Bathing Habits in Victorian East London - Rhodes University

Bathing Habits in Victorian East London

Keith Tankard

Rhodes University; 1992

The following is a research paper written by Keith Tankard for Rhodes University in 1992. The paper has been authenticated, and the statements and facts presented are well document with 35 reference notes presented at the end of the paper. The paper reveals that during the Victorian Era, South Africa also experienced the same clash of cultural attitudes where on one side men continued the established tradition of swimming at beaches and rivers in the nude whereas on the other side you have the conservative, puritan pressures famous for that era. In his research paper, Tankard documents how the attempts of the East London Municipal Council to control the bathing practices of the region utterly failed, and men and women enjoyed the shores unrestricted. As the numerous articles of the era published on this site evidence, this was not unusual compared to many UK and European seaside areas. It also confirms that most men almost always bathed and swam in the river and on seaside beaches completely naked, typical during the Victorian Era when outside of main seaside resort areas. Also similar to the other European and UK communities, the East London Municipal Council failed at attempting to solve the issue by limiting the hours when sea bathing could occur, and, segregating the women and the men to different areas.

What is unique about this report are some of the testimonial letters, that is, "man-in-the-street" type responses, written and published in the East London Adviser. Interestingly, the Council heated up their efforts when in 1880 the first complaint letter regarding the traditional use of the beaches was published. In it, the writer complains about a young man that was regularly seen enjoying the beach in the nude with women. What is interesting about this is that there were immediate sharp replies from women arguing in favor of keeping the beaches unrestricted and open, and allowing men and women to enjoy the same shores at the same time. The paper makes a case that the general sentiment of the women was in favor of allowing the women to use the same beaches where the men swam nude, and at the same time.

In opposition to the popular sentiment, in 1899, a one Mrs. Malpass wrote to an the Adviser saying she felt it was an atrocity. She indicated that when she personally observed the beach, she saw that:

"...it was common for men ('of course roughs, not gentlemen') to thrust themselves within a few yards of the women and denude themselves 'in a most reckless fashion'. Others, she wrote, flaunted themselves 'in most ungentlemanly gestures' before female eyes and mocked 'the claim to decency all respectable females

should have'.

However, a woman wrote an opposition letter to Ms. Malpass' complaint letter. Tankard indicates that she wrote that this female saw nothing wrong in the men being naked, and that all her sympathies were with the "sinners" The woman follows:

"...What a pity Mrs Malpass could not 'wield the brush' as well as she did the pen, she said, as she evidently had some 'splendid chances' of making studies of the 'human form divine'.. They could not expect the 'lords of creation' to be inflicted with 'these cumbersome bathing suits."

Others wrote how the unrestricted "mixed-medley of bathing" between the genders was "extremely popular". Another correspondent wrote about how some of the women made it a "common practice" to sit amidst the men as the men stripped naked.

This article evidences that although not all the women approved, many preferred allowing the men to enjoy the river banks and shores in the nude, even writing that it was a "splendid chance" to look at naked men. This would corroborate the published "Traveller's Journal" on a separate page wherein a woman argued in favor of allowing male nudity on the beaches when females were present for similar reasons:

FOLLOWING ARE THE COMPLETE UNALTERED PAGES OF THE RESEARCH REPORT "BATHING HABITS IN VICTORIAN EAST LONDON"

(Click on each images twice to enlarge for easier reading)