The Prince of Wales Baths

‘By the side of the silvery sea’: The Prince of Wales Swimming Baths.

The lyrics to one of Britain’s most popular music hall songs proclaim that Victorians and Edwardians of all social-classes aspired to ‘spend their summer's holiday, down beside the side of the silvery sea.’ This paper examines the consumption of Ornamental Swimming as a popular form of entertainment for Victorian holiday-makers to Lancashire’s premier seaside holiday-resort of Blackpool. Billed as the ‘The Greatest Swimming Show in the Universe’, the privately-owned Prince of Wales Swimming Baths entertained its customers for sixteen summer seasons from 1881-1896.  The baths was a significant addition to the resorts attractions and totally in keeping with the towns mission to cater for their visitors ‘health, pleasure and recreation’. The very existence of such a facility reflected the expanding variety of specialist acts displaying their aquatic sporting prowess within the world of popular entertainment. All of the nation’s champion swimmers of the period had exhibited at the baths during their professional careers, performing aquatic feats to audiences who had an insatiable appetite to be entertained by both risky and risqué performances.

             This paper examines the consumption of Ornamental Swimming as a popular form of entertainment for Victorian holiday-makers to Lancashire’s premier seaside holiday-resort of Blackpool. Billed as the ‘The Greatest Swimming Show in the Universe’, the privately-owned Prince of Wales Swimming Baths entertained its customers for sixteen summer seasons from 1881-1896. The very existence of such a facility poses a number of intriguing questions:
1.     Why did the Baths command such a prominent position amongst Blackpool’s numerous pleasure palaces? It was built in 1881 between the North Pier (1863) and the Central Pier (1868). A consortium of Preston businessmen had decided to build the baths to add to the hotel and variety theatre they already owned on that same block of land. The baths provision was most certainly a financial venture.

 

2.     Did it signify a move away from sea-bathing to closed-water bathing as a popular recreational activity? The ‘popularity’ of sea-bathing was perhaps always questionable and the growing provision of swimming and/or bathing facilities within a safer environment popularised the ‘art of swimming’.

3.     What role had the baths and washhouses movement assumed in the life of Lancashire’s mill-town workers during this period? The provision of Baths and Washhouses by local authorities’ circa-1880 was growing apace within Lancashire. For every swimming baths there existed at least one swimming club.
 
4.     To what extent had the ‘art of swimming’ become a form of entertainment? Swimming clubs were compelled to not only provide races at their galas that were ‘open’ for professionals to compete in but to also provide other entertainments for the spectators. An exhibition of ornamental swimming allowed the professional swimmers to be paid for the exhibition rather than for the open race. The swimming club galas proved to be of great financial benefit to both the club and the local Corporation.

5.     How important was ‘ornamental swimming’ in the struggle for emancipation of working-class females? The popularity of young female ornamental swimmers guaranteed its status as did the dangerous and often mystical nature of their performances at a time when most people could not swim.

            The tableau’s that adorned the promenade entrance to the Prince of Wales Baths are clearly designed to entice the passer-by into the Baths where they were assured to have ‘Fun’. Segregation was not based upon being ‘Male’ or ‘Female’; neither was it a question of being a 1^st, 2^nd or even 3^rd class bather. The allegorical messages contained within the semiotic images ‘hint’ of risky and risqué performances by females in ‘official costumes’. The subliminal messages are cleverly aimed at a predominantly working-class clientele largely from the industrial heartland of Lancashire. A visit to a ‘water show’ produced an eclectic mix of customers for a whole variety of reasons; perhaps the dangerous feats performed, or the predominance of scantily clad female natationists or even the cost of yet another form of variety entertainment at the seaside – all for just 6d.  Whilst the tableau’s were effective in drawing-in the ‘punters’ on the promenade in 1888 a seller of photographs of ‘actresses’ was being arrested by the police on Bank-Hey Street, which runs parallel to the promenade and also offered a second entrance to the Baths. This was by no means an isolated incident and serves to illustrate a stark difference in Victorian attitudes towards the amount of flesh that could be revealed by female performers before offending public decency.

            A police officer had considered that some of the pictures on sale by the hawker were indecent and ‘not fit to be exhibited in the public street’. The measure of moral decency appears to be based upon the fact that there were no photographs of statues. It was the officers considered opinion that the pictures were ‘improper and would tend to injure the morals of the people’. The court found the defendant guilty with the option of paying a 40-shillings fine or 28 days in prison. The defendant did ask the court if the Chief Constable could tell him in future which photographs he may sell and the Chief Constable promised to do so. The tableaus on display at the Baths Promenade entrance were to stay in place until the baths closed in 1896.


