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= Victorian_Turkish_baths =
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Introduction
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The Victorian Turkish bath is a type of bath in which the bather
sweats freely in hot dry air, is then washed, often massaged, and has
a cold wash or shower. It can also mean, especially when used in the
plural, an establishment where such a bath is available.
Hot-air baths of the same type, built after Queen Victoria's reign
(1837-1901), are known as 'Victorian-style Turkish baths', and are
also covered in this article.
The Victorian Turkish bath became popular during the latter third of
the queen's reign. It retained this popularity during the Edwardian
years (1901-1914), first as a therapy and a means of personal
cleansing, and then as a place for relaxation and enjoyment. It was
very soon copied in several parts of the British Empire, in the United
States of America, and in some Western European countries. Victorian
Turkish baths were opened as small commercial businesses, and later by
those local authorities that saw them as being permitted under the
Baths and Washhouses Act 1846. They were also found in hotels,
hydropathic establishments (hydros) and hospitals, in the Victorian
asylum and the Victorian workhouse, in the houses of the wealthy, in
private members' clubs, and in ocean liners for those travelling
overseas. They were even provided for farm animals and urban
workhorses.
Some establishments provided additional facilities such as steam rooms
and, from the second half of the 20th century, Finnish saunas. These
complemented the Turkish bath, but were not part of the Turkish bath
process, any more than were the services of, for example, the barber,
visiting physician, or chiropodist (currently more usually known as a
podiatrist), who might be available in some 19th-century
establishments.
The use of Victorian Turkish baths began to decline after World War I
and accelerated after World War II. In the 21st century, there are
very few Victorian Turkish bath buildings extant, and fewer still
remain open.
Terminology and usage
======================================================================
The Victorian Turkish bath is a type of hot-air bath that originated
in Ireland in 1856. It was explicitly identified as such in the 1990s
and then named and defined to necessarily distinguish it from the
baths which had for centuries, especially in Europe, been loosely, and
often incorrectly, called "Turkish" baths. These were usually Islamic
hammams, but during the latter part of the 20th century, steam and
vapour baths of various types also came to be referred to as "Turkish"
baths. The term has even been used to describe women's baths in the
Ottoman Imperial Harem, most famously by Lady Mary Wortley Montagu,
and as the title--or as the supposed subject--of orientalist
paintings.
When the first Victorian Turkish baths were being built, there was
much discussion about how the bath should be named. Because it was
based on the baths of the ancient Romans and not on the Islamic
hammam, many argued that it should be called the Roman bath or the
Irish-Roman or Anglo-Roman bath. Some bath proprietors felt strongly
about this and named their baths accordingly. But the new baths
finally became known as Turkish baths because, for many years, that is
where western travellers had first come across, and frequently written
about, the 'exotic' hot-air baths of earlier times.
The Victorian Turkish bath process
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In a Victorian Turkish bath, bathers relax in a series of increasingly
hot dry rooms, usually two or three, until they sweat profusely. This
progression can be repeated, interspersed with showers, or a dip in a
cold plunge pool. It is then followed by a full body wash and massage,
together called shampooing. Finally, no less important, is a period of
relaxation in the cooling-room, preferably for at least an hour.
There is no standard prescribed route through the rooms of a Victorian
Turkish bath, though some establishments may recommend one, while some
others are physically arranged so that a standard route seems to be
predetermined, as in the baths built by the Metropolitan Borough of
Camberwell in Old Kent Road.:p.30
Some bathers prefer to start in the hottest room and work towards the
cooling-room; others never venture into the hottest room and prefer to
start with the coolest and work their way into hotter areas. Once
acclimatised, bathers usually go back and forth as they wish, but it
is considered important always to end with a rest in the cooling-room.
Bathers should never remain in a Turkish bath if they feel the
slightest bit dizzy or uncomfortable.
Since the purpose of the Victorian Turkish bath is to expose the
'surface' of the body--the pores of the skin--to the hot dry air, the
European practice of bathing naked is the most effective one, and
costumes are prohibited for hygienic reasons. This, as explained in
numerous brochures for Turkish baths and saunas, is because the
typical short shower neither removes sweat from a bathing costume
before entering the pool, nor any pool chemicals from a costume on
re-entering the hot-rooms afterwards, whereas both sweat and residual
chemicals are more effectively removed from an uncovered body.
In Britain, for most of the 20th and late 19th centuries, men and
women were able to bathe naked in separate baths, or separate
sessions, a writer in the 'Christian World' noting in 1881 that 'man
in a state of nudity' may be seen 'any day in a Turkish bath'.
This was not only the case in commercial Turkish baths but, well into
the 20th century, in local authority baths also. Alfred Cross, who
designed baths for the Metropolitan Borough of Finsbury (Ironmonger
Row Baths, 1931) and the Urban District Council of Epsom (1935), had
earlier defined the Turkish bath, in his then standard work on public
baths and wash-houses, as 'the exposure of the nude body to hot dry
air, massaging or shampooing, ablution with warm and cold water, and
finally drying and cooling'.
In London, Bermondsey Council took nudity for granted in a promotional
film made for them in the 1930s.
Although many British bathers prefer bathing in the Turkish bath
without costumes, or just loosely covered with a towel, nudity in
local authority baths is now rare, even in single sex sessions.
However, a few local authorities and private members' clubs hire their
Turkish baths to local naturist clubs where nude bathing is the rule.
Whether costumed or not, bathers normally cover seating with a towel
before sitting or lying down. This also helps protect against
accidental burns from seats which have been vacant for some time.
The Victorian Turkish bath: Islamic and ancient Roman influences
==================================================================
Two people were primarily responsible for the introduction of the
Victorian Turkish bath into the 19th century's United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland: Scottish diplomat and sometime MP for Stafford,
David Urquhart (1805-1877),Laughton, J E 'David Urquhart' 'Dictionary
of national biography'. Vol.58 pp.43-45
[
https://archive.org/details/dictionaryofnati58stepuoft/page/42/mode/2up
Archived] and Irish physician and hydropathist (an early
hydrotherapist), Richard Barter (1802-1870), founder and proprietor of
St Ann(e)'s Hydropathic Establishment near Blarney, Co. Cork.
