Editing Bathing machine (section)

==History==
[[File:Woman in bathing suit (1893).jpg|thumb|Woman in bathing suit, [[Schleswig-Holstein]], Germany, 1893]]
[[File:Queen Victoria&#039;s Bathing Machine. - panoramio.jpg|thumb|left|Queen Victoria's bathing machine (restored)]]

According to some sources, the bathing machine was developed in 1750 in [[Margate]], Kent. That version was probably intended to conceal the user until they were mostly submerged in the water because, at the time, bathing costumes were not yet common and most people bathed nude. "Mr. Benjamin Beale, a Quaker, was the inventor of the Bath Machine. Their structure is simple, but quite convenient; and by means of the umbrella, the pleasures of bathing may be enjoyed in so private a manner, as to be consistent with the strictest delicacy."<ref>{{cite book|title=The Kentish Traveller's Companion | first=T. |last=Fisher |year=1776| url=https://archive.org/stream/kentishtravelle00fishgoog#page/n166/mode/2up|access-date=25 Sep 2012|page=119| publisher=Printed and sold by T. Fisher, Rochester; andSimmons and Kirkby, Canterbury }}</ref> In the [[Scarborough, England|Scarborough]] Public Library, there is an engraving by John Setterington dated 1736 which shows people bathing and is popularly believed to be first evidence for bathing machines; however [[Devon]] claims this was a year earlier in 1735.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20081011091002/http://www.devon.gov.uk/index/culturetourism/libraries/library_services/children/thezone/maxhome/maxcomix/max-devon-etchings.htm Library Etchings] (archived) at Devon</ref>

Another source however places the earliest bathing machine at the other end of Britain. According to an advertisement in the Caledonian Mercury, a machine was available daily at Leith near Edinburgh from August 1750,<ref>Caledonian Mercury, 14 August 1750.</ref> with the wording of the advert suggesting that it had featured in earlier editions: "That the Bathing Machine will, from Monday next, be attended close from half flood to half ebb, every lawful day by Thomas Weir Carter in Leith; his station with the same is to be upon the Sands to the West of the Glasshouse, in order to carry in such Ladies and Gentlemen who want to bathe.". The machine could "hold four persons easily".

Bathing machines were most common in the United Kingdom and parts of the [[British Empire]] with a British population, but were also used in France, Germany, Netherlands, Belgium, the United States, Mexico, and other nations.<ref name="allthatsinteresting">{{cite web |url=https://allthatsinteresting.com/bathing-machines |title=In Victorian Times, Women Had To Be Carried To The Beach |author=Erin Kelly |editor=John Kuroski| date=May 4, 2016}}</ref>

[[Albert, Prince Consort|Prince Albert]] used one at Osborne Beach near [[Osborne House]] on the [[Isle of Wight]], as did [[Queen Victoria]], who used it to sketch and for bathing. She wrote about such an experience in her diary in July 1847.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.radiotimes.com/tv/drama/queen-victoria-bathing-machine/|title=Why does the Queen use a "bathing machine" to go swimming in ITV's Victoria?|website=Radio Times}}</ref> After the monarch's death, her machine was used as a chicken coop, but it was restored in the 1950s and put on display in 2012.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.victorianweb.org/history/victoria/7.html|title=The Queen's Bathing Machine at Osborne|website=www.victorianweb.org}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/av/uk-18867194|title=How Queen Victoria swam in the sea|work=BBC News }}</ref> According to a news report, "The queen's bathing machine was unusually ornate, with a front verandah and curtains which would conceal her until she had entered the water. The interior had a changing room and a plumbed-in [[Flush toilet|WC]]".<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/this-britain/victoria-s-plunge-queen-s-beach-open-public-7946869.html|title=Victoria's plunge: Queen's beach to open to public|date=July 17, 2012|website=The Independent}}</ref>

Bathing machines remained in active use on English beaches until the 1890s, when they began to be parked on the beach. Legal segregation of bathing areas in Britain ended in 1901, and the use of bathing machines declined rapidly. They were then used as stationary changing rooms for a number of years.<ref name=Seaside /> Most of them had disappeared in the United Kingdom by 1914,<ref name=Austen>[http://www.jasa.net.au/seaside/Bathing.htm Bathing] by Jane Austen Society of Australia</ref> and, by the start of the 1920s they were almost extinct, even on beaches catering to an older clientele.<ref name=Seaside>Manning-Sanders, Ruth. ''Seaside England''. B T Batsford, 1951.</ref> However, in [[Aldeburgh]], Suffolk, [[Eric Ravilious]] was able to paint bathing machines on wheels with winches still in use as late as 1938.<ref>Lara Feigel, Alexandra Harris, ''Modernism on Sea: Art and Culture at the British Seaside'' (2009), p. 212</ref> In many places around the world they have survived to this day as stationary [[beach hut|bathing boxes]].<ref name="allthatsinteresting" />