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Organizing Swimming Communities

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Swimming Communities in Victorian England

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Abstract

While early efforts to organize swimming had been initiated by swimming professors with a view to increasing their teaching opportunities, towards the end of the nineteenth century an amateur swimming community emerged that first created swimming clubs and then concentrated on developing a centralized organization. This eventually evolved into the Amateur Swimming Association (ASA), which applied its amateur credentials by excluding the professional communities that had been responsible for the development of the activity. The authors explore the development of clubs, especially those for women, before outlining the evolution of the Amateur Swimming Association, and the short-lived Professional Swimming Association, in the 1880s. They then explain how the amateur swimming community appropriated swimming for their own purposes and the legacy that this left for the sport.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Bell’s Life, “National Swimming Society,” September 10, 1843, p. 4; “Swimming,” August 20, 1837, p. 2; “Swimming in the Serpentine River,” September 10, 1837, p. 4.

  2. 2.

    Cleave’s London Satirist and Gazette of Variety, November 11, 1837, Issue 5.

  3. 3.

    John Bull, August 26, 1838, p. 405; Bell’s Life, “Swimming Challenge,” July 28, 1839, p. 3; “National Swimming Society,” January 20, 1839, p. 4; “National Swimming Society,” September 6, 1840, p. 2.

  4. 4.

    Bell’s Life, “National Swimming Society,” April 25, 1841, p. 1; “Swimming School,” June 20, 1841, p. 4.

  5. 5.

    Bell’s Life, “Swimming Race,” August 22, 1841, p. 4; Hampshire Chronicle, “National Swimming Society,” August 30, 1841, p. 2.

  6. 6.

    Morning Post, “The National Swimming Society,” September 9, 1841, p. 3; Bell’s Life, September 12, 1841, p. 1.

  7. 7.

    Bell’s Life, “Swimming Race,” July 12, 1840, p. 1; “The Glasgow Swimming Society,” August 16, 1840, p. 4; “National Swimming Society,” July 3, 1842, p. 4; “National Swimming Society,” August 28, 1842, p. 3; “National Swimming Society.” September 10, 1843, p. 4.

  8. 8.

    The Satirist, “Prize Essays of the National, Now the British Swimming Society,” August 1, 1841, p. 252; Penny Satirist, “Prize Essays of the National, Now the British Swimming Society, on the Art of Swimming,” September 11, 1841, p. 3; The Times, August 15, 1837, p. 2; September 21, 1838, p. 6; September 6, 1843, p. 3; Era, September 3, 1843, p. 12.

  9. 9.

    Era, “Swimming,” September 3, 1843, p. 12.

  10. 10.

    Bell’s Life, “National Swimming Society,” September 3, 1843, p. 4.

  11. 11.

    The Times, “British Swimming Society,” September 6, 1843, p. 3.

  12. 12.

    Bell’s Life, “Grand Swimming Match,” September 8, 1844, p. 3; Age and Argus, September 7, 1844, p. 3; Era, “The National Swimming Society,” September 28, 1845, p. 11.

  13. 13.

    Lloyd’s Weekly, May 26, 1844, p. 10; Bell’s Life, October 3, 1841, p. 4; “National Swimming Society,” August 27, 1843, p. 4; “National Swimming Society,” September 3, 1843, p. 4; “Swimming,” July 14, 1844, p. 4; September 12, 1847, p. 6; July 9, 1848, p. 7; September 3, 1848, p. 8.

  14. 14.

    Morning Advertiser, October 27, 1841, p. 2; “Royal Universal Swimming Society,” November 4, 1841, p. 2; March 28, 1842, p. 3.

  15. 15.

    Bell’s Life, “Swimming,” September 12, 1847, p. 6.

  16. 16.

    Bell’s Life, “Swimming,” September 3, 1848, p. 6; “The London Baths,” November 12, 1848, p. 3.

  17. 17.

    Bell’s Life, “Swimming,” July 9, 1848, p. 6; April 15, 1849, p. 6.

  18. 18.

    Bell’s Life, May 14, 1848, p. 6; “Swimming,” July 9, 1848, p. 6; July 1, 1849; p. 6; “Leander. Swimming,” December 4, 1859, p. 7; June 30, 1850, p. 2; “Swimming,” July 14, 1850, p. 8; “Swimming,” June 29, 1851, p. 8.

  19. 19.

    The Times, “Grand Display of Swimming. Baths in Holborn,” August 6, 1851, p. 6.

  20. 20.

    Morning Chronicle, May 29, 1857, p. 7; Era, June 19, 1859, p. 14; Bell’s Life, May 1, 1859, p. 6.

  21. 21.

    Era, “Lambeth Swimming Baths,” May 8, 1859, p. 13; August 25, 1861, p. 5; September 1, 1861, p. 14; August 6, 1865, p. 5.

