Late Nineteenth-Century Swimming Teachers in England

Day, Dave

doi:10.1007/978-3-030-26909-8_3

Dave Day¹⁰

Part of the book series: Palgrave Studies in Sport and Politics ((PASSP))

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Abstract

During the nineteenth century, swimming became socially acceptable for women and widening participation was facilitated by an increase in baths provision, which provided new opportunities for female professional swimming teachers. This chapter explores the expansion in their numbers by taking both a prosopographical approach, based on a catalogue of over two hundred women swimming teachers compiled from census data, and providing exemplars of individual biographies. The analysis uncovers the intersection of class and gender within this community and discusses the role of patriarchy in creating and maintaining opportunities for these women. The chapter concludes with some methodological reflections and argues for the combination of biographical approaches when exploring the life courses of previously hidden populations.

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Notes

1.
Leonore Davidoff and Catherine Hall, Family Fortunes: Men and Women of the English Middle-Class, 1780–1850 (London: Hutchinson, 1987). For a contrary view, see e.g. Amanda Vickery, “Golden Age to Separate Spheres? A Review of the Categories and Chronology of English Women’s History,” The Historical Journal 36 (1993), 383–414. And for a more recent reappraisal, Susie Steinbach, “Can We still Use ‘Separate Spheres?’ British History 25 Years After Family Fortunes’,” History Compass 10 (2012), 826–37.
2.
“Statistics as to the Employment of the Female Population of Great Britain,” English Woman’s Journal, no. 25 (March 1, 1860): 1–2.
3.
Forbes Carlile, “A History of Australian Swimming Training,” A Presentation at the World Swimming Coaches Clinic in Indianapolis, Indiana, Under Auspices of American Swimming Coaches Association. http://wscacoach.org/the-history-of-australian-swimming-training/ (October 9, 2004).
4.
Dave Day, “Class, Gender and Employment in England’s Victorian Public Baths,” ISHPES Conference, Paris, France, June 29–July 2, 2016; Dave Day, “The Female Bath Attendant: Nineteenth-Century Sport as a Driver of Gender Equality,” CESH Congress, Florence, Italy, October 22–24, 2015; and Dave Day, “The Female Swimming Teacher in Victorian England: A Preliminary Analysis,” BSSH Annual Conference, Swansea University, September 2–4, 2015.
5.
Census Returns of England and Wales, 1841–1911. Kew, Surrey, England: The National Archives of the UK (TNA): Public Records Office (PRO).
6.
Samantha-Jayne Oldfield, “Narrative Methods in Sport History Research: Biography, Collective Biography, and Prosopography,” International Journal of the History of Sport 32, no. 15 (2015): 1855–82.
7.
Frances Hoggan, Swimming and Its Relation to the Health of Women (London: Women’s Printing Society, 1879).
8.
Arthur Ashpitel, Observations on Baths and Wash-Houses, with an Account of Their History: An Abstract of the Acts of Parliament Relating Thereto (London: LSE Selected Pamphlets, 1852), 17.
9.
L. J. Beale, On Personal and Domestic Hygiene Showing the Value of Sanitary Laws Addressed Especially to the Working Classes (London: John Churchill, 1855).
10.
Christopher Love, “Local Aquatic Empires: The Municipal Provision of Swimming Pools in England, 1828–1918,” International Journal of the History of Sport 24, no. 5 (2007): 622–27.
11.
