The Victorians Who Pioneered Swimming In London

Let's be honest, London and swimming are not synonymous (yet). But what if I told you there is a long history of swimming in our great capital?

I've been doing some research on this subject, and unsurprisingly it's the Victorians who take the cake for their wacky & wonderfully novel behaviour.

From the fourteen-year-old girl who swam five miles down the Thames, to the brothers arrested for swimming nude in the Serpentine during a heatwave, here are their stories.

Agnes Beckwith — The First Swimming "It" Girl

Agnes Beckwith was born in 1861 into a family of swimmers. Her father, Frederick Beckwith, was a real hustler who gave his occupation in the 1871 census as "professor of swimming".

Agnes was the swimming celebrity of Victorian Britain, performing numerous feats of endurance over the course of her life. In 1875, at the age of fourteen, she swam five miles from London Bridge to Greenwich in just 1 hour 7 minutes.

Various Victorian-era posters advertising Agnes's swimming feats.

She could also have been the first woman to swim the English Channel. In 1878 she wrote to Bell's Life announcing that she wished to swim the Channel, but no one stepped forward to make it happen.

The Original Floating Swimming Pool

In 1875 a floating swimming pool was opened on the River Thames, just above Charing Cross railway bridge. This was only possible after the opening of the Bazalgette's sewers, which drastically improved the state of the river after the Great Stink of 1858.

A lithograph depicting the interior of the Charing Cross Floating Baths.

The details are a little sketchy, but it appears river water was drawn into the wrought iron structure, passing through a filtering mechanism before being delivered into the pool via ornamental fountains. The pool was also used as an ice-staking rink during the winter.

The whole enterprise often faced backlash (and sometimes mockery) from all angles. MPs complained that it was ruining the view from Parliament, while others got on their high-horse about water quality issues. All sounds very familiar.

Heatwave Swimming In The Serpentine

The Serpentine Swimming Club was founded in 1864, emerging out of a growing culture of swimming on the Serpentine in the early-Victorian period.

Swimmers in the Serpentine prior to the Second World War.

This includes one heatwave summer of 1842, where crowds of over 8,000 people were reported to be using the lake on certain days.

In 1900 two brothers were arrested for swimming naked in the Serpentine during a heatwave, the police constable having found them "running about in a nude condition". They were fined 40 shillings each which, all said and done, feels worth it.

Mermaid-ing As A Career

The late Victorian period saw the mass-organisation of swimming into clubs, societies and regulatory bodies. According to historian Dave Day, this had the effect of reinforcing the exclusion of both women and working class people.

In response many women turned their pursuit of swimming into showbiz — branding themselves as mythical creatures like 'naiads' and 'mermaids' and performing all manner of aquatic feats.

The Royal Acquarium in 1876, where Agnes Beckwith is recorded as having spent 151 weeks of continuous engagement in a large tank.

Elise Wallenda held her breath underwater for for 4 minutes 45½ seconds at the Alhambra Theatre in 1898, taking the record set ten-years earlier by Annie Johnson. Annie Luker and Marie Finney were much admired for their diving, while the Humphrey sisters Charlotte & Jane became prominent swim teachers in London during the late 1900s.

Bobbing Along #19