Their first attempt, in the shape of a 'little beehive-shaped thatched
building' failed due to its inability to heat the air
sufficiently.:p.16
Urquhart returned to his political work in England but Barter
persevered. He sent his architect to Rome to study the ancient Roman
baths. On his return, based on what he learned in Rome and the plans
and details he brought back,:p.130 he built a bath at St Ann's
differing from the traditional Islamic hammam in the dryness of the
heated air.:p.102 This was the first Victorian Turkish bath, known
today in Europe as the Irish-Roman bath in honour of Barter and his
architect--also coincidentally named Richard Barter, though they were
not related.
Early Victorian Turkish baths in Ireland and England
======================================================
Barter]]Barter's first successful bath at St Ann's was formally opened
on 11 May 1858, though it had already been in use for some time, while
still in the process of being improved. The three main rooms were the
'sudatorium' (the hottest), the 'tepidarium', and the 'frigidarium'
(cooling-room). Even while experiments were continuing, Barter was
promoting the bath throughout Ireland.
On 17 March 1859, he opened the first Turkish bath in the country to
be built for use by the general public at 8 Grenville Place, in nearby
Cork. There were separate baths for men and women at a cost of one
shilling. Children under ten paid half price and 'A servant attending
is free of charge'. Shampooing was not included and cost an additional
sixpence. Between 1859 and 1869, Barter, or companies associated with
him, built nine other baths in Ireland, while at least forty others
are known to have been in existence as standalone establishments at
some time during the following hundred years. There are no longer any
Turkish baths in Ireland today.
Letters to both papers on St Ann's and on the progress of its Turkish
bath were published, and were of great interest to many FAC members.
Urquhart encouraged them to start Turkish baths to provide themselves
with a living, to give them more time to support his political work,
and to have places where they could freely hold political meetings.
The opening in Manchester of the first Victorian Turkish bath in
England, some time around 12 July 1857, was proudly announced in the
'Free Press' papers. Urquhart had helped finance its building in part
of the Broughton Lane home of FAC member William Potter who managed,
and later owned it. From the beginning, separate sessions for women
were supervised by his wife Elizabeth.
From Manchester, Turkish baths spread north to the Urquhartite
stronghold of Newcastle, where a bath was installed at the Newcastle
upon Tyne Infirmary, and simultaneously down through the Midlands,
another area with many FACs, until they reached London, where Roger
Evans opened the first in Bell Street, near Marble Arch, in 1860.
Scotland
==========
It is not known for certain when the first Turkish bath opened in
Scotland. In Glasgow, two opened within months of each other in 1860.
Peter Jack claimed to have opened the first some time in June and this
seems to have been a small one with a single hot room, at 366 Argyll
Street. But by the end of December his baths had been 'entirely
re-constructed' and had three hot rooms. Although the Public Baths and
Wash-houses Acts did not apply in Scotland, Jack's Roman or Turkish
Baths provided first and second class baths, as many commercial
Turkish baths were to do in England. Both classes also had Ladies'
days.
In mid-September, Mr P Tracy, lessee of the 'well-known and
long-established' Victoria Baths at 106 West Nile Street, announced
his intention to convert 'a large part of the establishment' into a
Turkish bath. By 22 September, the new baths were open with two hot
rooms, a cooling-room, a variety of showers and dressing rooms. There
was only a single class of baths, with Wednesday mornings set aside
for ladies.
Hydropathic establishments in Scotland were quick to follow the trend,
possibly fearing loss of clients to the new standalone baths in the
cities. By November 1860, Alex Munro had added a Turkish bath 60 ft
long to his Lochhead Hydro just outside Aberdeen. And in Edinburgh, Dr
James Lawrie advertised the opening, on 15 May 1861, of a Turkish bath
to complement the original medicated baths at his Sciennes Hill Hydro.
A couple of months later, Edinburgh's first standalone Turkish baths
were opened just behind number 90 Princes Street by Dr G E Allshorn.
Keeping the hydros in mind, Allshorn emphasised in his advertisements
that the baths were 'Under Medical Superintendence'. Known as the
Edinburgh Roman or Turkish Bath, the cooling-room and three hot rooms
were all called by their Roman names. Edinburgh and Glasgow soon had a
number of other Turkish baths, in addition to those opening in many
other cities and towns in Scotland.
Scottish local authorities never became Turkish bath providers to the
extent that pertained in England, but there were exceptions.
Dunfermline Burgh Corporation took over a privately owned baths
establishment at West Protection Wall in 1870 and three years later
planned major extensions and the addition of Turkish baths. These were
open by September 1876.
A year later, the corporation opened swimming and Turkish baths in
Schoolend Street. These were paid for by a gift of £5,000 from steel
magnate Andrew Carnegie to the people of his hometown. Further gifts
from Carnegie totalling £45,000 enabled the corporation to replace
them by building a larger set of baths in Pilmuir Street which opened
on 31 March 1905. These Turkish baths closed in 2008, though some of
the rooms are now used for other purposes.
Edinburgh citizens had to wait until 1901 for their corporation to
build its only Turkish baths, part of the large Portobello public
baths building facing the sea. These baths currently remain open.
Finally, at the other end of the provision scale, Glasgow Corporation
included a small Turkish baths for eight bathers in its Gallowgate
Public Baths in 1902. This was followed by larger ones in the
Govanhill baths in 1917, and in three other baths--Pollokshaws,
Shettleston, and Whiteinch, all in 1926. Although there were two
classes of hot water baths, all the corporation's Turkish baths were
built for a single class of user, unlike those in England and Wales
where the Public Baths and Wash-houses Acts mandated two classes,
their relative sizes, and their charges.
Wales
=======
The first Welsh Turkish baths were small, opening in 1861 in Brecon
and Tredegar. Again, it is not clear which was the first to open. The
earliest newspaper account so far found suggests that the first of
these was built in part of the home of a former collier, Daniel Jones,
who made his bath available to locals suffering from rheumatism and
infections of the chest. But a couple of months later there is a long
account of a visit to the Turkish bath at an unnamed location in
Brecon, staffed by a Mr Davies and owned by a Dr Williams who is
described as 'the pioneer in the Principality'.
