Batley Baths, on Cambridge Street, regularly feature in my St Mary’s One-Place Study news update posts, with mentions of the various school swimming competitions at which St Mary’s schoolchildren excelled. The facility, even in its early days, was an integral part of the community. As Batley Baths enter a period of Kirklees Council-enforced closure due to the financial squeeze, I thought it a fitting time to write a post about the vision Batley Corporation had for their town with the opening of the Public Baths in 1893.
The issue of having public baths in Batley had been talked about for years, but it was only in 1891 that the Council almost unanimously agreed that they should be publicly provided for the town – despite some criticism by ratepayers.
The plans for them had a far broader function than what we today associate with swimming baths. They were not purely for recreation. This was an era when most households did not have bathrooms and access to clean, hot running water. So, in addition to swimming facilities, they also provided the opportunity for the town’s inhabitants to have a bath, in what were termed slipper baths. The Corporation also envisaged providing the ultimate in ablution luxury, with the addition of Turkish baths.
However, mindful of the financial sensitivities, in order to keep costs under £10,000, the original vision was scaled back. This meant a reduction in the number of slipper baths originally planned, and the Turkish baths were held in abeyance until such a time as finance became available. But the Corporation was adamant on one point: whatever was done should be of a permanent character and a credit to the town.1
The formal contract for the baths was let on 19 February 1892, with an estimated cost of £8,051 10s. 8d.2 They were designed by Walter Hanstock. The list of contractors included mason, Isaac Nelson, Birstall Road, Leeds; joiner, Henry Brooke, Batley; plumber, James Walshaw, Batley; plasterer, William Parker, Heckmondwike; slater, J. M. Thornton, Heckmondwike; ironfounders, J. Bagahaw and Sons, Limited, Batley; engineers, Thomas Bradford and Co., Manchester; fireproofers, George Greenwood and Sons, Halifax; patent glazing, T. W. Helliwell and Co., Brighouse; and painter, Ned Ramsden, Dewsbury.3
Amidst huge celebrations, in what was described as a red-letter day in Batley’s history,4 the foundation stone for the Public Baths was laid by Batley’s Mayor, Alderman Henry Brooke, J.P., on 2 July 1892. A bottle was placed in the cavity under the stone containing copies of the local papers for the date, a description of the building, an account of the day’s proceedings, a copy of the Batley Year Book and specimens of coins of the realm.5 Incidentally the memorial stone for the Technical School, opposite, was laid immediatley after this ceremony, by James Stubley. More of that later.
An 1892 description of the as yet incomplete building read as follows:
Public Baths, the property of the Corporation are now (1892) in course of erection on the Market estate, and will be opened in 1893, at an estimated cost of £10,000; the building is of stone in the Renaissance style, from plans by Mr. Walter Hanstock, architect, of this town, and will comprise 1st and 2nd class swimming baths, the former measuring 73 feet by 36 feet 6 inches within the walls, and the latter 89 feet by 46 feet, 15 gentlemen’s slipper baths, and 5 for ladies, with provision for the future construction of Turkish baths; there will also be a residence for the manager, wash house, laundry, drying and mangling rooms, offices &c.6
By spring of 1893 work was nearing completion, coming in well under budget. As a result, on 9 May 1893, the contract was placed for the installation of Turkish baths, at an estimated cost £456 9s. 4d. As mentioned, these were removed from the earlier plans because of cost concerns. The total amount of the two contracts came in at £8,508, with the total estimated cost of the works which included the architect’s commission, clerk of works salary, and furnishings not expected to exceed £9,400 – well below the initial £10,000 limit.7 In actuality the total expenditure was put at £9,180 3s 7d, with the Baths Committee of the Corporation, and architect Walter Hanstock, receiving hearty congratulations on their below-budget achievement.8
The first Baths Manager was John Duffus of Manchester, assisted by his wife Mary Ann. They were paid 35s per week, with house, rent, etc free.9 In July 1893, even before the formal opening of the establishment, he had resigned. John W Dunnell, previous manager at Bradford Corporation’s baths and on the earlier appointment shortlist, replaced him later that moth. Dunnell’s wife, Sarah Ellen, took up the position of matron.
