ABSTRACT

Throughout the Victorian era, the availability of facilities and prevailing social attitudes were important influences on the swimming landscape. Middle-class concerns about the working classes led to the creation of municipal swimming baths following Acts of Parliament in 1846 and 1878 and these became hubs for the development of local swimming communities incorporating teachers, baths staff and users. Previously, swimming had been dependent on individual entrepreneurs, swimming professors, mostly operating in London, but amateur swimmers assumed control of the sport through their creation of clubs and the Amateur Swimming Association (ASA), which created the Midland Counties ASA. This paper draws on a range of sources, including archives, newspapers, and census records, to illustrate these transitions in the Midlands through a case study of the first 50 years of operation at the Kent Street Baths in Birmingham, which demonstrates the ways in which one local swimming community evolved, expanded and changed.

摘要

在整个维多利亚时代，设施的可用性和盛行的社会态度对游泳景观产生了重要影响。中产阶级对工人阶级的担忧导致根据 1846 年和 1878 年议会法案建立了市政游泳浴场，这些浴场成为当地游泳社区发展的中心，包括教师、浴场工作人员和使用者。以前，游泳一直依赖于个体企业家、游泳教授，大部分在伦敦经营，但业余游泳者通过创建俱乐部和业余游泳协会 (ASA) 来控制这项运动，后者创建了米德兰县 ASA。本文借鉴了一系列来源，包括档案、报纸和人口普查记录，