Английская Википедия:Baths and wash houses in Britain

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Файл:Frederick Street wash house.jpg
Interior of Frederick Street wash house, the first public wash house. Taken in 1914

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[1] on Frederick Street.[2] Wash houses often combined aspects of public bathing and self-service laundry. The Romans, whom the Victorians often sought to emulate, had built many public baths (thermae) open to everyone, but these had long disappeared. For centuries Bath, Somerset, had retained its popularity as a health resort, while during the Georgian era and particularly after the development of the railway, entrepreneurs developed spa towns 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 popularity of wash-houses was spurred by the newspaper interest in Kitty Wilkinson, an Irish immigrant "wife of a labourer" who became known as the Saint of the Slums.[3] 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,[1] and showed them how to use a chloride of lime (bleach) to get them clean. She was supported by the District Provident Society and William Rathbone. In 1842 Wilkinson was appointed baths superintendent.[4][5]

Файл:Maidstone baths.jpg
Illustration for Maidstone Baths opened May 1852[6][7]

Regulation

Шаблон:Anchor Шаблон:Infobox UK legislation In 1844, the Committee for Promoting the Establishment of Baths and Wash-Houses for the Labouring Classes was formed with the Bishop of London as president.[8] The Bishop petitioned for a bill for the regulation of public baths and in 1846 Sir George Gray introduced the bill which became the Public Baths and Wash-houses Act 1846. This was the first legislation to empower British local authorities to fund the building of public baths and wash houses.[9]

The Act was intended to encourage cities to voluntarily build such facilities and was not mandatory.[10][11] Manchester, 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.[12]

London baths

The first London public baths was opened at Goulston Square, Whitechapel, in 1847 with the Prince consort laying the foundation stone.[13][14] The building was demolished in 1989 and the site re-used to build the Women's Library in 2001, which incorporates a faux wash house frontage (Facadism).[15] A reasonably well-preserved bath house can be found in the Bathway Quarter in Woolwich, south east London.Шаблон:Cn

Timelines

First public wash houses in Liverpool[16]
Wash house Opening date
Pier Head 1828
Frederick Street 1842, rebuilt 1854
Paul Street November 1846
Cornwallis Street May 1851
Margaret Street 13 June 1863 with an extension in 1868
Steble Street April 1874
Early public wash houses in London with building costs[17]
Opening Location Original cost
1849 Marylebone £23,671
1851 St. Margaret and St. John, Westminster £15,000
1852 St. James', Westminster £21,000
1852 Poplar £11,500
1854 St. Giles and St. George, Bloomsbury £20,857
1854 Bermondsey £16,500
1855 St. George, Hanover Square £33,861
1856 St. Martin's in the Fields £21,000

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

See also

References

Шаблон:Reflist

Bibliography

External links

Шаблон:Commons category

Шаблон:Laundry navbox