Morning Post, September 26, 1898; Girl’s Own Paper, November 26, 1898; and Woman’s Herald, September 28, 1893.
12.
“Where Are the Teachers of Swimming?” Scotsman, September 7, 1887, 9.
13.
Annals of the Liverpool Corporate Baths Dept., 1952, 29, cited in Claire Parker, “The Rise of Competitive Swimming 1840 to 1878,” The Sports Historian, 21 no. 2 (2001): 62.
14.
Swimming Notes, May 10, 1884, 8, 13.
15.
Polly Bird, “The Origins of Victorian Public Baths, with Special Reference to Dulwich Baths,” Local Historian 25 (1995): 149–50.
16.
Keith Myerscough. Personal communication.
17.
Simon Graham Allen, “The Provision of Public Baths and Wash Houses in Cardiff and Their Effect on Victorian Public Health and Hygiene, 1846–1901.” MA thesis, University of Wales Institute, Cardiff, September 1998, 66.
18.
Census Returns 1891. John, Agnes, Frances and Edith A. Howarth (3036/133/37).
19.
These types of displays, especially by young females, still resonate in the contemporary world. See Ann Chisholm, “Acrobats, Contortionists, and Cute Children: The Promise and Perversity of US Women’s Gymnastics,” Signs 27, no. 2 (2002): 415–50.
20.
“Death of Mrs Tait,” Littlehampton Gazette, April 17, 1925, 3.
21.
The Advertiser, Adelaide, April 23, 1934, 12.
22.
“Swimming Entertainment,” Hastings and St Leonards Observer, October 30, 1880, 5.
23.
“Miss Saigeman,” The Wheelwoman and Society Cycling News, March 20, 1897, 11.
24.
GRO (1857/birth/June/Worthing/2b/266), (1882/marriage/December/EastPreston/2b/657). Census 1881 (1038/36/18). 1891 (772/30/52), 1901 (871/17/25). 1911 (RG14PN4840 RG78PN208 RD71 SD2 ED28 SN195).
25.
Lloyd’s Weekly Newspaper, August 24, 1873; “Swimming Feats,” Grey River Argus, XVI, December 1, 1875, 2; and “Swimming Fete on the River Lea,” Morning Post, September 11, 1876, 3.
26.
The Times, August 26, 1879, 9; Bell’s Life, September 27, 1879, 5.
27.
“Swimming. Who is the Lady Champion?” American Gentleman’s Newspaper, August 1883, 99; “Swimming. The Ladies Championship,” The Times, November 1, 1883, 9.
28.
“Swimming Fete at Brill’s Baths, Brighton,” Bell’s Life, November 14, 1874, 8; Penny Illustrated, June 5, 1875, 14; “Swimming Fete at the Oriental Baths,” Leeds Mercury, October 5, 1878; and Manchester Guardian, September 4, 1883, 7.
29.
Graphic, August 30, 1879, 211; “Miss Saigeman as a Swimming Mistress,” Hastings and St Leonards Observer, September 14, 1878, 7.
30.
Penny Illustrated, September 10, 1887, 6.
31.
“A Lady Swimmer,” Sussex Agricultural Express, September 3, 1892, 10.
32.
“The World of Sportswomen,” Hearth and Home, July 27, 1893, 370.
33.
“Miss Saigeman,” The Wheelwoman and Society Cycling News, March 20, 1897, 11.
34.
“Ladies’ Gossip,” Northern Echo, August 20, 1894.
35.
“Celebrated Swimmers at Eastbourne,” Eastbourne Gazette, August 10, 1887, 8.
36.
“Bathing Season, 1900,” Hastings and St Leonards Observer, August 18, 1900, 8; BMD. Probate 1925. Eastbourne, 2b 86.
37.
Leeds Times, October 15, 1859, 6.
38.
T. Herbert Braker, “Tracts of the Ladies’ National Association for the Diffusion of Sanitary Knowledge-London,” The Medico-Chirurgical Review, and Journal of Medical Science (1859): 115.
39.
“Excelsoir Swimming Club,” Women’s Penny Paper, October 5, 1889, 8.
40.
Royal Leamington Spa Courier, April 21, 1866, 5.
41.
Ian Keil and Don Wix, In the Swim: The Amateur Swimming Association from 1869 to 1994 (Leicester: Swimming Times Ltd., 1996), 21.
42.
John Bromhead, “George Cadbury’s Contribution to Sport,” The Sports Historian 20, no. 1 (2000): 97–117.
43.