Australia
===========
In 1858, Dr John Le Gay Brereton, father of the Australian poet and
critic of the same name, was visiting physician at the FAC Turkish
baths in Bradford's Leeds Road, one of the first in England. In 1859
he emigrated to Australia, almost immediately taking a lease on
Captain Cook's Hotel in Spring Street, Sydney, and converting it into
a Turkish bath. The baths comprised a cooling-room, two hot rooms, and
showers, which latter devices were so unusual they needed to be
described by the reporter covering the opening of the baths.
New Zealand
=============
Bath Company]' 'Tuapeka Times' (21 March 1874) p.2 Opening in December
1874, it comprised a cooling-room, two hot rooms, a shampooing room
and a tepid water swimming pool. Later Turkish baths opened in several
locations including Auckland, Christchurch, Nelson, and Wellington.
Canada
========
Bath Hotel after 1885 extensions]]In Canada the chronology is less
clear. The first large Victorian Turkish bath opened in 1869 in the
French-speaking city of Montreal at McBean's Turkish Bath Hotel in
Monique Street, although there may have been a smaller establishment
in Joté Street as early as 1863. The baths were refurbished on several
occasions and were still in operation in 1911. Many of the larger
cities had at least one Turkish bath during the following decades,
with the English-speaking cities, Toronto, Vancouver, and Victoria
each having several.
United States of America
==========================
David Urquhart's influence was also felt outside the Empire when in
1861, Charles H Shepard opened the first Turkish baths in the United
States at 63 Columbia Street, Brooklyn Heights, NY, most probably on 3
October 1863. It was not a purpose-built establishment, but Shepard
added a four-room Turkish bath to his three-storey hydropathic
establishment. This was so successful that he had to enlarge it within
ten months. Three years later, a new set of baths was opened next door
and the original baths were converted for use by women. When Shepard's
bath opened, Brooklyn was not yet part of New York City, so the city's
first Turkish bath, opened in 1865 by Drs Eli P Miller and A L Wood,
was in Manhattan at 13 Laight Street.
Like Urquhart, Shepard was an enthuiastic advocate for the bath,
writing several pamphlets, and campaigning for a publicly funded one
for the poor. By the end of the 19th century, the bath had spread
across the United States just as it had done in the British Isles.
Victorian Turkish baths have been identified in thirty-one of the
country's then forty-five states without any known specific search
having been made. Alaska, Montana, New Jersey, North Dakota, and Texas
are known to have had several each after the beginning of the 20th
century.
France
========
The first Victorian Turkish bath in France was opened in 1868 by Dr
Charles Depraz at Place Grimaldi in Nice. Though known as the 'Hammam
de Nice', Depraz wrote that it followed the pattern of the many
perfect baths in England (' 'La distribution de cet établissement a
été faite d'après les plans les plus parfaits des nombreux Hammams de
l'Angleterre' ') The title page of the guide indicates that Depraz was
the promoter of a company called 'Hammams de France', and by 1870
there was already a second establishment, the 'Hammam de Lyon'.
Germany
=========
Friedrichsbad 1879]]It is not known which Victorian Turkish bath was
the first in Germany, but the first of any size and importance was the
Friedrichsbad in Baden-Baden, opened soon after the Paris Hammam.
Grand Duke Frederic of Baden had originally wanted a spa grand enough
to compete with others ensuring that, in their use of the hot waters,
the baths 'should surpass those known hitherto, and be in accordance
with all the requirements of modern balneo-therapeutics'.
Planning started in 1867 but work was delayed by water supply problems
and the Franco-Prussian War (1870-71). District-Architect Karl
Dernfeld and the spa's medical officer Carl Frech took time to visit
other baths in Germany and elsewhere to help them develop their plan.
When the baths opened on 15 December 1877, the original spa had been
complemented by a luxurious set of what was unashamedly called
Roman-Irish baths with appropriate credit being given to Dr Barter.
The Frederic Baths, together with others in Munich and Wiesbaden
(opened in 1901 and 1913 respectively) are still open, and have also
become tourist attractions in their own right.
Ownership of the baths
======================================================================
Victorian Turkish baths were provided for the general public by
individual entrepreneurs, limited liability companies, and local
authorities. Exact percentages of the different types cannot be
determined since it is impossible to know how many such baths have
existed. But one survey of nearly 500 baths known (in 2012) to have
existed in the British Isles suggests that around 70% were owned by
individuals, partnerships, or closed companies; 12% by public
companies; and 18% by local authorities.
Baths owned independently
===========================
The majority of Victorian Turkish baths were owned by individuals,
partnerships, or small private companies. Many, like most of those
opened by FAC members, were run by the owner and members of his
family. Owners 'were' predominantly men, and of the few women
proprietors, the overwhelming majority were the widows or legatees of
the original owner.
Running a family establishment was hard work. But the bath might have
been converted from part of the family home, or a small family shop,
so expenses were lower. When well run, such baths stood a greater
chance of success than one owned by a company which employed less
committed poorly waged workers.
Baths run by individuals or partnerships were also more likely to have
a longer life than those run by companies, being easier to sell on to
a new owner. The King's Cross Turkish Baths in Caledonian Road,
London, for example, had four proprietors between 1870 and 1912 when
the fifth, William Cooper, put it together with others to form a
company, Savoy Turkish Baths Ltd. It survived in this form until it
was closed by the company in 1921.
The first bath owners would rarely have had any previous experience of
running one, and learnt on the job. But after a while some managers,
and even bath attendants, would aspire to own a bath themselves. Few
had the resources to buy one or expected to be able to get a bank
loan. But some succeeded, as did Albert Samwell who, frustrated at the
way the owner marketed his bath, took it over and greatly improved its
income.
Baths owned by public companies
=================================
The Limited Liability Act 1855 made it relatively easy for companies
to be formed in order to purchase established baths or build new ones,
but making them profitable was more difficult.
The destruction of Irish company records during the 1922-23 Civil War
makes it impossible to gain a full picture of how baths companies
fared in the British Isles as a whole. But the survival rate of 68
English companies was not high, fewer than half surviving longer than
ten years. Only three survived more than 40 years, the longest lasting
being the 80 year old London & Provincial Turkish Bath Co Ltd,
whose Jermyn Street Hammam in central London closed at the start of
World War II.
