How have changes at the British seaside reflected changes in British society?
When I think of the seaside, I think of tranquillity, being beside the sea as calming for the soul, even in the roughest of weather, as it is a place where the elements are constantly changing. The seaside is a place of transitions. Peter Baldwin sums this up well:
“The shore marks the border between the solid land and the fluid sea. The seaside is therefore a liminal space - a threshold - where people may move from one element to another” (Baldwin, 2008, p.215)
In many ways the seaside has developed steadily, sometimes frantically, following changing societal conditions, and not always as a place of tranquillity. The tendency is to think of the seaside resort as a Victorian phenomenon, but it goes back to Georgian times when it was more a domain of the wealthy/privileged classes. The aristocracy went there for extended periods for the ‘cures’ on offer from the various spas etc., along with the ‘curative’ sea bathing, and all of the ‘rules’ that this entailed. Of course, these resorts provided everything, in the form of entertainments etc., that was thought to be required. One could argue that during this period the seaside did not truly reflect British society in a holistic sense, as it was such a small group who were able to enjoy its benefits. Yet seaside resorts reflect changes through time, so from the eighteenth century aristocrats taking the cures, we move to the Victorian period of increasingly affordable travel options along with increased leisure time for larger groups of people, into the early twentieth century and the ideas that the seaside was a healthy place to be, to the modern day where the British seaside is, somewhat, in decline due to the shrinking world and the ability to reach far flung exotic shores or even just the coasts of the Mediterranean much more easily. The seaside resort as we know it today developed, sometimes rapidly and sometimes more slowly, to reflect the changing requirements of those who went there in ever increasing numbers. This essay follows these developments looking at music, fashion, technology and the emergence of youth subcultures.
There are three key aspects to historical investigations of music: for whom was it performed? where it was performed? and what were the expectations and reactions of the audience? To make sense of Victorian culture, we must carefully examine all three aspects in their context. Little of the Victorian repertoire reflected the seaside as such; rather it was what was brought to the seaside, reflecting the musical tastes of society as a whole and thus reflecting more general societal requirements for leisure. With travel becoming easier and cheaper allowing more people to move to the seaside for varying periods of time, especially during the warmer seasons, it became clear to the entertainment industry that it too had to change in order to cater for these needs. It did not take long for the impresarios who ran the Victorian music business to realise that what others saw as a holiday or day out created a potential lucrative market for them. Resorts also quickly realised that different social groups had very different entertainment requirements, and created different entertainment venues to match these: winter gardens, assembly rooms, bandstands etc.. This effective segregation of entertainment created certain tensions, that the audience for a song like ‘Oh I do Like to be Beside the Seaside’ would be very different to the audience for ‘The Poet and Peasant Overture’ by Franz Von Suppe.
The Victorians brought some of these ‘entertainments’ under the umbrella of Rational Recreation (inevitably linked to temperance and educational reform), in which certain types of music and entertainments were seen as ‘improving’. Thus, anywhere that provided opportunities for self-improvement was encouraged, whereas going to public houses was not. The wonderful science of hindsight shows this up as just an attempt at social engineering, as Peter Cecil Bailey describes it
The movement aimed to improve the conduct of working-class leisure in such a way as to promote moral progress and class reconciliation. Through the philanthropic provision of new recreational amenities and fraternal encouragement of middle-class superintendents, the workers were to be immunised against the corruptions of their own culture and instructed in the social values and disciplines of their betters.
(Bailey 1961 p. i)
This highlights that whilst the upper classes wanted to protect the working class from the ‘corruptions of their own culture’, they certainly would not have wanted to mix with them, hence the many different venues. Working classes would most certainly have not been welcome in Assembly Rooms, but they would have been encouraged to enjoy brass bands and the brass band contests that became a popular attraction at seaside resorts.