            This photograph is a visual testimony to a specific moment in time and place that provides the observer with the potential to interpret the consumption of Ornamental Swimming as a popular form of entertainment in Blackpool. The Prince of Wales Baths provides the context for the historiography of swimming as established in the new leisure world and the role of the leisure entrepreneur in satisfying the insatiable appetite of Lancashire’s Lads and Lassies to be entertained. The tableaus provide an opportunity to debate the role of female natationists in an activity that provided the spectator with a curious mix of physically demanding feats performed by those prepared to expose their bodies in a way that sat on that most delicate of see-saws called Victorian respectability. 
 
            Billed as the ‘The Greatest Swimming Show in the Universe’, the privately-owned Prince of Wales Baths entertained its customers for sixteen summer seasons from 1881-1896.  The baths was a significant addition to the resorts attractions and was totally in keeping with the towns mission to cater for their visitors ‘health, pleasure and recreation’. The growth of Public Baths and Washhouses within Lancashire’s hinterland from 1870 onwards had ensured that the typical visitor to Blackpool now had a general knowledge of ornamental swimming as experienced at their local baths and variety theatres. Blackpool attempted to give their visitors what they were used to at home, but only bigger and better!

            At the Prince of Wales Baths the spectator was treated to a ‘water show’ designed to intoxicate the customer with daring and dangerous aquatic feats performed by some of the nation’s best exponents of ornamental swimming. All of the countries ‘champion swimmers’ from 1881-1896 had performed at ‘The Sight of Blackpool’. The baths had the facilities commonly found in most public baths in Lancashire: a large swimming pool for males, a smaller pool for females, private slipper baths and a Turkish bath. However, that was where the similarities ended as the baths was predominantly for water shows; when the season was in full swing opportunities for public swimming reduced as the number of daily performances increased.
 
            The leading aquatic entertainers who ‘topped-the-bill’ were made up of a small group of elite performers who were variously described in the publicity material as:
 
‘The champion of champions’ (Joey Nuttall);
‘The champion all-round swimmer of the world’ (Professor James Finney);
‘The heroine of London Bridge’ (Mary Finney);
‘The champion lady swimmers of the world (The Sisters Johnson);
‘The greatest scientific and ornamental lady swimmer in the Universe’ (Miss Hermione)
 
The common denominator was that they had stood at the head of their profession as competitive speed or long-distance swimmers and had moved into ornamental swimming as a means of earning a steady but lucrative living. This was of particular significance to the working-class female performers as it provided them with an income of their own whilst also providing positive role models for other females to follow.

             An account of the entertainments on offer at the Baths in June, 1886 is provided by “Nemo” in the Birmingham Chronicle. Nemo describes how he ‘had the pleasure of witnessing the opening performance of the season’ on Whit Monday in 1886. The entertainment began with an ‘overture on the piano’, followed by the acrobat Mons. Ruri who, ‘executed with much gracefulness and remarkable ease, a number of difficult feats’. He was performing on the ‘invisible wire’ and the ‘high trapeze’. This act was followed by the first swimmer, Mademoiselle Le Grande who dived into the water at one end of the swimming pool and swam the full length under water, a distance of 107 feet (32.6 meters). She was then joined by the rest of the troupe of swimmers who proceeded to perform ‘exhibitions of ornamental and scientific swimming’. Nemo suggests that Mdlle, Le Grande was an ‘accomplished young lady who ‘executed almost as many feats in the “briny” as a gymnast could perform on the stage.’ She was then joined by a child-performer whose stage name was ‘Little Lottie’, - ‘the floating wonder’ – who ‘exhibited some really clever tricks in addition to floating on the surface of the water in a manner so graceful and natural as to win for herself continued applause.’ 

 

            The next artiste to perform was Professor James Finney who was described as an ‘amphibious king’. The spectators were said to have ‘enthusiastically received’ Finney in great anticipation of his performance as he was considered to ‘stand at the head of his profession, and his feats are simply astounding.’ He started by giving an imitation of a novice swimmer learning how to swim which was described as being ‘screamingly funny’ keeping the audience in ‘roars of laughter.’ However, the account informs its readers that Finney is most admired for his scientific and ornamental swimming:

He swims under water, with both feet and hands tied, the whole length of the bath. He swims with both feet out of the water. He swims like a fish, like a crab, dives, swims, and revolves like a seal, swims on one side, without the use of his arms, remains under water until you think he will never come up again, and in a word, performs such marvellous feats as “must be seen to be believed”.

Accompanying Professor Finney was Miss Blanche Hermione, who is lauded for her performance thus:

There is nothing this young lady cannot do in the water, she is, without exception the most accomplished lady swimmer I have ever seen, and when I tell you that her feats cover a wide range, from waltzing in the water, to diving head first into it from the balcony above, you will be able to form some conception of Miss Hermione’s ability.