Companies had often failed to properly undertake research to determine
whether their area could support a baths establishment. The Liquidator
of the St Leonards-on-Sea company, for example, offering their Turkish
baths for sale after five years, emphasised alternative uses for the
building, rather than suggesting that it be continued as baths.
There 'were' exceptions when having only a small number of
shareholders had not been a disadvantage. The 500 £10 shares of the
Leicester Turkish Bath Co Ltd were fully taken up by just 53
shareholders. Thirty years later, when the company sold its baths,
there were only 24 shareholders remaining, but all 500 shares were
still being held between them.
Local authority provision of Turkish baths
============================================
The cholera epidemics of the first half of the 19th century described
by Anthony Wohl sparked urgent calls for sanitary reform and state
involvement in public health.:pp.140-141 Emphasis began to be placed
on preventative measures leading to the Public Baths and Wash-houses
Acts of 1846 and 1847. The acts were not mandatory but only
permissive, allowing local authorities in England and Wales to use
public funds to provide wash-houses (known as 'steamies') where people
could launder their clothes, hot and cold water baths (slipper baths),
cabinet vapour baths, and swimming pools (though at first only outdoor
pools were permitted).
Bradford was the first local authority to initiate the building of a
Turkish bath. This opened in 1867 with a cooling-room furnished with
eight cubicles, each with a damask curtain over the entrance and a
couch inside. It is not known how many hot rooms there were, or what
other facilities were available apart from a shampooing room. Bradford
continued providing Turkish baths for 120 years, the longest lasting
continuous provision by any local authority.
Different legislation relating to the provision of Turkish baths
applied in Scotland and Ireland. Nevertheless, Paisley (the first in
Scotland) and Kilkenny (the only one in Ireland) were among the eight
local authorities to open them between 1867 and 1875.
Nottingham and Bury, as noted above, clearly ignored this situation
and, increasingly, places in the provinces followed suit. Some were
extra wary, like Southampton calling them "vapour baths", or
Birmingham by initially calling them "hot-air lavatories". Yet it was
not until 1905 that the Borough of Camberwell became the first London
borough to build Turkish baths.
|left|Home of the Lewisham Turkish baths, 1965-2002]]By 1900, there
were already over forty municipal Turkish baths in the provinces and
none had been prosecuted. In London, a long gap followed Camberwell
and then, between 1927 and 1938, a further nine were built, followed
by Lewisham in 1965. For style, or the quality of their fittings, few
of the later London baths matched Camberwell. But the latter all had
three hot rooms, a cooling-room with changing cubicles, a shampooing
room, plunge pool, and complementary Russian steam bath. All were
within the local public baths near the swimming pools. As occurred
throughout the country, when the pools became outdated and needed
replacing, most Turkish baths gave way to saunas and steam rooms, the
only exceptions being Edinburgh, Newcastle upon Tyne, Harrogate,
Northampton, Swindon, and the London boroughs of Islington, Tower
Hamlets, and the City of Westminster, all of whose Turkish baths are
safely within listed buildings.
Victorian Turkish baths designed for specific user groups
======================================================================
Other categories of bather were constrained by location, either
necessarily or by choice, and these were also catered for, including
those in hospitals and asylums. Although an American prison is
reported to have had a Turkish bath, they were not provided in prisons
in the United Kingdom, though some thought this would be beneficial.
For wealthier bathers, Turkish baths were available in hotels, hydros
and 'members only' clubs. Those travelling by sea could find them on
ocean liners, while those preferring to stay at home could have their
own baths designed and built for them.
Although animals formed a quite different category of bather, Turkish
baths were also provided for farm animals and urban workhorses.
Victorian Turkish baths for the working class and the poor
============================================================
Both Barter and Urquhart made free of charge provision for their staff
to use a Turkish bath--Barter, in one built specifically for workers
on the St Ann's estate, and Urquhart, by allowing his domestic
servants to use his own bath.
In 1859, when Barter's first public bath opened in Grenville Place,
Cork, the charge was two shillings during the day, and half price from
six o'clock till ten o'clock, morning and evening, with shampoos
sixpence extra. But even a shilling was far too expensive for most
people.
Dr Barter died in 1870 and his son, also named Richard, took over St
Ann's and his various Turkish bath interests. In 1872, despite poor
results in Belfast where Coakley reported that the baths were not even
covering expenses, Mr Barter opened The People's Turkish Baths in
Thomas's Lane, Dublin. Here the cost was sixpence, These seem to have
performed better, and the charge was still the same twenty years
later.
No long-lasting Turkish baths set up along these lines is known
outside Ireland, though Richard Metcalfe ran one for about eighteen
months some time around 1861 in Notting Hill, London. Members of the
Rescue Society (later renamed the Temperance Society) had set up their
first Workmen's Hall and Reading Rooms in Portland Terrace as an
alternative to the public house. Metcalfe had been allotted space for
a hydropathic dispensary and had converted part of it into a small
Turkish bath, but it was not much used and was soon abandoned.
Three large companies were in a different category altogether. In the
1860s, the Great Western Railway in Swindon and the London & North
Western Railway in Crewe were located in what were effectively railway
company towns, while Titus Salt's alpaca mill was in a purpose-built
village, Saltaire, named after himself. Each of these companies
provided Turkish baths (and many other facilities) that would soon
cater for all the residents of their area, whether they were employees
or not, at low prices.
In Ireland there seems to have been more compassion than elsewhere for
the very poor. Peter Higginbotham records five workhouses in the south
of the island which had, on the advice of their medical officer,
installed Turkish baths for their residents; in England the only one
was in King's Lynn.
Hospitals
===========
So early in the development of the Turkish bath, Dobson had no body of
professional expertise upon which to draw and, copying Barter, opted
for a hypocaust for heating purposes. Although the temperatures were
lower than in a commercial bath, the medical staff and the House
Surgeon, Dr Andrew Bolton, were pleased with it. 11,891 baths had been
given during its first year and it was noted that it been used without
ill effect on patients with heart disease. The following year the
number of bathers was not given as a total but split into three
groups: in-patients (1,720), out-patients (1,778) and 'casuals'
(9,489). These would probably have included members of staff and
paying members of the public. It was stated to have been specially
beneficial in cases 'of a rheumatic character'.