Difference between the classes was very much in evidence at the beach also in the manner of dress. Where the upper classes had a more extensive wardrobe the working classes were restricted to their working clothes or their Sunday best. At the turn of the 19th/20th century beach dress was quite formal, men in suits and ties wearing shoes, women wearing long dresses and skirts with heads and arms covered. The inter-war period saw a more relaxed attitude towards dress at the beach. From the 1930s there was a much more relaxed attitude towards the exposure of flesh, reflecting the health-giving benefits of being at the seaside. However, the older generation had yet to be convinced, and are still more formally dressed. The change in dress becomes even more marked in the post-war period, especially the 1950s, when bathing costumes became much more revealing, especially those for women, and more comfortable for men - and less likely to come off whilst swimming. The changes at the seaside reflected greater informalities in dress in wider society, with the move from ‘Sunday best’ formal clothing for leisure time towards clothing that exposed more of the body.
Wider societal mores are also reflected in styles of dress for swimming. In the early nineteenth century people, with the exception of middle and upper class women, tended to bathe naked. Middle and upper class men bathed naked because it was thought that it was the only to get the full benefit of the sea, and the wearing of drawers was seen as effeminate. Working class men and women bathed naked because they had no choice and they were unable to afford costumes. Throughout this period, and well into the twentieth century, there was a segregation of sea bathing, with distinct areas for men and women. However, no one seems to have thought through that once in the sea it was difficult to prevent the mingling of the sexes. Some resorts implemented local legislation against naked swimming, but this was often seen as being as a discrimination against the working classes who could not afford the costumes.
The technology of the industrial revolution, along with societal changes in working practices, played a big part in the development of seaside resorts like Blackpool. The 1840s was a time of railway fever with the first passenger railways opening, with the first branch into Blackpool opening in 1846. This appears to be the point at which the seaside resort reconstructed itself as a place of entertainment. The construction of piers not only provided opportunities to promenade ‘over the sea’ but also made it easier for paddle steamers to land their passengers without the need for small boats and/or porters to bring them ashore. The increased methods of travel combined with the various Factory Acts, providing workers with more time and holidays, albeit unpaid, led to what we would call ‘mass tourism’ today. This was reflected in the Wakes Weeks. Workers saved during the year for the week at the seaside during factory closures. However, technology was something of a double-edged sword, and by the second half of the twentieth century the jet engine made air travel much easier and more affordable, and brought resorts, like Benidorm on the Spanish coast, within easy reach of the British tourist This led to a marked the reduction in numbers going to the British seaside for a one or two week holiday.
Although the British tourist may have taken flights to Spain for their main seaside holiday, in the era before the ‘continental short break’ the British resorts still benefited from the day trippers and the Bank Holiday trade - albeit with unforeseen consequences at times. Violence came to the seaside at Clacton on the Easter Bank Holiday of 1964, or so the press of the time would have us believe. Groups of Mods and Rockers arrived, and soon found themselves with no form of entertainment aimed at them, and with not much to do in the inclement weather. Subsequently, there were clashes between the two groups, a pattern which repeated over several subsequent bank holidays. There probably would not have been subsequent clashes had the press accurately reported, or even ignored, what had happened at Clacton. But the press went into full moral panic mode blowing the trouble out of all proportion, and linking them to every kind of societal problem as Stanley Cohen points out
Through a process of free association, statements conveyed that the problem is not just the Mods and Rockers but a whole pattern in which pregnant schoolgirls, CND marches, beatniks, long hair, contraceptives in slot machines, purple hearts and smashing up telephone kiosks were all inextricably intertwined.
(Cohen, 2002, p.52)
There is no doubt that there was a bitter rivalry between the two groups, but it can be argued that being turned into demons by the press only exacerbated the situation.