“Swimming. The Serpentine Swimming Club,” Bell’s Life, December 29, 1883; Sporting Gazette, July 3, 1869, 477.
44.
Bell’s Life, July 20, 1872, 11; “Regent Club,” August 3, 1872, 10.
45.
Bell’s Life, October 11, 1879.
46.
Barnet Press, May 13, 1882, 8; June 17, 1882, 2; September 23, 1882, 2.
47.
Kentish Mercury, June 15, 1883, 4.
48.
Sporting Life, October 3, 1885, 4; Sportsman, October 3, 1885, 3.
49.
Sporting Life, September 16, 1891, 7.
50.
Hearth & Home, September 7, 1893; October 12, 1893; April 19, 1894; August 2, 1894.
51.
“The World of Sportswomen,” Hearth and Home, October 12, 1893, 740; October 18, 1894, 813.
52.
“The World of Sportswomen,” Hearth and Home, August 1, 1895; June 13, 1895, 164; July 18, 1895, 354; December 12, 1895, 200; December 19, 1895, 231; January 23, 1896; March 19, 1896.
53.
1861 Census RG9/77 Schedule 292.
54.
Era, July 3, 1864, 13.
55.
Marylebone Mercury, October 5, 1867, 2.
56.
“Novel Swimming in the Serpentine,” Bells Life, July 17, 1869, 3; Marylebone Mercury, July 17, 1869, 3.
57.
1871 Census RG 10/165 Schedule 134.
58.
Bell’s Life, October 16, 1875, 9.
59.
Bell’s Life, October 14, 1876, 9.
60.
“Swimming. The Serpentine Club. The Humphrey Memorial Trophies,” Sporting Life, July 23, 1903, 4; see Bell’s Life, August 27, 1881, 10; August 2, 1884, 3.
61.
1881 Census RG11/31 Schedule 69; 1891 Census RG12/22 Schedule 94; 1901 Census RG13/23 Schedule 100; 1911 Census returns.
62.
BMD. Registration in Kensington. Volume 1a, pages 130 and 136. Electoral registers.
63.
Croydon Advertiser and East Surrey Reporter, July 5, 1879, 4; August 1, 1885, 1; August 6, 1898, 5; Dorking and Leatherhead Advertiser, July 27, 1907, 7; and Surrey Mirror, September 3, 1907, 1.
64.
Croydon Advertiser and East Surrey Reporter, July 19, 1879, 5.
65.
Croydon Advertiser and East Surrey Reporter, October 3, 1891, 8.
66.
Surrey Mirror, September 30, 1893, 8.
67.
Sunday Times, October 16, 1881, 3; Morning Post, June 29, 1894, 1.
68.
“Swimming,” Morning Post, June 12, 1886, 1.
69.
Pall Mall Gazette, June 1, 1889, 7.
70.
1861 Census RG 9/693 Schedule 138; May 12, 1873 Marriage. Paris Church, St Marks, Notting Hill, Middlesex.
71.
1874 Court for Divorce and Matrimonial Causes. James Allford v Fanny Elizabeth Allford & Levi Jackson.
72.
1881 Census RG 11/337 Schedule 153; Penny Illustrated, October 5, 1889, 6.
73.
Penny Illustrated, September 8, 1883, 7. The Webb Memorial Benefit.
74.
Bell’s Life, April 16, 1885, 4; Bristol Mercury and Daily Post, July 22, 1885, 1; Western Daily Press, July 22, 1885, 1; Bell’s Life, May 4, 1886, 4; Penny Illustrated, April 14, 1888, 234; Ipswich Journal, August 3, 1888, 4, 5; August 10, 1888, 5; Licensed Victuallers’ Mirror, May 7, 1889, 179; Bristol Mercury, September 9, 1891, 4; and Morning Post, October 3, 1892, 5.
75.
Western Daily Press, August 29, 1888, 5; Bristol Mercury, August 29, 1888, 5; August 30, 1888, 8.
76.
Bath Chronicle and Weekly Gazette, November 1, 1888, 3.
77.
Licensed Victuallers’ Mirror, September 11, 1888, 390.
78.
1891 Census RG 12/141 Schedule 450.
79.
Essex Standard, August 2, 1890, 5; Bristol Mercury, September 11, 1890, 3.
80.
North Devon Journal, August 13, 1891, 2; Western Daily Press, September 10, 1891, 7.
81.
Morning Post, July 27, 1892, 3; Lloyd’s Weekly Newspaper, July 3, 1892, 8; and Standard, October 3, 1892, 6.
82.
Woman’s Herald, September 28, 1893, 502; Penny Illustrated, September 29, 1894, 198.
83.
1901 Census RG 13/1253 Schedule 253.1911 Census Schedule 146. Also in household, niece May Brion, 18, assistant swimming instructress at County Council public baths.