After a serious accident when a bather fell onto the hot floor, the
hypocaust was quickly replaced by a system of hot air ducts around the
walls and placed under the seating. This was also abandoned and
replaced by a hot air circulation system devised by Dr Bolton's
brother, Dr John Adams Bolton, for a Turkish bath he had opened in
Leicester.
In this Bolton was over-optimistic. Nevertheless, large city hospitals
in Belfast, Denbigh, Dublin, Huddersfield, Liverpool and London
followed suit installing Turkish baths, the most recent being at the
Royal Infirmary in Edinburgh in 1900. And as early as 1864, a bath was
installed at the huge military hospital at Netley.
Asylums{{efn|The terminology and institutional names appearing in this section reflect the usage of the times}}
=================================================================================================================
The close proximity of the Cork District Lunatic Asylum to St Ann's
Hydro was a major factor influencing the building there of the first
Turkish bath for asylum patients. The resident physician, Dr Thomas
Power, had been impressed by the therapeutic results achieved at the
hydro and in 1860, with Dr Barter's help, persuaded the asylum
governors to install a bath there--a decision which needed approval by
the Privy Council. Though not completed until February 1861, the bath
was already in use the previous December.
After being prepared for two or three days beforehand under the
supervision of Dr Barter and Inspector-General Hatchell of the Dublin
Office of Lunatic Asylums, sixteen patients volunteered to use the
bath. All enjoyed it and wanted to use it again. Though initially a
simple single room bath--used at different times by men and women--a
second hot room had been added by 1889, allowing both men and women to
use the baths throughout the day.
Power's report to his governors in May noted that, since January, 124
patients had used the bath. Of these, ten had been discharged cured
and another 52 had 'improved or were improving'. The medical journals
pointed out that this was not a controlled experiment and the results
should be treated with caution.
In his second report Power was more careful, writing that patients
were now allowed more than one bath per week and that between fifty
and eighty patients a day were currently using the bath, some for
remedial purposes and a larger number for personal cleansing, but even
the latter had resulted in healthier patients. This time 'The Lancet'
was more supportive, suggesting that Power's experience 'may well be
recommended to the consideration of the managers of other public and
private asylums.'
Even before it was completely finished, he included a plan and
description of it in a review of Erasmus Wilson's book 'The Eastern,
or Turkish bath' which he was writing for the 'Journal of Mental
Science'. Built as a lean-to against a new wash-house, the total cost
was £50 including piping in water for the showers. But improvements
made during the following couple of years would have added to this.
Robertson did not make Power's mistake of claiming cures for the new
bath. Responding in 1863 to a letter from Urquhart asking about it, he
noted that it had been helpful in cases of melancholia, with patients
who had been refusing food, and in restoring regular menstruation in
young women. But not least important was the general improvement in
health gained from the cleansing effects of the bath.
Concerned that the asylum's board would be wary of an expensive new
facility which catered for only a few patients, Urquhart proposed a
large bath costing £500 based, for ease of supervision, on the plan of
Jeremy Bentham's Panopticon prison. To maximise its use, he proposed
that bathers could be arranged in 'relays from six in the morning till
eight at night' and so 700 patients a day could use the bath. Like
Bentham's prison, these baths were never built.
In the same year, James Crichton-Browne installed a Turkish bath at
the West Riding Pauper Lunatic Asylum, Wakefield. Uniquely, it was
built by a group of patients who, as skilled artisans, worked to an
extremely high standard. Its six rooms had 'Moorish' style arched
doorways, frosted glass windows and encaustic tiles. Crichton-Browne
was especially concerned about asylum hygiene and drainage, ensuring
the provision of a wide range of showers, baths, and steam cabinets.
Privately funded asylums were not without Turkish baths either.
The Retreat in York, founded in 1792 by Quaker philanthropist William
Tuke, was then considered a more humane asylum in its minimal use of
restraint, and its rejection of physical punishments. Yet fifteen
years passed after the installation of Power's Turkish bath in the
Cork Asylum before The Retreat followed suit, although its
Superintendent, Dr John Kitching, was also a member of the
Medico-Psychological Association.
Kitching eventually wrote a paper proposing the installation of a
Turkish bath, arguing that provision for a life in which monotony and
'ennui' were reduced to a minimum would, in time, be considered, 'as
effectually parts of the treatment of the insane, as the taking of
medicine.' But it was his successor, Dr Robert Baker, who worked with
the Retreat's architect, Edward Taylor, in bringing to fruition the
plan recommended by the sub-committee set up to consider Kitching's
proposal.
Less well-known asylums like Caterham Imbecile Asylum and the Holloway
Sanatorium in Virginia Water also installed Turkish baths. Dr Adam,
Medical Superintendent at Caterham, only gained approval in 1874, on a
second request to his managers. His appeal carried weight because he
spoke from experience in its use, having previously worked as
Assistant Medical Officer at Colney Hatch.
The plans, which were publicly exhibited in 1872, showed separate
baths for men and women in the basement, with vapour baths in addition
to the Turkish baths. But when the sanatorium opened in 1885, the
vapour baths had been omitted. However, in common with the rest of the
building, the standard of the baths was high, with 'marble seats and
wall linings, while a shampooing room had a marble basin and
pedestal'.
Hydropathic establishments
============================
The first hydros opened in Europe, especially in Germany and Austria,
in the 1820s. They soon appeared in London, Malvern, and other places
in the south-east of England, before moving north to smaller locations
like Ilkley and Matlock. In 1843, after a visit to Ireland by Richard
Tappin Claridge (known as the father of hydropathy in the British
Isles) Barter and James Wherland independently visited Malvern and
other English hydros and then opened their own in Cork. Similarly,
after Claridge's visit to Glasgow, also in 1843, hydros opened in
Scotland, where there were eventually more than anywhere else in the
kingdom.
|upright=0.6|Ben Rhydding Turkish baths exterior]] Ben Rhydding
Turkish baths 'tepidarium'In 1859, less than two years after Barter's
third, (and most successful) Turkish bath came into use at St Ann's,
William Macleod built one at his recently purchased Ben Rhydding Hydro
in Ilkley. As at St Ann's, the Turkish baths occupied a separate
building. This was designed in a Scottish Baronial style by architects
Lockwood and Mawson, making them the first major architectural
practice to build a Turkish bath in England, and preparing them for
those they later built at Saltaire and Keighley.
