How Bognor gained its Regis

On Friday June 21 1929, at a meeting of Bognor Urban District Council, the chairman, Canon Arthur Sacre, read out a letter from the Home Office announcing that King George V had graciously approved the council's request to change the name of the town as a permanent reminder of his visit earlier in the year.

As Alan Readman, assistant county archivist at the West Sussex Record Office, explains: "A month later, at a County Council meeting on July 26, formal ratification was given and Bognor officially became Bognor Regis. According to one local newspaper it was 'the very greatest honour a southern watering-place could hope to attain'."

The visit to Bognor of George V and Queen Mary is part of county folklore and its impact on the town was profound for a time.

"Inevitably, there will be those who cannot resist recycling the joke about the unflattering comment allegedly made by the King on his deathbed," Alan says.

"After all, Bognor has long been the butt of the comedian's humour and, even at the time, its reputation as the Cinderella of south coast resorts made its choice as a location for the royal visit bemusing to many.

"The King had been desperately ill with septicaemia and pleurisy for several months but in January 1929 it was felt that his removal to sea air would assist his recovery. Resorts of distinction held their breath awaiting the call and, in the words of local historian Gerard Young, when the selection of modest Bognor was announced as the favoured place of convalescence 'a gasp of incredulity swept through the council chambers of the South Coast'.

"Nowhere it seems was the sense of disbelief greater than in Bognor itself. Many residents dismissed the news as far-fetched rumour until the official notification appeared in the irrefutable columns of the Times newspaper.

"But when the potential benefits were grasped, for the status and the economy of the town, locals were quick to suggest why the town had been chosen. After all, its health-giving sea air was renowned for illness associated with throat and lungs. And its climate had earned it the title of 'England's Sun-Trap'."

The chosen sanctuary, Craigweil House in Aldwick, was actually in the parish of Pagham, nearly a mile outside the boundary of Bognor. The house belonged to Sir Arthur du Cros, a former racing cyclist and MP, who achieved fame as a pioneer of the pneumatic tyre.

It was a substantial mansion, set in 15 acres, with windows, balconies and terraces facing directly south to catch the maximum sunshine.

"Needless to say, as soon as the King arrived, Bognor's famous weather deserted it as icy east winds froze milk bottles to the doorsteps, rattled the windows of the temporary royal residence and deposited several inches of snow on its gardens.

"The date of the arrival was Saturday February 9. The journey from London was the story of the day. Newspaper men and newsreel cameras greeted the royal cavalcade as schoolchildren waved their flags and the crowds peered through the ambulance windows to catch a glimpse of the King, propped up against pillows. Bognor was now well and truly in the gaze of the Empire.

"Nor did it let the Empire down. Within three days it was reported that the King had been allowed his first cigarette for more than two months. Not perhaps medically sound by today's standards but encouraging news followed and by March local reporters were spotting him walking in the grounds of Craigweil.

"Royal visitors, the Prince of Wales and the Duke of York included, came and went. Privy Council meetings were convened. On March 27 the Archbishops of Canterbury and York attended the King with the Prime Minister, Stanley Baldwin. How Sir Richard Hotham would have enjoyed such a fortuitous assemblage of the great and the good in the town he sought so hard to create!

"To their great credit local people afforded the King the privacy he needed to recover his health. Queen Mary rewarded them with a series of apparently unplanned and seemingly random appearances in Bognor and Chichester.

"She attended morning service at both South Bersted and Pagham Churches. Bill Stamp, a choirboy at the former, remembers the choirmaster urging the boys not to stare at their royal visitor.

It proved of course a temptation too great for many of them. On Easter Monday, to support Pagham Church, she attended a garden fete in the grounds of Colebrook House, Aldwick.

For a while she took charge of a stall and her posy of primroses was auctioned off for church funds."

The Queen had a good knowledge and a love of antiques and made a number of impromptu visits to local shops particularly in Chichester. On Wednesday March 6, after tea with the Archdeacon in Canon Lane, she called in, unannounced, at the jeweller's shop of Messrs E. H. Lewis in South Street.

She spent half an hour choosing a silver filigree pagoda, an ivory figure, a bodkin case and a manicure set. 'A sweet and gracious lady, so extremely natural that one feels completely at ease with her', was how she was described by Mrs Lewis.

"On Monday 25 March the Queen returned to Chichester for another shopping spree in South Street. Her first stop was Robert Allen's jeweller's shop where she bought a mosaic bracelet, a Dresden figure, an Empire watch, an ivory egg and a little jade elephant.

"Then, next door to George Martin's antique shop and finally across the road to Charles Allen's jewellers, from which she eventually emerged the owner of a Louis clock, an Empire candelabra, a gold and tortoise shell box and several pieces of china and silver. By this time a crowd of some 300 locals was following her progress, cheering loudly and waving handkerchiefs."

The royal car became a familiar sight in Bognor. One day, to the astonishment of staff and shoppers alike, she popped in to F W Woolworth's newly opened bazaar in London Road and bought trinkets. A historic milestone, surely, for this sadly now demised store but such a surprise that when later the firm offered 500 for any photographs of the occasion the reward went unclaimed.

"Then, on Thursday March 14, she visited Burgess's Bazaar in Waterloo Square for a bucket and spade for her three-year-old grand-daughter, Princess Elizabeth. The little Princess, destined herself to become Queen, stayed for a two-week holiday.

"Much of her time was spent playing in a sandpit made for her in the grounds of Craigweil for the arctic blast in February was followed by an unseasonal heat wave. She was the apple of the King's eye and her visit doubtless contributed to his recovery.

"So much so that on Wednesday May 15 1929, sitting beside the Queen in the royal car, he was able to leave Bognor for Windsor. A film of the occasion shows the streets adorned with flags and bunting, crowds cheering and children flag waving, as the convoy processed along the seafront. Over 2,000 people waited by the Western Bandstand where a banner across the roadway proclaimed 'God Speed'.

"Bognor had done its duty. The King was restored to health. Its official reward was that royal approval for the change of name to Bognor Regis. And there were tangible benefits, too. The visit ushered in a golden age for tourism and for development that would last throughout the 30s."