John proved a huge success, with visitors described as:
…meeting courtesy and kindness at the hands of the genial manager, who does everything he can for the comfort of those who wish to patronise this speedily and completely arranged institution.10
The Dunnells were so highly regarded that, at the September 1895 Batley annual Town Council meeting, John Dunnell was described as “one of the best servants who ever came into the town”, and the success of the public baths was attributed largely to the couple’s efforts. The Corporation’s appreciation was reflected in a salary increase from £91 to £100 per annum.11 The Dunnells served Batley for almost 7½ years, tendering their resignations as Manager and Manageress of the Public Baths in October 1900 to take up similar positions at Cardiff.
Other appointments followed those of Baths Manager. On 7 September 1893 the Corporation’s General Purposes Committee approved the transfer of William Lister to the Turkish baths from 9 September, with a wage of 24s a week. Other appointments approved at this meeting included a young man to assist in the slipper and swimming baths, on a salary of 16s a week; a young woman to help Mrs Dunnell in the ladies department and on laundry work, at 12s per week; and a young man hired as a money taker, on 10s a week.12
The informal opening of the two public swimming baths took place on Saturday 13 May 1893, the formal ceremony being delayed until the completion of works on the Turkish and slipper baths. That Saturday, way before the turnstiles opened, youths congregated in the vicinity. Once the ticket office opened there was a rush to be amongst the first to use the facilities. The first ticket sold for the second-class bath was to a young man named I. Riley; whilst another youth, Spencer Newsome, received the first admission ticket to the first-class bath. These two hold the distinction of having made the first plunge into the two new baths.
Within a short time the second-class bath, which was the busier of the two, was described as “fairly alive with bathers.”13 That first day 84 men and 90 boys bought tickets for the first-class bath, and 470 men and 6 boys to second class. The receipts for admission, extra towels and drawers (the swimming garments worn by men/boys, full costumes not required as they swam in separate sessions to the ladies) came to £6 14s. 8d. By Thursday night 1,648 had visited the baths, with total receipts amounting to £19 1s. 8d.14 Any fears that the building would be a “white elephant” were being quickly dispelled.
However, the towels and drawers did later prove an issue, with reports in August 1894 of bathers damaging the loaned accessories. As a result, placards were put up in the Baths offering a 5s. reward to any person giving information which led to the conviction of any person destroying towels, drawers or other linen and articles supplied for his use.15
The Turkish and slipper baths were completed later that summer of 1893. More details about these wondrous facilities appeared in the Batley News of 1 September 1893, as follows:
There are two hot rooms – one at a temperature of 150 degrees, and the other 200 degrees, capable of accommodating about fourteen and six persons respectively at one time. White marble slabs (with cushions) have been fixed, while in the shampooing room the appointments seem to lack nothing. Provision is made for cold and hot spray, rain, shower, and needle baths, besides a vapour bath. The cooling room – a cosy place – contains six apartments, furnished with couch, mirrors, &c. The partitions are of stained wood, with front pillars of polished mahogany – indeed the whole of the rooms with their separate equipment appear to be of the best possible kind. White glazed brickwork predominates both in the Turkish bathrooms and in the slipper baths, about twenty of which (including five for ladies) have been laid down. In the first class department a cold shower is fixed over each bath, with waterproof sheet arrangement to prevent splashing, and at the end of the corridor will be found a small compartment containing vapour, shower, spray, and needle baths. The charge for a first-class slipper has been fixed at 6d., half this price being charged for the second class. The advantages in the first department are in the shape of extra towels, brushes, and soap, this latter commodity not being included in the 3d. charge. The ladies baths adjoin the Turkish room, and will be open every day in the week. Several alterations have been made to the entrances and pay office since the original plans were drawn, the brick walls in the first-class swimming bath have been varnished, and now that the entire building has been completed the visitor can see how substantial and lasting is the work that has been done.
The charges for the Turkish Baths, as later advertised from 27 November 1893, were as follows:
With the Turkish and slipper baths nearing completion, the date for the formal opening of the Public Baths was set for 9 September 1893.