  22. 22.

    Daily News, June 1, 1872, p. 6; Bell’s Life, August 17, 1872, p. 5.

  23. 23.

    Claire Parker, “The Rise of Competitive Swimming 1840 to 1878,” The Sports Historian 21, no. 2 (2001): 54–67.

  24. 24.

    Bell’s Life, June 2, 1850, p. 7.

  25. 25.

    Matthew Webb, The Art of Swimming Ed. A.G. Payne (London: Ward, Lock and Tyler, 1875), 74.

  26. 26.

    Land and Water, August 31, 1872, cited in Webb, The Art of Swimming.

  27. 27.

    Archibald Sinclair and William Henry, Swimming (London: Longmans and Green, 1893), 349–351; Archibald Sinclair, Swimming and Life Saving (London: Health and Strength, 1906), 2, 6; Charles M. Daniels, Hjalmar Johannson, and Archibald Sinclair, How to Swim and Save Life (Spalding’s Athletic Library Series, 1907), 11; Martin Cobbett, Swimming (The All-England Series, London: George Bell and Sons, 1907), 2; H.R. Austin, How to Swim (London: Methuen and Co. Ltd, 1914), 6.

  28. 28.

    Frank Sachs, The Complete Swimmer (London: Methuen, 1912), 39.

  29. 29.

    George F. Pardon, (‘Captain Crawley’) Swimming, Skating, and Rinking (London: Ward and Lock, 1882), 9–10.

  30. 30.

    David Billington, How to Become a Good Swimmer (London: Hutchinson, 1926), 2.

  31. 31.

    Harold Annison, Swimming (London: Pitman and Sons, 1936).

  32. 32.

    Sachs, The Complete Swimmer, 242.

  33. 33.

    Ian Keil and Don Wix, In the Swim: The Amateur Swimming Association from 1869 to 1994 (Leicester: Swimming Times Ltd., 1996), 5.

  34. 34.

    Penny Illustrated, October 27, 1877, p. 267; County Gentleman, February 24, 1900, p. 252.

  35. 35.

    New York Times, November 23, 1921, p. 1; Hearth and Home, August 23, 1900, p. 605; “Fun and games at the London Bath Club,” http://www.bartitsu.org/index.php/tag/dover-street/.

  36. 36.

    Hearth and Home, June 6, 1895, p. 130; July 20, 1899, p. 439; August 2, 1900, p. 522.

  37. 37.

    Dundee Evening Telegraph, July 11, 1901, p. 3.

  38. 38.

    Penny Illustrated, October 27, 1877, p. 267.

  39. 39.

    Bell’s Life, July 27, 1878, p. 12.

  40. 40.

    Bell’s Life, May 31, 1879, p. 4; October 11, 1879, p. 5; Englishwoman’s Review, August 15, 1879, p. 359.

  41. 41.

    Bell’s Life, July 24, 1880, p. 8.

  42. 42.

    Bell’s Life, April 30, 1881, p. 9; November 5, 1881, p. 3; “Ladies Cadogan Swimming Club,” May 20, 1882, p. 10.

  43. 43.

    Penny Illustrated, October 3, 1885, p. 218.

  44. 44.

    Hearth and Home, August 6, 1896, p. 479; August 13, 1896, p. 514; August 30, 1900, p. 643.

  45. 45.

    Croydon Advertiser, February 7, 1891, p. 7; February 21, 1891, p. 7; June 20, 1891, p. 7; October 3, 1891, p. 8.

  46. 46.

    Hearth and Home, August 1, 1895, p. 423.

  47. 47.

    Hearth and Home, September 7, 1893, p. 564; October 12, 1893, p. 740; April 19, 1894, p. 792; August 2, 1894, p. 423; December 27, 1894, p. 261.

  48. 48.

    Hearth and Home, August 1, 1895, p. 423; June 13, 1895, p. 164; July 18, 1895, p. 354; December 12, 1895, p. 200; December 19, 1895, p. 230; January 23, 1896, p. 406; March 19, 1896, p. 717.

  49. 49.

    Joyce Kay, “It Wasn’t Just Emily Davison! Sport, Suffrage and Society in Edwardian Britain,” International Journal of the History of Sport, 25, no. 10 (2008): 1338–1354.

  50. 50.

    Women’s Union Journal, “First Evening at the Swimming Baths,” June 1, 1879, p. 53; July 1, 1881, p. 77; “Women’s Union Swimming Club,” October 1, 1882, p. 81.

  51. 51.

    Hearth and Home, May 24, 1894, p. 53.

  52. 52.

    AMSC/LSA Committee Minutes 1869, February 11; March 11; May 13; May 27; June 10; June 24. ASA Archives, Loughborough.

