2 weeks Ago
Photographs from the Regency Society capture what Brighton was like over a hundred years ago. Brighton used to have strict rules about who could swim where. Ladies and gentlemen were not allowed to take a dip together.
The picture below shows the ladies only beach by the West Pier in about 1899. Only women, girls and young boys were allowed in this area. Men and older boys had to swim on the other side of the pier.
Men and women could not swim together anywhere on the town's beaches. The ladies only beach (Image: The Regency Society) In 1901, mixed bathing in Brighton and Hove was allowed for the first time but only in two special restricted areas - at the foot of Paston Place in the east and opposite the Norfolk Hotel at 149 Kings Road in the west. However, people could paddle together as long as you they were properly dressed and not swimming.
The photograph below, taken by Hove photographer Thomas Wiles, captures a group of smartly dressed Edwardians in about 1910. (Image: The Regency Society) All the men are wearing stiff, starched collars, ties, waistcoats and hats even when they were up to their knees in the water. Adult women are tightly corseted and wearing long skirts.
Mixed bathing gradually caught on. It had to be strictly signposted but it was enormously popular. Finally, in 1934, all the restrictions were lifted and people could swim wherever they wanted.
(Image: The Regency Society) These pictures, alongside many others, are part of a seafront exhibition put together by the Regency Society from the society's James Gray collection of 7,500 historical images of Brighton. The free open-air display on the west side of the i360 is open 24 hours a day until April 27. You can find out more via the Regency Society website: www.
regencysociety.org.
