fashionable resort, and answering the expectations of the proprietors, being only 42 miles [68 km] from London and two coaches, and the post passes through it three times a week; water carriage is also convenient, being only eight hours sail, with a fair wind, from London.

By January 1792, the first house in Grove Terrace was completed, a hotel had been roofed and 60 dwellings had been started on. By the summer, the Duke of York and the Duke of Clarence public houses had opened. However, by September that year The Times was reporting that the resort was likely to attract the lower and middle classes, not the wealthy clientele that it was being aimed at. One of the initial developers started to sell his interests. By December 1792, the Duke of York was advertised for sale. Development continued with The Grand Hotel, (now known as The Royal Hotel) opened on 1 July 1793, and most of Grove Terrace was available to let. Later that year, New South-End was listed for the first time in the parish annual rate, and by the summer of 1794 the Terrace, Grove Terrace, the Mews and Library had been completed. In February 1795 however, one of the main developers was declared bankrupt and ownership of The Grand Hotel was assigned. A similar fate awaited another developer and much of New-Southend remained open land. In contrast, Old South-end doubled in size during the same period; the Ship Inn and the Anchor and Hope Inn had been built as well as five shops and the Caroline baths. A large house was built by Abraham Vandervord in 1792 in Old South-end which would later become the Minerva public house.

Due to the bad transportation links between Southend and London, there was not rapid development during the Georgian Era as there was in Brighton. Margate, although further away from London than Southend, offered cheaper boat and stagecoach fares and had more to offer the visitor. Development was piecemeal in the early 19th century, with a theatre being built in Old South-end by Thomas Trotter in 1804. Southend was, however, mentioned in Jane Austen's novel Emma of 1815. The resort first received royal patronage in 1801 when Princess Charlotte of Wales visited to sea bathe on the order of her physician. Her mother, Princess Caroline of Brunswick stayed at 7-9 The Terrace during 1803 and Lady Hamilton held a ball in the hotel assembly room in honour of Lord Nelson in 1805. The visit of Princess Caroline boosted Southend's popularity with tourists.