  53. 53.

    LSA Committee Minutes 1869, July 22; September 9; October 14. ASA Archives, Loughborough.

  54. 54.

    MSA Committee Minutes, 1870 February 10; May 12; June 9; October 13; 1871 January 12; June 8; September 14; October 12; 1872. September 9. ASA Archives, Loughborough.

  55. 55.

    MSA Committee Minutes, December 8, 1873. ASA Archives, Loughborough.

  56. 56.

    Annison, Swimming, 4; Francois Oppenheim, The History of Swimming (North Hollywood, CA, 1970).

  57. 57.

    Bell’s Life, August 18, 1883, p. 8.

  58. 58.

    SAGB Committee Minutes, January 14, 1878; May 30, 1881. SAGB Committee Report 1880; 1881; 1882. ASA Archives, Loughborough.

  59. 59.

    SAGB Committee Minutes, September 9, 1878; November 11, 1878. ASA Archives, Loughborough.

  60. 60.

    SAGB Committee Report 1880; 1882. ASA Archives, Loughborough; SCAAA Minutes, February 11, 1884, 21; March 13, 1885, 40; Minutes AAA AGM, March 21, 1885, 41; AAA Committee Minutes, February 21, 1885, 39; May 8, 1885, 44. AAA Archives. University of Birmingham Special Collections.

  61. 61.

    Archibald Sinclair and William Henry, Swimming (London: Longmans, Green & Co., 1893), 349–351; ASA ‘Emergency’ Committee Minutes, September 4, 1897; January 8, 1898. ASA Archives, Loughborough.

  62. 62.

    Annison, Swimming, 5.

  63. 63.

    Dover Express, “Channel Swimming. A Strange Statement,” August 3, 1928, p. 9; “The Channel Swimming Association. An Unsatisfactory Explanation,” October 5, 1928, p. 11.

  64. 64.

    Sinclair and Henry, Swimming, 349–351.

  65. 65.

    Daniels, Johannson and Sinclair, How to Swim and Save Life, 110.

  66. 66.

    Manchester Guardian, June 3, 1895, p. 7.

  67. 67.

    ASA Committee Minutes, November 16, 1895; March 16, 1901; May 18, 1901; August 24, 1901; May 31, 1902; Daniels, Johannson and Sinclair, How to Swim and Save Life, 110; Archibald Sinclair, Swimming and Life Saving (London: Health and Strength, 1906), 6.

  68. 68.

    Sinclair and Henry, Swimming, 27; Austin, How to Swim, 14.

  69. 69.

    Leonard Schwarz, “Professions, Elites, and Universities in England, 1870 –1970,” Historical Journal 47, no. 4 (2004), 956–957.

  70. 70.

    William Wilson, The Swimming Instructor: A Treatise on the Arts of Swimming and Diving (London: H. Cox., 1883), 24–27.

  71. 71.

    Sinclair and Henry, Swimming, 27–31.

  72. 72.

    ASA AGM Minutes, April 14, 1894; March 30, 1895. ASA Archives, Loughborough.

  73. 73.

    ASA Committee Minutes, November 16, 1895; ASA AGM Minutes, March 7, 1908. ASA Archives, Loughborough.

  74. 74.

    ASA Committee Minutes, April 29, 1899. ASA Archives, Loughborough; Theodore Andrea Cooke, The Fourth Olympiad: The Official Report of the Olympic Games 1908 (The British Olympic Association, 1908), 769–770.

  75. 75.

    AAA Committee Minutes, December 18, 1886; February 19, 1887. AAA Archives. University of Birmingham Special Collections; ASA Committee Minutes, January 12, 1895. ASA Archives, Loughborough; AAA, ASA and NCU Conference Minutes, November 16, 1895. AAA Archives. University of Birmingham Special Collections; Daniels, Johannson and Sinclair, How to Swim and Save Life, 116.

  76. 76.

    Penny Illustrated, “A National Swimming Meeting,” September 6, 1884, p. 10; SAGB Minutes, May 30, 1881; SAGB Committee Reports 1881; 1882. ASA Archives, Loughborough.

  77. 77.

    Sporting Life, July 9, 1881, p. 4; Ralph Thomas, Swimming (London: Sampson, Low and Marston, 1904), 357.

  78. 78.

    SAGB Minutes, August 1881. Circular from the PSA detailing their officers and rules, which had been received by the SAGB on August 8. ASA Archives, Loughborough.

  79. 79.

    Bell’s Life, “The Swimming Association,” July 16, 1881, 9; SAGB Committee Minutes, May 30, 1881; July 11, 1881; August 1881; SAGB Committee Reports. 1881; 1882; Sporting Life, July 9, 1881, p. 4; Thomas, Swimming, 357.

