Miss Marie Finney

            Yet another member of the elite band of ornamental swimmers was Miss Marie Finney who was born in Southport in 1872 but she learned how to swim in Oldham where her brother, James, aged 15 in 1877 had been employed at the local swimming baths as a teacher of swimming.  James was a successful ornamental swimmer and diver, and by 1885 he was being called a ‘Professor’ of swimming.[1] He was a successful promoter and manager of their aquatic affairs. By 1891 they were both living in London, employed as teachers of swimming and using Wandsworth as their home base. Marie had built up a formidable reputation as a diver having dived off London Bridge; the only girl (she was seventeen at the time) to have completed the feat. She was described as ‘the best ornamental swimmer of her sex, but is also a fast swimmer of considerable distinction.’[2] She had dived off the pier at Llandudno, a height of fifty-four feet into only twelve feet of water and in 1894 she had repeated the feat at Blackpool off the North Pier.[3] A report of Miss Finney’s exploits at the Tower Circus for 1898 suggests that she would ‘make her graceful dive of over 60 feet into six feet of water.’[4]

            In November 1888 James Finney was appearing at the Oxford Music Hall displaying his skills in a ‘remarkably clever and interesting diving performance in company with his charmingly graceful young sister – a veritable Lurline of the tank.’[5] The ‘wonderful subaqueous performance’ by the Finney’s involved diving to the bottom of the glass tank where he would proceed to pick up coins in his mouth. His sister would then join him in enacting the ‘legend of the bewitching Lurline of his pretty sister’. The performance was said to be a ‘picturesque and unsurpassed aquatic performance’. The Journalist from the Penny Illustrated Paper sets a rather erotic scene when he describes Miss Finney as a ‘pretty sister,  who looks the most captivating of undulating river sprites, as, her brown hair floating like a fairy coronal, she hovers over her sleeping brother’,  a ‘bewitching Lurline’.[6]

            In 1894 Marie was presented with a ‘beautiful diamond and gold brooch’ in appreciation of her efforts in the inaugural season at the Blackpool Tower Aquatic and Variety Circus.[7] The gift, presented by the Blackpool Tower Company, was surely an indication as to her importance in that the Johnson Sisters had only received gold curb bracelets. Mary was a diver and part of her act was to dive some sixty feet into the circus-rings water tank. It was reported that both Professor Finney and Miss Finney were leaving Blackpool for the USA where they would be appearing for eight weeks at Koster and Bial’s Theatre in New York.[8] They appeared on the same bill as the famous Marie Lloyd, ‘the London Music Hall singer’.[9] This was followed by an appearance at the New York Athletic Club’s ladies day where they gave ‘an exhibition of swimming’.[10]

            The Finney Family appeared at the Blackpool Tower the following season where Miss Finney is described as giving ‘a pretty natatorial exhibition’ with her ‘graceful dives from the roof’. Professor James Finney performed with his ‘three little daughters’ (Maud, Vera and Ethel who were aged 10, 7 and 5 respectively).[11] They were in good company, performing along with such well known names as the Sisters Johnson, and Joey Nuttall who was the Champion speed swimmer of the world.[12] This was an indication of the Towers ability to attract the best aquatic acts to perform at the Circus twice daily for a whole season.

Mary diving from the North Pier, Blackpool, c1890.

 

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[1] A. Frost, ‘History of the County Borough of Oldham Baths and Wash-House’, 91-4.

[2] The Marvel, A Champion Swimmer, July 02, 1898.

[3] Pick-Me-Up, Our Photo Competition, London, Saturday, June 09, 1894, Issue 297, 159

[4] Blackpool Gazette, Our Entertainers, The Tower Circus, Friday, August 05, 1898.

[5] The Penny Illustrated Paper and Illustrated Times, Professor James Finney, Issue 1433, Saturday, November 17, 1888.

[6] Ibid.

[7] The Era, Saturday, October 6, 1894

[8] Ibid.

[9] New York Times, Notes of the Stage, Wednesday, October 14, 1894. 13.

[10] New York Times, Lady’s Day at the Club; New York Athletic Club’s Entertainment Enjoyed by Many, Wednesday, October 14, 1894, 13.

[11] The Era, Amusements in Blackpool, Circus Tower, Saturday, July 6, 1895.

[12] Blackpool Tower Company, ‘The Tower, Blackpool Programme’, August 19, 1895, 3