In ITV’s Victoria on Sunday night we saw the Queen’s doctor Sir James Clark called in to examine Lady Flora Hastings.
The year was 1839 although the drama suggests it was 1838 and at the time of the Coronation.
That was the year that Sir James’s house was being built in Bournemouth. Eagles Nest had a good sea view as it stood on the site of today’s Purbeck Hall at the back of the BIC.
In 1863 Sir James Clark was visited there by Victoria’s 15 year old daughter Princess Louise who sailed over from the Isle of Wight. The doctor welcomed her at the pier.
In 1860 ‘the father of Russian socialism’ Aleksandr Ivanovich Herzen had rented the house for his summer holiday and written the long dedication to his memoirs. His visitors included the Russian novelist Ivan Turgenev.
Arts and Crafts artist Heywood Sumner rented it for three months in 1903 before moving into his New Forest home.
The second part of the Victoria series continues on ITV on Bank Holiday Monday evening.
