The Bathing Machine: Popular Victorian Invention

The bathing machine was a popular device from the 18th century to the early 20th century, used at beaches to allow people to change from their regular clothes into swimwear and wade into the sea.

These machines were roofed and walled wooden carts that could be rolled into the sea.

Some had solid wooden walls, while others featured canvas walls over a wooden frame, typically with walls on the sides and curtained doors at each end.

Bathing machines were part of the etiquette for sea bathing, ensuring that both men and women could maintain "respectability" while enjoying the beach.

In Britain, even with the modesty provided by these machines, men and women usually bathed separately to prevent them from seeing each other in swimwear.

Despite being extremely modest by today's standards, these bathing suits were not considered appropriate public attire at the time.

In 1805, Walley Chamberlain Oulton described the bathing machines in use at Margate, Kent as follows:

"Four-wheeled carriages, and having at one end of them an umbrella which is let down to the surface of the water, so that the bather descending from the machine by a few steps is concealed from the public view, whereby the most refined female is enabled to enjoy the sea with the strictest delicacy."

People would enter the small room of the machine while it was on the beach, wearing their street clothes. Inside the machine, they would change into their bathing suits.

Men were allowed to bathe nude until the 1860s. Their street clothes were placed in a raised compartment to keep them dry.

Although most bathing machines likely had small windows, a writer in the Manchester Guardian on May 26, 1906, described them as "ill-lighted" and suggested that bathing machines could be improved with the addition of a skylight.

The machine would be wheeled or slid into the water.

Most machines had large, wide wheels and were pulled in and out of the surf by one or two horses, guided by a driver.

Less commonly, human power was used to push the machines.

Some resorts featured wooden rails extending into the water for the wheels to roll on, while a few used cables propelled by a steam engine to move the machines in and out of the sea.

Once in the water, occupants would disembark from the seaside down steps into the water.

Many machines had doors at both the front and back; those with only one door would either be backed into the sea or turned around.

It was crucial that the machine blocked any view of the bather from the shore.

Some of them were equipped with a canvas tent that could be lowered from the seaside door, sometimes extending to the water for greater privacy.

Certain resorts employed a dipper, a strong person of the same sex, to assist bathers in and out of the sea.

Some dippers were known to push bathers into the water and then pull them out, which was considered part of the experience.

Bathing machines were often equipped with a small flag that the bather could raise to signal to the driver that they were ready to return to shore.

Prince Albert and Queen Victoria both used bathing machines at Osborne Beach near Osborne House on the Isle of Wight.

Queen Victoria used her machine for sketching and bathing, and she mentioned such an experience in her diary in July 1847.

After her death, her bathing machine was repurposed as a chicken coop, but it was restored in the 1950s and displayed in 2012.

According to a news report, "The queen's bathing machine was unusually ornate, with a front verandah and curtains which would conceal her until she had entered the water.

The interior had a changing room and a plumbed-in WC."

Bathing machines remained in use on English beaches until the 1890s, when they began to be parked on the beach.

Legal segregation of bathing areas in Britain ended in 1901, leading to a rapid decline in their use.

They were then used as stationary changing rooms for a number of years.

Most had disappeared in the United Kingdom by 1914, and by the 1920s they were almost extinct, even on beaches catering to an older clientele.

However, in Aldeburgh, Suffolk, Eric Ravilious painted bathing machines on wheels with winches still in use as late as 1938.

In many places around the world, they have survived to this day as stationary bathing boxes.

If you enjoyed this blog post, please follow Exploring GB on Facebook for daily travel content and inspiration.

Don’t forget to check out our latest blog post below!

Thank you for visiting Exploring GB.