During the 18th century women wore a long flannel shift while bathing, sometimes with lead weights sewn into the hem to keep the skirts from floating up. (Word Wenches: Keeping It Clean.) In Worn Through, Dr. Kimberly Chrisman-Campbell discusses monkeys in art in a blog entitled Monkeys a la mode. The creatures served as satirical stand-ins for humans, much as dogs did in satirical early 20th century poker paintings.
Image @Worn Through. Click on image to go to the source.
I found Chrisman-Campbell’s passage about the bath of particular interest:
The bath scene is a rare and realistic image of an eighteenth-century bathroom and bathing ritual; the monkey kicks off her red-heeled shoes (long before Louboutins, these signified that one had been presented at Versailles, an allusion to the family’s courtly connections) but she will wear her lace-trimmed white linen chemise in the tub.
One wonders how much the habit of wearing a bathing gown in a bath had to do with modesty. The time it took to prepare for a bath was long and arduous. Water had to be hauled from the well, heated in sufficient quantities, and then hauled up the stairs before the water cooled. One did not take a quick bath in such an instance, but would linger in the tub until the water became too cold for comfort. One imagines that a roaring fire kept the room (and bather) warm. In those days, aristocratic women entertained visitors in their dressing rooms while wearing elaborate dressing gowns. As shown in the scene below, they also entertained visitors while bathing.
Annette Bening and Colin Firth in Valmont
In the film Valmont, Bening’s Marquise Isabelle de Merteuil uses the bath as a prop to demonstrate her power and sexuality. Her bathing dress enhances her curves and disguises very little. This film clip shows one delicious bath scene.
No One Compares to You
Valmont— MOVIECLIPS.com
In this image from Mr. Vernon, Martha Washington’s bathing dress is plain and pedestrian by comparison. It is a mystery to me why the bathing dress was worn, for anyone who has walked in the rain knows how quickly wet clothes can cool the skin. One can only imagine the chilling effect of wet cloth in drafty houses.
Bathing gown. Image @ Mount Vernon
By the late 18th century/early 19th century, bathing dresses were fashionable at seaside resorts. One can readily understand why, for in the image below a man on horseback pulls the bathing machine into the water. The bather peeks out of the door, unwilling to expose herself until all was safe. In fashionable Brighton, men and women bathers were separated and swam from different beaches. Away from prying eyes, some women felt free to bathe nude.
Tide Coming in Fast and a Jibbing Horse”, a 19th century engraving from the Illustrated London News which shows how a bathing machine was towed in and out of the sea by a man on horseback. Image @The Brighton Swimming Club
As you can see from this 1813 image from the Costumes of Yorkshire, many women still chose modesty over nudity. The dippers were female, and the male rider on horseback kept well away from view.
Sea Bathing’ 1813 From “The costume of Yorkshire, illustrated by a series of forty engravings, being fac-similes of original drawings” NYPL Digital Collection
If modesty was the reason for wearing bathing costumes made from linen or cotton, then their purpose failed. As seen in this 1916 photograph, wet fabric didn’t hide the details of the nude body as much as accentuate the curves. The veiling was illusory and the result much sexier than the nude body itself.
Wet suit 1916: Alfred Stieglitz(‘Ellen Koeniger’, 1916, gelatin silver photograph, 11.1 x 9.1, J Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles)
In an interesting aside, this image of a medieval bath from Leeds Castle shows that bathing wasn’t always regarded as a harmful exercise by the British.
Medieval bath, Leeds Castle
Read more about the seaside and seaside fashions on this blog to round out your knowledge of how the Regency folks enjoyed their seaside excursions:
Jane Austen's World 
Your blog posts are always so well-written and informative, and I look forward to seeing them pop up in my email. Thank you for the time and hear that you put into each one!
So interesting! I have been doing a bit of research into Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin, particularly the period she was in Scotland as a teenager…just prior to meeting Percy Shelley (1812-14). She had been experiencing some ongoing health problems (and I think wasn’t getting along with her stepmother). In 1812 the 15 year old was sent to Dundee for her ‘health’. Godwin, her father, (through the doctor) had instructed her host family to ensure she bathed in the sea as therapy. I have been very interested in what this entailed – and now you have answered my question! Brilliant!
Dundee waters would be a bit on the nippy side, I would imagine. There is some interesting stuff on MWG in Simon Schama’s wonderful book A History of Britain: 1776-2000, The Fate of Empire ISBN 0563487194, in which he situates her so well it makes me want to read the sequence that leads up the The Vindications (there were 2 one of the rights of men and one, the well known one, of women). It all started with walking. Read it. Schama is a great writer and the stuff flies off the page.
I agree, I love your posts.
Tom Stoppard used Juliet Nicolson’s “The Perfect Summer: England 1911, Just Before the Storm” for background details when writing the screenplay for “Parade’s End.” One scene he added (it was not in the novels) showed “water men” delivering hot water for a bath; the scene was the Tietjens family pile–still without plumbing in 1912, However, Sylvia declined to wear a bathing dress; the surroundings may have been archaic but SHE was modern….
Hello! I am trying to find out more about the parents of Harris, Alathea, Catherine and Elizabeth Bigg-Withers. Can you tell me a little about them? I will also email you (marymacgowan (at) ya hoo dot com)
Regards, Mary
Your blog is so amazing and informative. Thanks!
Vic, thank you for another educational and entertaining post. Think of the weight of those wet garments! How could one manage to swim with legs all tangled up in cloth!