John 'Smoaker' Miles was a notable "bather" in

Brighthelmstone Brighton () is a seaside resort and one of the two main areas of the City of Brighton and Hove in the county of East Sussex, England. It is located south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze Ag ...

(later called

Brighton Brighton () is a seaside resort and one of the two main areas of the City of Brighton and Hove in the county of East Sussex, England. It is located south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze A ...

, England). The male occupation of "bather" and the female equivalent of "dipper" were popular in

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 Willi ...

in Britain where the custom of

sea bathing The sea, connected as the world ocean or simply the ocean, is the body of salty water that covers approximately 71% of the Earth's surface. The word sea is also used to denote second-order sections of the sea, such as the Mediterranean Sea, ...

grew in popularity. John 'Smoaker' Miles was born in Brighthelmstone in 1728, the son of George and Sarah Miles. He rose to fame when he became the bather to the

Prince of Wales Prince of Wales ( cy, Tywysog Cymru, ; la, Princeps Cambriae/Walliae) is a title traditionally given to the heir apparent to the English and later British throne. Prior to the conquest by Edward I in the 13th century, it was used by the rulers ...

, teaching him to swim and becoming his friend. The Prince of Wales who later became

George IV George IV (George Augustus Frederick; 12 August 1762 – 26 June 1830) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and King of Hanover from the death of his father, King George III, on 29 January 1820, until his own death ten y ...

commissioned John Russell to paint a portrait of Miles which is now part of the

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. A copy of the portrait also hangs in the Kings Apartments at the

Royal Pavilion The Royal Pavilion, and surrounding gardens, also known as the Brighton Pavilion, is a Grade I listed former royal residence located in Brighton, England. Beginning in 1787, it was built in three stages as a seaside retreat for George IV of t ...

in Brighton.

Occupation

As a bather Miles would assist gentlemen and the dipper who would assist ladies from wooden covered bathing carts known as

bathing machines The bathing machine was a device, popular from the 18th century until the early 20th century, to allow people to change out of their usual clothes, change into swimwear, and wade in the ocean at beaches. Bathing machines were roofed and walled woo ...

, that would be pushed into the sea providing them privacy from onlookers on the beach. The bather or dipper would ensure the safety of the client in the sea. A popular song of the period was as follows: There's plenty of dippers and jokers, And salt water rigs for your fun; The king of them all is old Smoaker, The queen of 'em old Martha Gunn. Miles's death in 1797 he was posthumously remembered in a play by M. Moritz called ''Phantoms or Apparitions of the Dead or Absent.'' The play also featured John Miles' sister in law Martha Gunn the notable Brighton dipper. Miles is buried in

St Nicholas' Church, Brighton The Church of Saint Nicholas of Myra, usually known as St. Nicholas Church, is an Anglican church in Brighton, England. It is both the original parish church of Brighton and, after St Helen's Church, Hangleton and St Peter's Church in Preston ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Miles, John Smoaker 18th-century English people 1728 births 1797 deaths