At this official opening, Mayor Councillor J. Auty announced 35,659 people had passed through the turnstiles to swim in the baths since 13 May, with hundreds of young people learning how to swim as a result.16
In his vote of thanks to the Mayor, Mark Oldroyd MP cited the proverb that “cleanliness is next to godliness,” and directly referenced the importance of the bathing facilities provided by the public baths, particularly when considering the occupations townsfolk were involved in. He said it was a duty to provide somewhere “to enable the people living in such Boroughs all the means of enjoyment and recreation, and such sanitary facilities as were necessary for a civilised and intelligent community.”17
Further speeches by the gathered dignitaries indicated how it was now felt it necessary to make available water in such quantities and of such quality that everyone could wash themselves and have the luxury of a bath. There was the hope that ultimately everyone would think it just as necessary as to get their breakfast to go and have a bath.18 So these new Public Baths were definitely seen as providing far more than a local leisure facility.
Descriptions of the baths in February 1893 talk of the first-class bath’s walls of glazed white, brown and black brick, with the upper portion panelled in pressed red and buff brick. The walls of the tank were of white glazed brick, and the bottom had thick white glazed tiles, with black bands. The dressing closets were of pitch pine, with polished white Italian marble divisions. At this stage the second class bath was still being worked on, with tiling at the bottom underway.19
The description of the baths, as given at the time of their official September 1893 opening was:
The bath buildings are 109ft. 6in. in frontage and 126ft. deep, and comprise two swimming baths, the second class being 89ft. by 46ft. complete, with a water measure of 75ft. by 30ft. This bath has a spectators’ gallery, with dressing boxes under the same with slate division on each side, and one end for entertainments, with three staircases for the same. The first-class swimming bath is 73ft. 6in by 36ft. 6in., and water measure 63ft. by 24ft. Dressing boxes are provided on one side, with polished white marble divisions. Spacious entrances are provided from Cambridge Street direct to each bath, with office between same, and comfortable house above. Fifteen slipper baths are placed on the left hand side of the second-class entrance, five being for first-class baths and ten for second-class bathers. On the corresponding side there are five slipper baths provided for ladies, open all the year round. In the rear of these baths is situated a suite of Turkish baths, comprising cooling room, with five couches and sanitary arrangements; shampooing room, with marble slab, steambox, needle and shower baths; two hot rooms are provided, and the smaller one may be kept at a temperature of 230 degrees of heat. [Note this is a higher temperature than recorded in the 1 September 1993 piece.] The laundry is on the ground floor level, and immediately between the two swimming baths. All the bath buildings are arranged on one floor level, and top lights to open, which is a great advantage in economising labour and superintending. A crypt is provided under the whole of the buildings to readily get to all the supply pipes, hot water circulations, steam pipes, &c., &c., so that every joint may be got to without any cutting. All the walls in bath buildings are lined with glazed bricks in various colours to avoid plastering, and woodworking is omitted wherever possible to reduce the list of repairs to a minimum amount.20
In their Review of the Year in the Batley News of 29 December 1893
The great event, which will mark Councillor Auty’s year of office as Mayor, was the opening of the Public Baths. The swimming baths were opened without ceremony on the 13th of May, and during the first five days 1,648 persons passed the turnstile; and up to the 8th June – less than a month – no fewer than 9,000 persons paid for admission, the receipts being about £100…and the manner in which the public has availed itself of the slipper and Turkish baths amply justifies the Corporation in the erection of such aids to health and cleanliness.
In May 1894, a year after the informal opening, the numbers turning up at the facilities continued apace. Returns for the four weeks ending 19 May showed 346 men and 113 boys attending the first-class swimming bath, and 1,516 men and 204 boys admitted to the second-class bath. During the month only two ladies took advantage of the weekly half-day set aside for them in the first-class bath. As for the slipper baths, 402 men and 21 ladies availed themselves of the facilities. The Turkish baths hosted 131 men and 24 women. The total number of bathers booked for the month was 2,985, an increase of 580 over the previous four weeks, and receipts amounted to £39 6s. 0d. The number of bathers between the 13 May 1893 opening to 19 May 1894 stood at 51,228, with total receipts of £551 19s. 8d.21
The low number of ladies swimming was an early concern for the authorities. Efforts were made to increase the female uptake, playing down the worryingly low numbers. For example a piece went in the Batley News of 15 September 1893 pointing out that the ladies’ slipper baths were open every day, and that first class swimming and Turkish baths were reserved for ladies on Wednesdays. It went on to say that once this fact becomes generally known, the ladies’ department will be very popular.
