Bathing machines were small wooden sheds on wheels which were pulled by horses into the sea. As it was not considered ‘proper to be observed in a bathing costume, the machines allowed women, and men of a more conservative nature, to change into their swimming costumes and enter and exit the water discreetly.
It was also considered of vital importance that men and women bathers swam apart, however, even machines did not stop “the blackguard element that mars the pleasure of the ladies bathing or the public on the beach”
“Some three or four bulking brutes, who fancied themselves as swimmers, swam in front of the bathing machines within a few feet of the ladies bathing.”
For the sum of £5 per annum, local businessman Charles Effey was granted by ‘His Excellency the Governor’ a 14 year license on 23rd August 1887, to ‘use and occupy’ part of the foreshore above the Esplanade at New Brighton for erecting bathing machines and bath houses. One site, opposite the New Brighton Hotel, was developed first for the opening of the bathing season and would be used by ‘gentlemen’. The other, some distance to the east, was to be developed later for the ladies.
With regular and cheap trams, coaches and ‘drag’ fares, the residents of the nearby suburbs of Linwood and Richmond could easily enjoy ocean swimming in ‘wished-for seclusion… without the visitor having to walk a long distance’