Editing Bathing (section)

====Public baths and wash-houses====
[[File:1914 INTERIOR OF UPPER FREDERICK STREET WASH HOUSE.jpg|thumb|Interior of [[Liverpool]] wash house, the first public wash house in England]]
Large public baths such as those found in the ancient world and the [[Ottoman Empire]] were revived during the 19th century. The first modern public baths were opened in [[Liverpool]] in 1829. The first known warm fresh-water [[Public bathing|public wash house]] was opened in May 1842.<ref name=ArthurAshpitel1851 />{{rp|2–14}}<ref>{{citation|title=Sanitas Sanitatum et Omnia Sanitas |first=Richard |last=Metcalfe |volume=1 |year=1877 |publisher=Co-operative printing company |url=https://archive.org/stream/sanitassanitatu00metcgoog#page/n24/mode/2up|page=3}}</ref>

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''.<ref name=BBC20100204>{{cite news |title='Slum Saint' honoured with statue |date=4 February 2010 |newspaper=BBC News |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/merseyside/8499533.stm |access-date=9 June 2014 |archive-date=23 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220323161137/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/merseyside/8499533.stm |url-status=live }}</ref> 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,<ref name=ArthurAshpitel1851/> and showed them how to use a [[chloride of lime]] (bleach) to get them clean. She was supported by the District [[Industrial and provident society|Provident Society]] and [[William Rathbone V|William Rathbone]]. In 1842, Wilkinson was appointed baths superintendent.<ref name=Wohl1984>{{citation | last=Wohl | first=Anthony S. | year=1984 | title=Endangered lives: public health in Victorian Britain | publisher=Taylor & Francis | isbn=978-0-416-37950-1 | page=73}}</ref><ref>{{citation|title=Memoir of Kitty Wilkinson of Liverpool, 1786-1860: with a short account of Thomas Wilkinson, her husband | first=Herbert R. |last=Rathbone |publisher=H. Young & Sons|year=1927}}</ref>

In Birmingham, around ten private baths were available in the 1830s. Whilst the dimensions of the baths were small, they provided a range of services.<ref>''Topography of Warwickshire'', William West, 1830</ref> A major proprietor of bath houses in Birmingham was a Mr. Monro who had had premises in Lady Well and Snow Hill.<ref name="Birmingham Journal">''The Birmingham Journal'': Private Bath Advertisements, 17 May 1851</ref> Private baths were advertised as having healing qualities and being able to cure people of [[diabetes]], [[gout]] and all skin diseases, amongst others.<ref name="Birmingham Journal" /> On 19 November 1844, it was decided that the [[working class]] members of society should have the opportunity to access baths, in an attempt to address the health problems of the public. On 22 April and 23 April 1845, two lectures were delivered in the [[Birmingham Town Hall|town hall]] urging the provision of public baths in Birmingham and other towns and cities.

After a period of campaigning by many committees, the [[Baths and Washhouses Act 1846|Public Baths and Wash-houses Act]] received [[royal assent]] on 26 August 1846. The act empowered [[local authority|local authorities]] across the country to incur expenditure in constructing public swimming baths out of its own funds.<ref name=CS102005494 >{{cite news |title=Baths and Wash-Houses |date=22 July 1846 |page=6 |newspaper=The Times |quote=Yesterday the bill, as amended by the committee, for promoting the voluntary establishment in boroughs and parishes in England and Wales of public baths and wash-houses was printed.}}</ref>

The first London public baths was opened at Goulston Square, [[Whitechapel]], in 1847 with the [[Albert, Prince Consort|Prince consort]] laying the foundation stone.<ref name=CS16940282>{{cite news |title=Classified Advertising |date=26 July 1847 |page=1 |newspaper=The Times | quote=Model Public Baths, Goulston-square, Whitechapel. The BATHS for men and boys are now OPEN from 5 in the morning till 10 at night. Charges – first-class (two towels), cold bath 5d., warm bath 6d.; second-class (one towel), cold bath 1d, warm bath 2d. Every bath is in a private room.}}</ref><ref>{{citation|title=Sanitas Sanitatum et Omnia Sanitas |first=Richard |last=Metcalfe |volume=1 |year=1877 |publisher=Co-operative printing company |url=https://archive.org/stream/sanitassanitatu00metcgoog#page/n24/mode/2up|page=7}}</ref>