Early 20th Century
The early part of the new century saw a change in the character of the town: in 1902 the first advertising campaign to bring healthy visitors to Torquay, rather than people recovering from illnesses was launched and Torquay changed from being a winter holiday resort to being a summer holiday resort aimed at families from the industrial Midlands and north of England. This led to a steady increase in rail traffic until the advent of World War I.
Torquay had been steadily increasing in size over this period and in 1900 the regions of Chelston and Livermead, previously part of the Cockington estate owned by the Mallocks had been annexed by the town and 1903 saw further expansion of Torquay's political size and power, as the former borough of St Marychurch was amalgamated into the town, having long since been residentially and commercially intermingled with the town due to its rapid expansion in the latter half of the past century. Rumour has it the catalyst for the merger was that Torquay wanted a steamroller and could not afford its own, unlike its smaller neighbour, however this has never been verified.
Finally in 1928 Cockington itself was integrated within the town borders and with this expansion the political entity of Torquay now covered more than twice the size as previously, incorporating the modern day regions of Livermead, Cockington, Chelston St Marychurch, Plainmoor, Babbacombe, Watcombe and Maidencombe, as well as the historical core of the town. It has largely maintained this outline to the modern day, aside from the post World War II developments of Hele Village and Shiphay and the development of the industrial and residential estate of The Willows on the outskirts of the town throughout the 1990s and early 21st century.
World-renowned electrical engineer, mathematician, and physicist Oliver Heaviside lived in the town from 1909 until his death in 1924, after moving from nearby Newton Abbot due to failing health.
In 1905 over 113 warships of the Royal Navy anchored in the bay in an awe-inspiring sight and the Royal Family and the Royal Navy once again descended on the town, as King George V reviewed the Home Fleet in the waters of the bay, before war broke out with Germany and Austria-Hungary in mid 1914.
Read more about this topic: History Of Torquay
Famous quotes containing the words early and/or century:
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—Lawrence Kutner (20th century)
“The generation of mankind is like the generation of leaves. The wind scatters the leaves on the ground, but the living tree burgeons with leaves again in the spring.”
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