There were three main rooms at Ben Rhydding, the 'frigidarium',
'tepidarium', and 'caldarium', ranging in temperatures from 100 °F-150
°F. All had encaustic tiled floors and were well furnished with wood
panel enclosed dressing cubicles in the 'frigidarium', curtained
cubicles with couches for reclining in the 'tepidarium', and covered
benches and a central shampooing table in the 'caldarium'. However, at
Ben Rhydding, Macleod adopted Ling's (Swedish) massage rather than
Urquhart's preferred Turkish-style shampooing. There were also cold
water baths, a wave douche (a horizontal 'gush' of water like a small
cascade, before which a bather stands and turns according to
preference), and spray showers.
Hotels
========
The unusually named Romo Thermæ Baths at the Windsor Hotel, which
advertised widely but briefly, only described some of its facilities
when it re-opened following its 1888 refurbishment. Noted were three
hot rooms at 270 °F, 180 °F, and 150 °F, with a cooling-room at 65 °F.
There was a shampooer 'always in attendance', a 'swimming pool', and
the constant availability of ordinary hot water baths. A separate
advertorial refers to the cooling-room being decorated with ferns and
rockwork, and 'strewn with Persian rugs'. This establishment was, in
effect, little different from a standalone Turkish bath but housed in
a hotel rather than a converted house or shop.
Open to non-residents, the baths had a separate entrance from the
street as well as access from the hotel. Shoes and other outdoor
clothing were deposited in a cloakroom just outside the main entrance,
before entering an inner hall leading into the main open area of the
baths. This was a long 'great hall' best described as 'a nave of nine
bays formed by octagonal piers.' Towards the top of these were
terracotta figures in elaborate niches, a few of which have been
placed in the courtyard of the current hotel. On either long side of
the 'nave' were aisles, and above them galleries--mostly divided into
rest areas furnished with beds surrounded by red curtains. At either
end of the hall was a 'mean staircase' starting as a single flight,
and dividing into two, each at right angles to the first, and leading
up to one of the galleries. Painted coats of arms decorated the
Jacobean style ceiling, from which were suspended rotating fans, and
'spiky' lights. Halfway between the two aisles was a decorative
fountain and, two-thirds of the way along the hall, 'like a Black Mass
chancel screen, a wall of wandering stained glass reptiles lit up from
within' divided the first part of the room, the 'frigidarium', from
the 'tepidarium' beyond. In the centre of the room, continuing under
the screen, was a plunge pool allowing swimmers to pass beneath it
from one area to the other, while in the aisles there were doors for
non-swimmers. The sofas on the dry side gave way to deck chairs of
canvas and wood on the wet side. To the right of the 'tepidarium' was
an electric light bath, and to the left, through the waiting room with
its three needle showers, was the shampooing room with marble slabs
and basins for five masseurs. Finally, at the far end of the hall,
behind the staircase, was a small Russian bath and three hot rooms.
Their walls were faced with tiles of elaborate 'Moorish' design, their
mosaic floors almost completely covered with thick red Turkish
carpets, and their white marble seats furnished with white canvas slab
cushions and canvas hanging backs, to protect bathers from being
burned.
Victorian Turkish baths in clubs
==================================
In Scotland, where there was no legal requirement for local
authorities to provide both first and second class baths, eight
companies were set up to provide swimming pools for the better off who
did not wish to use the 'invariably dirty' public pools where 'the
spittoons were never clean' and their changing rooms overcrowded. Two
of these were in Edinburgh, five in Glasgow, and one in Greenock. In
Glasgow, both the Arlington and Western baths clubs, with their
Victorian Turkish baths, are still open. In Edinburgh, the Drumsheugh
Baths Club is also still open, but its Turkish bath was closed some
time during the 1970s.
The Arlington Baths Club
==========================
The Arlington Baths Club was the inspiration behind Greenock's West
End Baths Club, and also for The Bath Club in London, which persuaded
Mr Robertson, the Arlington's second Bath Master, to move to London to
manage it.
The Royal Automobile Club
===========================
Towards the end of World War I, the club was requisitioned for use as
war offices, but after much discussion the baths were allowed to
remain open for use by 'officers on short leave'. The Turkish baths
remained open day and night and over 74,000 baths were taken, officers
knowing that 'when they could not find a bed anywhere, they could
always come to the Turkish bath at the Club.'
Victorian Turkish baths in ocean liners
=========================================
The White Star Line was the first to provide Turkish baths for
passengers on one of its liners--the 'Adriatic'--in 1907. It was soon
followed in 1913 by the Hamburg America Line (HAPAG) on its
'Imperator', and in 1930 by the Canadian Pacific Line on its 'Empress
of Britain'. White Star was proud of its innovation and the baths were
mentioned in most of its publicity.
The ''Adriatic''
==================
Both company and passengers must have been satisfied with the
well-planned baths because when the ship was refurbished after World
War I, and again in 1928 when it was converted to a cabin class liner,
there were relatively few changes made. Because the electric baths had
previously been under-used, one was converted into a dressing room,
while space was made for a chiropodist in another one. Otherwise,
apart from adding curtains round some of the couches, a larger
dressing-table, and a more sophisticated weighing-chair, little else
was altered.
The ''Olympic'' and ''Titanic''
=================================
By all published accounts, confirmed by the images of the 'Titanic'
brought up by James Cameron's 2012 dive to the wreck on the ocean bed,
the cooling-room was one of the most extraordinary rooms in the ship.
Tickets for first class passengers wishing to take either Turkish or
electric baths cost four shillings or one dollar, and were available
for separate men's or women's sessions. Passengers on the 'Titanic'
were looked after by a team of three men (J B Crosbie, W Ennis, and L
Taylor) none of whom was to survive the voyage, and two women (Annie
Caton and Mrs Maud Slocombe), both of whom were more fortunate.
It seems fair to deduce that most passengers who took Turkish baths on
the two liners were satisfied, hence the decision to include them
later on the two Queens.
