Baths and wash houses available for public use in Britain were first established in Liverpool. St. George's Pier Head salt-water baths were opened in 1828 by the Corporation of Liverpool, with the first known warm fresh-water public wash house being opened in May 1842 on Frederick Street. Wash houses often combined aspects of

public bathing Public baths originated when most people in population centers did not have access to private bathing facilities. Though termed "public", they have often been restricted according to gender, religious affiliation, personal membership, and other cr ...

and self-service laundry. The Romans, whom the Victorians often sought to emulate, had built many public baths (

thermae In ancient Rome, (from Greek , "hot") and (from Greek ) were facilities for bathing. usually refers to the large imperial bath complexes, while were smaller-scale facilities, public or private, that existed in great numbers throughout ...

) open to everyone, but these had long disappeared. For centuries

Bath, Somerset Bath () is a city in the Bath and North East Somerset unitary area in the county of Somerset, England, known for and named after its Roman-built baths. At the 2021 Census, the population was 101,557. Bath is in the valley of the River Avon, ...

, had retained its popularity as a health resort, while during the

Georgian era The Georgian era was a period in British history from 1714 to , named after the Hanoverian Kings George I, George II, George III and George IV. The definition of the Georgian era is often extended to include the relatively short reign of Will ...

and particularly after the development of the railway, entrepreneurs developed

spa town A spa town is a resort town based on a mineral spa (a developed mineral spring). Patrons visit spas to "take the waters" for their purported health benefits. Thomas Guidott set up a medical practice in the English town of Bath, Somerset, B ...

s around the country, catering first to the aristocracy and then to the growing middle class. These commercial endeavours offered nothing for the

working poor The working poor are working people whose incomes fall below a given poverty line due to low-income jobs and low familial household income. These are people who spend at least 27 weeks in a year working or looking for employment, but remain und ...

. The popularity of wash-houses was spurred by the newspaper interest in

Kitty Wilkinson Catherine Wilkinson (1786–1860) was an Irish migrant, "wife of a labourer", who became known as the ''Saint of the Slums''. In 1832, during a cholera epidemic, she had the only boiler in her neighbourhood, so she invited those with infected ...

, an Irish immigrant "wife of a labourer" who became known as the ''Saint of the Slums''. In 1832, during a cholera epidemic, Wilkinson took the initiative to offer the use of her house and yard to neighbours to wash their clothes, at a charge of a penny per week, and showed them how to use a

chloride of lime Calcium hypochlorite is an inorganic compound with formula Ca(OCl)2. It is the main active ingredient of commercial products called bleaching powder, chlorine powder, or chlorinated lime, used for water treatment and as a bleaching agent. This ...

(bleach) to get them clean. She was supported by the District Provident Society and William Rathbone. In 1842 Wilkinson was appointed baths superintendent. Maidstone baths

Regulation

In 1844, the ''Committee for Promoting the Establishment of Baths and Wash-Houses for the Labouring Classes'' was formed with the

Bishop of London A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ca ...

as president. The Bishop petitioned for a bill for the regulation of public baths and in 1846 Sir George Gray introduced the bill which became the 1846 ''Public Baths and Wash-houses Act''. This was the first legislation to empower British

local authorities Local government is a generic term for the lowest tiers of public administration within a particular sovereign state. This particular usage of the word government refers specifically to a level of administration that is both geographically-loca ...

to fund the building of public baths and wash houses. The Act was intended to encourage cities to voluntarily build such facilities and was not mandatory.

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The ...

, for example, did not adopt the Act until 1876; in the following year, it purchased two large, privately owned, facilities. By the late 19th century, the city had 30 bath houses.

London baths

The first London public baths was opened at Goulston Square,

Whitechapel Whitechapel is a district in East London and the future administrative centre of the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It is a part of the East End of London, east of Charing Cross. Part of the historic county of Middlesex, the area formed ...

, in 1847 with the Prince consort laying the foundation stone. The building was demolished in 1989 and the site re-used to build the

Women's Library The Women's Library is England's main library and museum resource on women and the women's movement, concentrating on Britain in the 19th and 20th centuries. It has an institutional history as a coherent collection dating back to the mid-1920s, ...

in 2001, which incorporates a faux wash house frontage (

Facadism Facadism, façadism, or façadomy is the architectural and construction practice where the facade of a building is designed or constructed separately from the rest of a building, or when only the facade of a building is preserved with new buil ...

). A reasonably well-preserved bath house can be found in the Bathway Quarter in

Woolwich Woolwich () is a district in southeast London, England, within the Royal Borough of Greenwich. The district's location on the River Thames led to its status as an important naval, military and industrial area; a role that was maintained thr ...

, south east London.

Timelines

Other bath and wash houses: The Wells and Campden Baths and Wash Houses 1888–1978, Hampstead Heath.

Regulation

London baths

Timelines

See also

References

Bibliography

External links