84.
Probate London, July 25.
85.
Charles M. Daniels, H. Johannson, and A. Sinclair, How to Swim and Save Life (Spalding’s Athletic Library Series, British Sports Publishing Company Ltd., 1907), 110.
86.
ASA Committee Minutes, May 12, 1900; ASA Committee Report, 1902.
87.
ASA Handbook, 1913, 193–95.
88.
ASA Committee Minutes, 1912, 150.
89.
1891 Census. RG12/2530.1901 RG13/2992.
90.
“Swimming and Lifesaving,” Coventry Evening Telegraph, April 22, 1903; “Swimming: Amateur Association Meeting in London,” Manchester Courier and Lancashire General Advertiser, May 11, 1903, 9.
91.
“Notes on Swimming: Royal Life Saving Society,” Nottingham Evening Post, November 27, 1909, 3.
92.
“Notes on Swimming,” Nottingham Evening Post, April 30, 1904, 6.
93.
“Benefit Day at Teignmouth on Saturday,” Western Times, August 13, 1906, 3.
94.
“Gloucester Swimming Club,” Gloucester Journal, September 22, 1906, 3.
95.
1911 Leicester, 50 Adderley Road.
96.
Leicester Mail, December 16, 1911.
97.
“Olympic Games,” ASA Committee Minutes, March 1, 1912, 90; April 13, 1912, 31, 137; “Report of the Selection Committee,” Amateur Swimming Association Committee Minutes, October 12, 1912, 150.
98.
“The Olympic Games. Swimming,” Scotsman, July 16, 1912, 8; ASA Committee Minutes, October 12, 1912, 150.
99.
“Tiny Swimmer’s Feat. Girl of Six Crosses Dover Bay in Nineteen Minutes,” Daily Mirror, July 17, 1912, 4.
100.
“Gifts to Melton Headmaster and Member of Staff,” Leicester Daily Mercury, July 28, 1939, 16.
101.
National Register 1939; Probate 1940.
102.
Sporting Life, September 29, 1897, 6; October 2, 1900, 4; October 2, 1901, 7.
103.
Record of Service of Solicitors and Articled Clerks with His Majesty’s Forces, 1914–1919 (London: Spottiswoode, Ballantyne & Co. Ltd., 1920).
104.
Jennifer Hargreaves, Sporting Females: Critical Issues in the History and Sociology of Women’s Sports (London: Routledge, 1994), 97.
105.
See “World of Sport,” Portsmouth Evening News, May 13, 1903, 4; “Benefit Day at Teignmouth on Saturday,” Western Times, August 13, 1906, 3; “Swimming and Lifesaving,” Coventry Evening Telegraph, April 29, 1903; and “Tiny Swimmer’s Feat. Girl of Six Crosses Dover Bay in Nineteen Minutes,” Daily Mirror, July 17, 1912, 4.
106.
Catriona M. Parratt, “‘Athletic ‘Womanhood’: Exploring Sources for Female Sport in Victorian and Edwardian England,” Journal of Sport History 16, no. 2 (1989): 154.
107.
Edward Higgs, A Clearer Sense of the Census (London: Public Record Office, 1996).
108.
Matthew L. Jockers, Macroanalysis: Digital Methods and Literary Theory (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2013), 26.
109.
E. H. Carr, What is History? (London: Penguin Books, 1990).

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Manchester Metropolitan University, Manchester, UK
Dave Day

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The University of Western Australia, Crawley, WA, Australia
Georgia Cervin
University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland
Claire Nicolas

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Day, D. (2019). Late Nineteenth-Century Swimming Teachers in England. In: Cervin, G., Nicolas, C. (eds) Histories of Women's Work in Global Sport. Palgrave Studies in Sport and Politics. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-26909-8_3

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Published: 30 November 2019
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