In June/July 1894 the decision was made to employ a Ladies’ Instructor of Swimming, Mrs Wilson, on a month’s trial. The trial was a success. On 23 June 1894 75 ladies attended the swimming bath, with a slight increase to 76 on 30 June, and by 7 July the number attending was 111.22 As a result on 18 July 1894 she was engaged as a Ladies’ Instructor in Swimming, on wages of 10s 6d per week, providing lessons from 3.30 to 4.30, and 6.30 to 7.30 each Wednesday afternoon and evening.23
In June 1895 the decision was taken to form a Ladies’ Swimming Club, totally independent from the men’s which had been formed in May 1893. An advert was placed in the newspaper seeking applications to join. By November 1895 the Ladies Swimming Club was claimed to be the strongest in Yorkshire, with 175 members.24
As for the building’s wider uses, the laundry section was subject to particular debate. A description of the state-of-the-art facilities when being first built stated it contained a four horse power engine, a patent air washing machine, one of Bradford’s patent “Vowel” washing machines, and a patent hydro for drying the clothes, a washing trough, mangle, and all other appliances, all worked by steam power. There were also five drying-horses.25
In addition to this being a time when few homes had bathing facilities, it was also a period when homes had limited facilities for washing clothes. As a result there were suggestions that it could be used as an experimental public laundry for the town. A letter to that effect appeared in the Batley Reporter of 24 February 1893:
LAUNDRY AT THE BATHS.
Mr. Editor, —Kindly allow me through your columns to call public attention to the baths, now nearly completed. It is very desirable that they be made of the highest possible service to the inhabitants of Batley. It is generally admitted that a public laundry would be a boon to the town. This want is practically supplied in these baths, with all tmachinaey and apparatus up to date, in the centre of the population; and arrangements could easily be made for famiies to do their won washing, or a laundry staff might be employed on the premises as it is in other towns.
Batley Hygienic Steam Laundry opened on Bradford Road in Feburary 1899. However, by 1895 The Technical School were using the wash-house at the baths for women’s laundry classes, paying for the gas consumed.26 By 1949/50 the laundry was described as being used for washing all the establishement’s towels and linen. It also laundered the table linen for civic catering and Town Hall departments, including all the towels for the Corporation Offices.27
But laundry classes for the Technical School was not the limit of education provided by Batley’s Public Baths. In 1896 Batley School Board arranged for the appointment of a swimming master and mistress for their schools, with Charles Sedgbeer in charge of lessons for boys, and Miss Walton for girls – the forerunners to Mr Blackburn of my day.28 By June 1898 swimming instruction was well underway. The boys were taught in batches on Tuesday and Thursday each week, with the girls “having a lively time” on Wednesdays.29 By 1897 Batley School Board included swimming instruction as part of the school curriculum for the schools under their auspices.30
Various updates to the baths have taken place over the years, including a plant for the continuous filtration of the swimming baths water in 1915, allowing for the entire contents of the baths to be filtered and sterilised every four hours. That does make me wonder what the water quality was like in the pre-sterilisation days.
