The 1800s and 1900s brought about some of the most dynamic and diverse years of Ilfracombe’s history.
The popularity of Ilfracombe as a seaside resort was only possible due to the masses of migrants and visitors that sought to make a home of this small town on the edge of North Devon.
Born in Holland in 1853, Johannes (John) Koot is noted in the 1881census, having moved to North Devon and begun to work in the seaside town from quite a young age. He was a waiter for the Ilfracombe Hotel.
The Swiss café was opened by Dominico Semadeni and Alma Semadeni (neé Fissler) in the 1890s. Dominico and Alma were originally from the Italian speaking part of Switzerland, Val Poschiavo, which is along the Switzerland-Italian border.
Born in Monopoli, Italy, Luigi Cavallo and his wife Emma, as noted in the 1901 census, they ran the Steam Laundry. , Luigi also appeared to have a flair for amateur dramatics, and ran “The Cavallo Royal Marine Theatrical Group”.
French and Belgian nuns, Sisters of Immaculate Conception, arrived in Ilfracombe in February 1903, where they established a community at The Beacon.
Eric Svensson, was a Swedish Head Waiter at the grand Ilfracombe Hotel in 1911. Dagmar Gaisten, of Norway, was working in the Hotel as a housemaid in the same era.
In 1930, Stanley Theodore Olavsen was registered as living at 5 Clarene Cottages along with his wife, Norah.
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