The ''Berengaria'' (originally the ''Imperator'')
===================================================
In 1913, the Hamburg America Line (HAPAG) brought its showpiece liner
SS 'Imperator' into service. But in 1919 it became part of the Cunard
Line as compensation for the sinking of the 'Lusitania' during World
War I and was renamed RMS 'Berengaria'.
The Turkish baths adjoined the ship's two-storey high Pompeian-style
swimming pool. This was designed by Charles Mewès and inspired by a
similar pool built in 1907 for the Royal Automobile Club, of which
Mewès was also one of the architects. The Turkish baths comprised
three hot rooms, a resting (or cooling-) room, dressing rooms, and two
shampooing rooms. Complementing the Turkish baths were a number of
electric cabinet baths, though it is not known exactly what type of
electric baths these were.
The 'Berengarias first Turkish bath supervisor was Arthur Mason, a
professional masseur who had trained under Sir Robert Jones. Mason's
young assistant in 1935, fifteen year old John Dempsey, later wrote a
book about the Turkish baths on the White Star and Cunard liners in
which he had worked. On the 'Berengaria', part of Dempsey's job was to
show bathers to the changing cubicles and take them to the first hot
room. Each was provided with towel, jug of drinking water and a
glass.:pp.5-11
Next to the hot rooms was a shower with big-jet hose pipes.
Stimulating and therapeutic, the jets were sprayed onto the bathers
following their Turkish bath, after which they were helped to dry off,
returned to their cubicle, covered with towels, and told to relax
prior to their massage. The massage room had a central table, and
raffia brushes were used to soap the bathers before their massage.
Many well-known males, including the Prince of Wales, took advantage
of the facilities on the 'Berengaria'. They included Johnny
Weissmuller (the screen Tarzan), comedian Phil Silvers, actor George
Arliss, Noël Coward, and H G Wells. There was no Turkish bath for
women passengers.
The ''Queen Mary''
====================
After the installation of Turkish baths on the 'Berengaria' and the
first two 'Olympic' Class ships, 'Olympic' and 'Titanic', White Star
Line included them as a matter of course on the 'Britannic'.:p.230 But
the third ship never welcomed paying passengers as it was taken into
service as a hospital ship shortly after the beginning of World War I,
and was sunk in November 1916.
RMS 'Queen Mary' sailed between 1936 and 1968, mainly across the
Atlantic Ocean. It was owned by the (now merged) Cunard-White Star
Line until 1949, when ownership passed to the new Cunard Line. Arthur
Mason was moved from the aged 'Berengaria' to become the masseur on
the new ship, and he soon asked for John Dempsey to become his
assistant again.
The Turkish baths were on C Deck, with the main entrance opposite the
First Class dining room, and a second smaller one from a balcony
overlooking the two-deck high swimming pool.
The large 'frigidarium' had eight cubicles, each with a bed, a locker
with hangers, and large plush curtains which could be pulled across
for privacy. Beyond the last cubicle, the shampooing room had two
armour plated glass massage slabs, together with wash-basins and a
shower. A passageway with a drinking-fountain at the end led to the
three interconnected hot rooms on the pool side of the baths. These
were maintained at temperatures ranging from 80 °F to 200 °F, and had
glass windows in their doors so that the attendants could check if
anyone seemed unwell.
Complementing the Turkish baths were a Russian steam bath, an electric
lamp bath, and an electric therapy room in which bathers could obtain
ultra-violet, infrared, or diathermy treatments under the supervision
of the nursing sister or dispenser.
Following the practice now prevailing on other liners, there were
separate Turkish bath sessions for male and female passengers. But, as
in most public baths, the hours were not evenly distributed.
During World War II, the Queen Mary was requisitioned as a troop
carrier. For some years after the post-war refit and relaunch in 1946,
it seemed as though things would soon be back to normal. But by the
1960s, the liner's usage figures were being examined very closely as
travellers increasingly considered the advantages of speedy air
travel.
The ''Queen Elizabeth''
=========================
In March 1940, the newly built RMS 'Queen Elizabeth' went into service
as a troopship for the duration of World War II. In 1946, after a
post-war refit, the liner sailed, mainly across the Atlantic Ocean,
until 1968. It was initially owned by the merged Cunard-White Star
Line until the company was succeeded in 1949 by the Cunard Line. John
Dempsey was appointed to run the Turkish baths from the outset.
The facilities within the Turkish baths were similar to those on the
'Queen Mary' but the layout was different, with the various areas on
either side of a long corridor. This was around ten foot wide and was,
in effect, the 'frigidarium'. On the left were eight compartments
which could be separated by curtains for privacy, each containing a
bed, a combined mirrored dressing-table with cupboard below, and a
bench seat.
The modern shower had jets of hot or icy cold water, and the
shampooing room was fitted with two up-to-date tables with chrome
surrounds and a two-inch armoured glass surface. There were three hot
rooms: the 'tepidarium' at 150 °F, the 'caldarium' at 175 °F, and the
smaller 'laconicum' at 200 °F.
Complementing the Turkish baths, and within the same area, were a
Russian steam room, and a room with an electric lamp bath. The latter
was so little used, however, that it was soon converted into a linen
room.
The baths were open each day from 7.00am until 10.00am, and from
2.00pm until 7.00pm for the male passengers, and from 10.00am until
2.00pm, under the direction of Mrs Wilson (the masseuse) for female
passengers. Passengers who used the Turkish baths usually booked for
the whole voyage and, most often, at the same time every day.
Financial realities
=====================
By the beginning of the 1960s, the idea of leisurely trips across the
Atlantic was increasingly affected by the growth of fast travel by
air. Passenger numbers fell, and Cunard examined the costs of every
aspect of their liner operation. On the 'Queen Mary', a Turkish bath
with an alcohol rub cost 10s. A bath and rub on each of the three full
days of the voyage cost only £1 5s 0d. (19)
A memo from Cunard's head office, dated 6 May 1963, noted that on the
'Queen Mary', the cost of the Turkish baths staff (two males, one
female, and a boy) exceeded the receipts by £2,298 5s 0d; this was
even more than the £1,971 5s 0d loss (with the same complement of
staff) made on the slightly newer 'Queen Elizabeth.' The writer, Mr T
Laird, asked if overtime was being worked, and whether losing one
member of staff and raising prices would improve the situation.
