Bognor is one of the oldest Saxon sites on record in West Sussex. The town is recorded in AD 680 as Bucgan ora meaning Bucge's shore. Bucge was one of the few Saxon women to have a place named after her. Over the years this Saxon-landing place became a small fishing village, and as with many places the name changed with time.

What ultimately revolutionized Bognor was a rich merchant from London, Richard Hotham, who began vacationing there in the summer of 1784. At the time, it was popularly believed that bathing in the sea was good for the health, and consequently it became a popular form of leisure among the upper classes. As a result, seaside resorts like Brighton, Hastings, and Eastbourne began to be extremely popular. Hotham wanted to turn Bognor into a resort of his own, even named Hothamton after him. However, he wanted it to be a quiet civilized place, unlike the more popular resorts, which could often become rowdy and chaotic. He began by purchasing the farmhouse where he had been spending his summers and renovating it starting in 1787. The building would become known as Bognor Lodge, and remain standing until the 1930s.

Yet, Bognor failed to boom as Hotham hoped the town would. Once in 1796 Prince George did visit, but he stayed only for a month and even then his only concern was to be with his mistress. Drawing prominence to your resort in those days meant persuading royalty if you wished to have real success. Much like today's celebrities, wherever the royals traveled, swarms of wealthy people would follow. A few did however, such as Queen Victoria who vacationed in Bognor frequently in her childhood in the 1820's, and Princess Charlotte, the daughter of King George III, also came for a summer between 1808 and 1811.

The town of Bognor grew slowly between 1799 and 1907. New houses were built and in 1817 Jubilee school was built. The first railway reached Bognor in June 1864. The townspeople thought this would change the town but the railway company broke its agreement and authorities started encouraging day trippers. This is when the town of Bognor started its decline.

The population of Bognor rose to 1,900 in 1851. It did not really begin to climb until the railway reached Bognor in 1864. In the 1840's Marine Parade was built and by the 1850's it was said the High Street was Bognor's first 'real' street i.e. it was fully built up with no gaps between buildings. Facilities in Bognor continued to improve. In 1867 Bognor gained its first police station in Dorset Gardens (now London Road). In 1872 a newspaper the Bognor Observer began publication. In 1873 a volunteer fire brigade was formed and in 1879 Bognor got its first piped water supply (previously people had used wells). In 1874 the first horse drawn buses began running. They were replaced by motor ones early in the 20th century. During World War II about 3,000 houses were damaged and 58 were entirely destroyed by German bombing. Also, 33 people were killed and 251 injured. Butlins holiday camp opened in 1960 on undeveloped land. Bognor suffered a decline in the 1960's and 1970's. One reason may have been the decline of the traditional British seaside holiday and its replacement by package holidays abroad.