Surprise at the Seaside - The People's Friend Summer Special - Runaway Bathing Machines

Illustration by Tracy Fennell

The horse bolted across the shoreline, dragging the bathing machine and Chastity. They thundered through the holiday-goers.

Brightly coloured beach huts are a common sight along the British seafront, but they weren’t always so static. Back in the 18^th century, as can be seen throughout classic books, the latest health craze was ‘taking the waters’ – going to the spas in Bath – or a ‘change of air’. With poor sanitation and smog in crowded cities, a fresh sea breeze was often what doctors prescribed. Seaside holidays were gaining appeal.

The only problem was the need for propriety jarred with enjoying the beach. Men and women were banned from mixing and specific areas were cordoned off. Swimming costumes for men only became a rule in the 1860s. Women’s swimming costume weren’t very comfortable. These dresses were made of heavy flannel and would even have small weights attached to the skirt to stop the waves from lifting it up and exposing the lady’s – shock and horror! – covered legs.

Bathing machines were a way of allowing women and men the privacy of sea bathing without causing a scandal. Even Queen Victoria owned one.

These machines were huts on wheels, some a basic changing room while others were quite fancy with decorations and a looking glass. Horses would pull them to the shoreline. When the holidaymaker was ready, they opened the door and went down the little steps – more getting their feet wet than actually swimming. Dippers were also employed to plunge the swimmer in and out of the water for something more bracing.

I rather like the thought of a bathing machine to relax in, able to wheel myself wherever I fancied, but there could be some peril involved. I was surprised to discover deaths connected with bathing machines. In the Illustrated Police News dated 1871, a young woman died in Great Yarmouth after leaving her bathing machine. There was also something similar in Dieppe. Although it was after almost drowning in the sea rather than the actual machine, but that did not stop the newspaper titling the article – Death in a Bathing Machine!

By 1901, separate swimming areas were no longer imposed. There was no need for modesty and so the bathing machines lost their appeal. Rather than being broken up and forgotten, most had their wheels removed and were turned into the beach huts we know today.

What are your memories of the beach and their huts? Would you have preferred the privacy of a bathing machine?

In my latest short story, Surprise at the Seaside, in The People’s Friend Summer Special, Lady Ashworth finds herself in peril when a clandestine meeting leads to her struggling with a runaway bathing machine.

Some research links from when I was writing the story :)

http://www.victoriana.com/library/Beach/FashionableBathingSuits.htm

https://blog.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/2019/08/20/death-in-a-bathing-machine-other-bathing-machine-headlines/

http://www.regrom.com/2019/03/22/regency-reader-questions-spas-and-bathing/

http://www.ourgreatyarmouth.org.uk/page_id__162.aspx?path=0p5p99p

https://www.visitnorfolk.co.uk/inspire/history-of-norfolk-seaside-holidays.aspx

https://www.bbc.co.uk/teach/school-radio/audio-stories-victorian-seaside/zfxjkmn