Takings continued to decline for a further year.
It is not known whether any changes were actually made to the level of
staffing or to the basic price of a Turkish bath, but by this time
Cunard would already have been considering whether to continue the
liners in service.
When new ships were built to cater for 21st century holiday cruises,
none included Victorian-style Turkish baths. Sauna, steam room and
wellness spas had become the new essential facility.
The decline of the Victorian Turkish bath
===========================================
The rapid rise of the Victorian Turkish in the second half of the 19th
century was due to the impact of a number of factors including the
cholera epidemics of the previous decades, the permissive (rather than
mandatory) Public Baths and Wash-houses Acts of the 1840s, the lack of
even basic washing facilities in overcrowded homes, and the lack of
medical knowledge during a 19th-century which was still without safe
basic pain killers.
The Victorian Turkish bath offered personal cleansing opportunities,
usage as a therapy, (especially for complaints such as rheumatism and
gout), and a leisure activity for those with money and time enough to
take advantage of it. This was evident as early as 1861 when a group
of 221 men visiting the newly opened City Baths in London were asked
why they had come. Only 67 hoped to ease or cure an ailment, 154
(c.70%) went because they enjoyed it, while none admitted to using it
for personal cleansing.
In the 20th century, the gradual rise in the number of homes with hot
and cold running water lessened the need for using the bath as a
personal cleansing agent. The increasing effectiveness of drugs as
painkillers and (following World War II) as curative agents, together
with an exponential growth in medical knowledge, had virtually ended
the use of the Turkish bath as a therapy.
During the interwar period, the bath was seen more as a leisure
activity, and some local authorities, for example, Cardiff (1958),
Blackpool (1965), and Nottingham (1975), were still opening them after
World War II.
But post-war rising fuel and staffing costs made running Victorian
Turkish baths more expensive. And there were now cheaper alternatives
available such as the free-standing Finnish sauna, and the
prefabricated plastic steam room. Neither of these alternatives gives
the same type of sweating experience as the Victorian Turkish bath.
But for the post-war generation it was close enough, and the new
self-contained baths were soon being seen as ideal facilities for
incorporating into hotels, health clubs, and wellness centres.
That such baths gained such rapid popularity is due in no small
measure to the earlier acceptance of the Victorian Turkish bath which,
over time, seamlessly transitioned to the less expensively provided
forms of hot-air bath. The Victorian Turkish bath, which the new baths
are replacing, is a component of that part of hydropathy which has
moved from being a medical treatment to a leisure activity.
Repurposed Victorian Turkish baths
====================================
As a result of the post-World War II decline in the use of Victorian
Turkish baths, and their replacement by sauna and steam rooms, very
few Victorian baths remain. In the British Isles, those that existed
in hotels, or were converted shops and houses, have, over time, been
reconverted into other uses. Some of those which had the most original
interiors, such as Charles Fitzroy Doll's extravagant 1913 Imperial
Turkish Baths, have been demolished. J Hatchard Smith's 1882 Dalston
Junction Turkish Baths, one of the very few where the exterior was
designed to give the impression of a hammam or a mosque, was destroyed
in a fire barely eight years after it opened.
Image:Imperial tepidarium.jpg|'Charles Fitzroy Doll's Imperial Turkish
Baths.' 'Tepidarium' and plunge pool
Image:Dalston Junction Turkish Baths.jpg|'J Hatchard Smith's Dalston
Junction Baths.' Exterior view, 1880
Nevertheless, the lavish decorative style of some of the 19th century
Turkish baths can still be seen in a few isolated instances. This is
when the baths buildings, although now used for other purposes, still
retain much of their original structure: such buildings as, for
example, the restaurant at the former Turkish baths at 30 South Mall
in Cork; a London events venue in Nevill's New Broad Street Turkish
baths; a stockbroker's office with its colourful dome and vaulted
ceilings at Friar Lane, Leicester; and a business centre built within
the shell of Ashton-under-Lyne's Municipal swimming pool and Turkish
baths. The Cork building is recorded in the Irish National Inventory
of Architectural Heritage, and the three English buildings are Listed
in the National Heritage List for England.
Image:Cooling-room, Cork Turkish baths.jpg|'The New Turkish baths at
30 South Mall, Cork.' Cooling-room and plunge
Image:Nevills Bishopsgate Kolforn.jpg|'Nevill's Bishopsgate Turkish
baths, London.' Entrance kiosk in 2015
Image:Friar Lane Turkish bath groins.jpg|'New Turkish Baths, Friar
Lane, Leicester.' Stockbroker's office 2006
Image:Old Swimming Baths,
Ashton-under-Lyne-geograph.org.uk-3809397.jpg|'Ashton Turkish baths
(beyond chimney).' Building in 21st century
Victorian and Victorian-style Turkish baths still in use
==========================================================
As of May 2024, there were just eleven Victorian or Victorian-style
Turkish baths remaining open in Britain, and one, Carlisle Turkish
baths, stated to be temporarily closed:
* Royal Baths, Harrogate
* Ironmonger Row Baths, London (temporarily closed for refurbishment)
* York Hall Leisure Centre, London
* The Porchester Centre, London
* Royal Automobile Club, London
* Newcastle City Baths
* Mounts Baths, Northampton
* Swindon Victorian Turkish Baths (temporarily closed for
refurbishment)
* Portobello Swim Centre, Edinburgh
* Arlington Baths Club, Glasgow
* Western Baths Club, Glasgow
There are also three Victorian or Victorian-style Turkish baths
currently known still to be open in Europe:
* Römisch-Irische Bad im Friedrichsbad, Baden-Baden, Germany
* Müller'sches Volksbad, Munich, Germany
* Das Römisch-Irische Bad, Wiesbaden, Germany
See also
======================================================================
* Banya
* Hammam
* Sauna
Primary bibliography
======================================================================
*
* (Deals only with the Victorian Turkish bath)
* (Deals only with the Victorian Turkish bath)
*
External links
======================================================================
*[
http://www.victorianturkishbath.org/ Victorian Turkish baths: their
origin, development, & gradual decline]
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victorian_Turkish_baths
