Bathing machine

The bathing machine was a device, popular in the 19th century, to allow people to wade in the ocean at beaches without violating Victorian notions of modesty. Bathing machines were roofed and walled wooden carts rolled into the sea. Some had solid wooden walls; others had canvas walls over a wooden frame.

The bathing machine was part of sea-bathing etiquette more rigorously enforced upon women than men but to be observed by both sexes among those who wished to be "proper". [Byrde, Penelope. "That Frightful Unbecoming Dress: Clothes for Spa Bathing at Bath, Costume, No 21, 1987]

Especially in Britain, men and women were usually segregated, so nobody of the opposite sex might catch sight of them in their bathing suits, which (although modest by modern standards) were not considered proper clothing to be seen in.

Use

People entered the small room of the machine while it was on the beach, wearing their street clothing. In the machine they changed into their bathing suit, placing their street clothes into a raised compartment where it would remain dry. [Kidwell, Claudia. Women’s Bathing and Swimming Costume in the United States. Smithsonian Institution Press, 1968]

Bathing machines had no windows, for privacy. They were dark inside. A writer in the "Manchester Guardian" of May 26, 1906 wondered why bathing machines never had a skylight to allow in light. [ [http://www.guardiancentury.co.uk/1899-1909/Story/0,6051,126381,00.html How to dress in the water] ("Manchester Guardian", May 26, 1906)]

The machine would then be wheeled or slid into the water. The most common machines had large wide wheels and were propelled in and out of the surf by a horse or a pair of horses with a driver. Less common were machines pushed in and out of the water by human power. Some resorts had wooden rails into the water for the wheels to roll on; a few had bathing machines pulled in and out by cables propelled by a steam engine.

Once in the water, the occupants disembarked from the sea side down steps into the water. Many machines had doors front and back; those with only one door would be backed into the sea or need to be turned around. It was considered essential that the machine blocked any view of the bather from the shore. Some machines were equipped with a canvas tent lowered from the seaside door, sometimes capable of being lowered to the water, giving the bather greater privacy.

Some arrangements may have granted enough privacy to bathe nude, but it is not mentioned in contemporary accounts.

Some resorts employed a "dipper", a strong person of the same sex who would assist the bather in and out of the sea. Some dippers were said to push bathers into the water, then yank them out, considered part of the experience. [Walton, John K. The English Seaside Resort. A social history 1750-1914. Leicester University Press, 1983]

Bathing machines would often be equipped with a small flag which could be raised by the bather as a signal to the driver that they were ready to return to shore.

History

According to some sources, the bathing machine was developed about 1750 by Benjamin Beale at Margate, Kent. Other sources say they did not come into common use until decades later. However, in Scarborough Public Library there is an engraving by John Setterington dated 1736 which shows people bathing and appears to be the first evidence for bathing machines.

Bathing machines were most common in the United Kingdom and parts of the British Empire with a British population, but were also used in France, Germany, the United States, Mexico, and other nations. Legal segregation of bathing areas in Britain ended in 1901, and the bathing machine declined rapidly. By the start of the 1920s bathing machines were almost extinct, even on beaches catering to an older clientele. [Manning-Sanders, Ruth. Seaside England. B T Batsford, 1951]

References

6. Schaefer, Mary & David, "Where Did You Change?", Mica Publishers, 2006

External links

* [http://www.womenofbrighton.co.uk/marthagunn.htm Martha Gunn] page about a professional dipper, with an illustration of a row of bathing machines employing dippers.