            The entertainment is then brought to an end with an ‘Aquatic Derby’, which Nemo declares to be ‘the most side-splitting farce ever seen in a bath.’ The pantomime is described as involving four ‘hobby horses’ that had been named after prominent politicians of the day: Gladstone, Salisbury, Chamberlain and Parnell.  The jockeys of such steeds attempt to race across the bath but invariably fall off on numerous occasions due to the instability of their horses and because of the inevitable collisions that occur in such a confined space. We are assured that such happenings ‘cause the race to be one of excitement as well as of extreme merriment.’

            The success of the aquatic farce as a finale to the entertainment was subsequently developed into a series of pantomimes whose themes would be changed each season by the shows proprietor, Mr William Henry Broadhead. The water pantomime was variously called ‘an aquatic farce’ or ‘a laughable burlesque’ with such titles as:

1.     On the Ship Canal.
2.     The Warriors Adventures.
3.     McGinty Among the Cannibals.
4.     A Swim for a Wife.

Nemo concludes his description with a comment on the show’s propriety by assuring his readers that:

… all the swimmers are attired in beautiful costumes, which are the pink of modesty, you will see how well this amusing and instructive entertainment is adapted for ladies and children, as well as for the up-grown sterner sex. To recommend such an institution is a pleasure.

            The dangerous nature of some of the performances can be illustrated by a fatal accident that occurred in 1888. On Monday, July 16, the trapeze artist, William Walker of Hulme in Manchester, better known as ‘Bravo’ had a fall during a practice session at the baths. Fellow professional gymnast,  ‘Voltyne’, real name Edwin Bent, said that they were performing on the triple aerial horizontal bars and flying trapeze during the rehearsal when, attempting a double somersault Walker landed on his head in the safety net and broke his neck.

The account of the accident to the Coroner by Voltyne and his subsequent actions require no further comment from me:

He [Bravo] turned once and a half round instead of twice, which brought him on his head. I heard him make a noise, and immediately ran into the net. He had turned over on his back and I put my feet against his shoulders and pulled his head. I heard a crack, which I think was behind the neck. His chin was upon his chest. Before I pulled his head back he appeared to be chocking.

The jury returned a verdict of ‘accidental death’.

             The use of a swimming baths was not always a safer option especially if you could not swim; the combination of cold water and inexperience in the art of swimming often proved fatal. Such a case occurred at the Baths on Tuesday, August 24, 1883 when John Lowe of Hyde, Cheshire took a ‘dip’ in the baths. The Coroner’s inquest highlighted a series of health and safety issues that were avoidable and most certainly would not have been tolerated today. The deceased had attended the water show given by Professor Finney on the Tuesday afternoon; emboldened by the performances, Lowe decided to take a swim after the show as was common practice by some spectators. With no life guards to observe the ‘swimmers’ Lowe drowned within 6 minutes of entering the cold, murky sea-water.

            The consumption of Ornamental Swimming as a popular form of entertainment was not limited to a visit to the sea-side. The best exponents of the art had established themselves as performers of some note who could command prominent billing at a variety of local, national and even international venues: in water shows, swimming galas, Variety Theatres, at the sea-side, or in rivers and lakes. Most of the female performers began their careers as members of a family act but as their popularity and fame grew many would perform under their own names. A summer- season in Blackpool would be lucrative and help establish an aquatic act on the swimming circuit. The proprietor of the Prince of Wales Baths would employ ornamental swimmers in his various variety theatres throughout Lancashire to perform on stage in glass tanks. The North Pier, predominantly for the working-classes, was also a major venue for ornamental swimmers either on stage or in the waters off the pier.

            By 1894 the popularity of ornamental swimming was waning as a form of entertainment. As audiences became all too familiar with the art of swimming so its ability to entertain diminished. This was further complicated by the opening of the Blackpool Tower Aquatic and Variety Circus on the next block to the Baths. By 1896 most of the elite performers were appearing at both venues on short-term contracts. From the 1897 season The Tower Circus dominated the provision of water shows in Blackpool but only as a finale to the circus performances. The use of The Tower’s water tank continues to the present day.

            At the end of the 1896 season the Prince of Wales Baths closed its doors for the very last time. The site was bought by the Blackpool Tower Company who demolished it in 1897 to make way for the Palace Theatre. Thus, sounded the death-knell of ornamental swimming as an art form in Blackpool, the ‘Brighton of the North’. Most of the elite performers had used the Baths as a focal point for their activities as variety act performers; they would venture forth to perform as speed or distance swimmers in exhibition or challenge races throughout the country and even in Europe and North America. The discipline of ornamental swimming was essentially a family affair that could be exhibited both at local swimming galas and on the variety theatre stage. Just as the new leisure world provided an opportunity for the art of swimming to flourish and grow so did the efforts of the Amateur Swimming Association eventually cut off its life-blood within the nation’s local swimming clubs.