In 1946 the large swimming bath was completely modernised, and a new reinforced balcony erected incorporating a cafe bar. The dressing boxes were also renewed, while the surrounds of the swimming bath were tiled, taking the place of the older concrete. The smaller swimming bath was altered in around 1949. By 1948 the yearly numbers attending the baths had increased to some 116,000.31
As testimony to the desire of those running Batley in this period to erect a building that would be permanent and a credit to the town, the baths is amongst Historic England’s designated Listed Buildings. The Grade II Listed entry reads:
Public Baths. 1893. Designed by Walter Hanstock. Rock-faced stone with ashlar dressings and slate roofs. Main front has central projecting entrance block, 3 storey with a hipped roof and a central stack. 3 single light transom windows with flanking pilasters and linking entablature which continues across the single flanking doorways. These dooorways have double panel doors and overlights in moulded ashlar surrounds with swagged pediments. Above two 2-light cross casements with flanking pilasters and entablature hoods, between these windows a decorative panel with a winged cherub supporting 2 pilasters. Above 2 unusual cross mullion, through-eaves dormer windows with elaborate carved pedimented gables with finials. Eitherside are single storey wings, each with 5 circular windows in elaborately carved surrounds. Between are single Doric pilasters and a continuous entablature, the outer bays have double pilasters. Above a balustrade with single urns at either end. Side facades are single storey. To left, rear a tall square chimney stack with elaborate bracketed top. Interior. Central block contains much of its original interior, including miner glazed entrance screens and doors with stained glass panels, plus doors, windows, staircase, fireplaces and ceilings. The large pool to the left has an inserted ceiling though the original viewing gallery still survives above.32
According to an article in The Guardian in 2011, there were only 13 out of 50 listed Victorian and Edwardian pools in England still open to the public.33 Hopefully in 2023 this shining example of Batley’s civic pride, and a jewel in our leisure crown, will be restored to the community.
Finally, back to the Technical School which was located on the opposite side of the road to the Public Baths, whose foundation stone was laid the same day. That building was officially opened on 28 October 1893. But there is a question mark over the frontage of the respective buildings. The Public Baths are adorned with a winged cherub, whereas the now former Technical School bizarrely has a mermaid over the doorway. Surely they should have been the other way round?
Footnote: The baths never reopened after the temporary closure. Despite opposition, petitions and the option of a community buyout, on 28 January 2026 Kirklees Council auctioned off this much-loved and well-used public health facility for a pitiful £318,000. This shameless and shameful Huddersfield-centric Council, and its useless local Councillors, hell-bent on cultural vandalism and wiping out our local history and heritage, would rather have a town centre full of same-styled fast food places and vape shops, rather than a diverse place with something which appeals to all ages and demographics. The old pre-1974 Batley Borough Council, and Batley Councillors who had civic pride and were interested in bettering the town, would never have allowed this to happen. I cannot adequately express my contempt for Kirklees Council.
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Footnotes:
1. Batley Reporter, 9 July 1892.
2. Batley Reporter, 16 September 1893.
3. Ibid.
4. Batley News, 8 July 1892.
5. Batley Reporter, 9 July 1892.
6. Kelly’s Directory of the West Riding of Yorkshire, 1893.: With New Map of the Riding, and Large Plans of Leeds, Sheffield and Rotherham. Kelly & Co., 1892.
7. Batley Reporter, 16 September 1893.
8. Batley News, 29 December 1893.
9. Batley Reporter, 6 May 1893.
10. Batley News, 27 April 1894.
11. Batley News, 6 Sept 1895.
12. Batley News, 6 Oct 1893.
13. Batley News, 19 May 1893.
14. Ibid.
15. Batley News, 10 Aug 1894
16. Batley News, 15 September 1893.
17. Batley Reporter, 16 September 1893.
18. Ibid.
19. Batley Reporter, 4 February 1893.
20. Batley Reporter, 16 September 1893.
21. Batley News, 25 May 1894.
22. Batley News, 13 July 1894.
23. Batley News, 10 Aug 1894.
24. Batley News, 8 Nov 1895.
25. Batley Reporter, 4 February 1893.
26. Batley News, 6 September 1895.
27. Borough of Batley Swimming Baths Booklet, published circa 1949/50.
28. Batley News, 2 April 1896.
29. Batley News, 19 Jun 1896.
30. Batley Reporter, 3 April 1897.
31. Borough of Batley Swimming Baths Booklet, Ibid.
32. “Public Baths, Non Civil Parish – 1253988: Historic England.” , Non Civil Parish – 1253988 | Historic England. Accessed December 17, 2022. https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1253988?section=official-list-entry.
33. “Opinion: Why Bramley Baths Is a Jewel in Leeds’ Leisure Crown | John Baron.” The Guardian. Guardian News and Media, March 28, 2011. https://www.theguardian.com/leeds/2011/mar/28/bramley-baths-jewel-leeds-leisure-crown.
Past To Present Genealogy 