  80. 80.

    Bell’s Life, July 16, 1881, 9; October 29, 1881, 3; Liverpool Mercury, “The Professional Swimming Championship,” August 1, 1881, p. 7; Penny Illustrated, August 6, 1881, p. 7; July 29, 1882, p. 10; Graphic, September 24, 1881, p. 323.

  81. 81.

    Bell’s Life, “The Professional Swimming Association,” February 4, 1882, p. 4; “The Professional Swimming Association,” March 18, 1882, p. 10; “The Professional Swimming Association,” August 18, 1883, p. 8; “The Professional Swimming Association,” June 5, 1885, p. 1.

  82. 82.

    Penny Illustrated, February 20, 1886, p. 7; Sachs, The Complete Swimmer, 232; Charles Dickens Jr, Dickens’s Dictionary of London (Moretonhampstead: Old House, 1888), reprint 1993.

  83. 83.

    Penny Illustrated, September 4, 1875, p. 13.

  84. 84.

    News of the World, April 25, 1886, p. 8; May 2, 1886, p. 8; Penny Illustrated, April 10, 1886, p. 10.

  85. 85.

    News of the World, October 24, 1886, p, 8; Penny Illustrated, October 24, 1886, p. 8.

  86. 86.

    Thomas, Swimming, 357. Thomas had only seen one report of the PSA entitled The Professional Swimming Association : Season 1887 (London: W. W. Ramsden), a handbook of rules, officers and captaincy races since 1881.

  87. 87.

    Licensed Victuallers’ Mirror, October 7, 1890, p. 474; October 28, 1890, p. 510; Graphic, August 30, 1890, p. 237.

  88. 88.

    Licensed Victuallers’ Mirror, April 7, 1891, p. 162; April 21, 1891, p. 186; April 28, 1891, p. 198; August 18, 1891, p. 390; October 27, 1891, p. 509.

  89. 89.

    Manchester Guardian, November 21, 1890, p. 8; March 30, 1893, p. 6.

  90. 90.

    Sinclair and Henry, Swimming, 341.

  91. 91.

    BL Evan. 1034.

  92. 92.

    Evening Post (NZ), January 17, 1903, p. 6; Sporting Life, “Professional Association Formed,” January 8, 1906, p. 5; “Swimming. Professional Association Formed,” January 17, 1906, p. 6; January 27, 1906, p. 6; “Professional Swimming Association,” February 7, 1906, p. 3; “Swimming. Professional Swimming Association,” March 7, 1906, p. 6; “Professional Swimming Association,” April 4, 1906, p. 8; “Professional Swimming Association,” April 18, 1906, p. 1; “Professional Swimming Association,” May 12, 1906, p. 1; Wellington Journal, “Notes on Swimming,” June 2, 1906, p. 9; Nottingham Evening Post, January 8, 1906, p. 8; Sportsman, “Professional Swimming Association,” March 31, 1906, p. 7.

  93. 93.

    London Daily News, “Swimming,” October 11, 1911, p. 10; Leicester Daily Mercury, “Swimming Notes,” November 11, 1911, p. 2; New Zealand Herald, January 3, 1912, p. 4; ‘ ASA Committee Minutes 1 March 1912. Minute 75 (c) Correspondence, 146; Magpie, “Sporting Chatter,” Globe, January 5, 1912, p. 2; May 25, 1912, p. 3; Pall Mall Gazette, July 23, 1912, p. 13; Daily Herald, “Swimming, Marylebone Teacher wins Professional Association Handicap,” July 29, 1912, p. 7; Staffordshire Sentinel, “Sporting Chat,” July 29, 1912, p. 6; Jarrow Express, August 2, 1912, p. 3; Daily Herald, “Sport Items,” September 21, 1912, p. 10; Shoreditch Observer, “Chiswick,” September 21, 1912, p. 2.

  94. 94.

    David J. Teece, “Profiting from Technological Innovation: Implications for Integration, Collaboration, Licensing, and Public Policy,” Research Policy 15, no. 6 (1986), 285–305.

  95. 95.

    Eric Dunning and Ken Sheard, “The Bifurcation of Rugby Union and Rugby League: A Case Study of Organizational Conflict and Change” CRSS Module 2, Unit 2, Part 5, Reading 5, 97–130 (Leicester: University of Leicester, 1996).

  96. 96.

    Sinclair and Henry, Swimming, 355.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. History, Politics and Philosophy, Manchester Metropolitan University, Manchester, UK

    Dave Day

  2. Independent Researcher, Crewe, UK

    Margaret Roberts

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Day, D., Roberts, M. (2019). Organizing Swimming Communities. In: Swimming Communities in Victorian England. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-20940-7_6

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