It is unsurprising that two separate youth cultures emerged simultaneously within society, and that this came to be reflected in what happened at the seaside. The rocker subculture focused on motorcycles, leather jackets, motorcycle boots and 1950s rock and roll, whilst the mod subculture was more about fashion and music, their outward appearance was defined by scooters, clean cut outfits, soul/rhythm and blues in music, and The Who in particular. My Generation by The Who, came to be described as 'an anthem for delinquent youth', after the Mods and Rockers clashes. As a corruption of Wilfred Owen's ‘Anthem for Doomed Youth’, this perhaps downplays the sacrifice of those young men in World War One. It can be argued that My Generation was rock’s most explosive expression of teenage rebellion. The techniques used, feedback, crashing drums, power chords etc. had all been used on previous tracks, but were delivered with a defiance and fury that could not be matched, or exceeded by any other band. The track itself seems to reflect the general mood of frustration of the Mods at that time.
In conclusion, this essay has shown that the British seaside reflected societal changes through time in many ways. Although the early days of the seaside resort did not truly reflect society, this all changed during the nineteenth century. The Victorian period saw many societal and technological changes which changed the seaside for ever as a venue for leisure. Fashion at the seaside did not really change that much from the end of the nineteenth century until the inter-war years when what was worn at the seaside became much more relaxed, and even more so into the 1950s when costumes became much more revealing. The technological changes were not confined to the Victorian era, as the second half of the twentieth century saw travel to foreign seaside resorts in jet-powered aircraft become more affordable, with the subsequent decline of resorts at home. Yet the seaside is now seeing a revival in leisure use (see Figure 3, Thomas, 2015), and today the rise in commuting makes living near the seaside more accessible. The seaside has always been a place of tension, whether between classes or youth subcultures, perhaps now between commuter and visitor. Such tensions will continue to exist so long as it remains a mirror of society.
Bibliography
Baldwin, P. C. 1961, 'Rational Recreation': The Social Control of Leisure and Popular Culture in Victorian England, 1830-1885, University of British Columbia
Cohen, S, (2002) Folk Devils and Moral Panics
“The shore marks the border between the solid land and the fluid sea. The seaside is therefore a liminal space - a threshold - where people may move from one element to another” (Baldwin, 2008, p.215)
In many ways the seaside has developed steadily, sometimes frantically, following changing societal conditions, and not always as a place of tranquillity. The tendency is to think of the seaside resort as a Victorian phenomenon, but it goes back to Georgian times when it was more a domain of the wealthy/privileged classes. The aristocracy went there for extended periods for the ‘cures’ on offer from the various spas etc., along with the ‘curative’ sea bathing, and all of the ‘rules’ that this entailed. Of course, these resorts provided everything, in the form of entertainments etc., that was thought to be required. One could argue that during this period the seaside did not truly reflect British society in a holistic sense, as it was such a small group who were able to enjoy its benefits. Yet seaside resorts reflect changes through time, so from the eighteenth century aristocrats taking the cures, we move to the Victorian period of increasingly affordable travel options along with increased leisure time for larger groups of people, into the early twentieth century and the ideas that the seaside was a healthy place to be, to the modern day where the British seaside is, somewhat, in decline due to the shrinking world and the ability to reach far flung exotic shores or even just the coasts of the Mediterranean much more easily. The seaside resort as we know it today developed, sometimes rapidly and sometimes more slowly, to reflect the changing requirements of those who went there in ever increasing numbers. This essay follows these developments looking at music, fashion, technology and the emergence of youth subcultures.
There are three key aspects to historical investigations of music: for whom was it performed? where it was performed? and what were the expectations and reactions of the audience? To make sense of Victorian culture, we must carefully examine all three aspects in their context. Little of the Victorian repertoire reflected the seaside as such; rather it was what was brought to the seaside, reflecting the musical tastes of society as a whole and thus reflecting more general societal requirements for leisure. With travel becoming easier and cheaper allowing more people to move to the seaside for varying periods of time, especially during the warmer seasons, it became clear to the entertainment industry that it too had to change in order to cater for these needs. It did not take long for the impresarios who ran the Victorian music business to realise that what others saw as a holiday or day out created a potential lucrative market for them. Resorts also quickly realised that different social groups had very different entertainment requirements, and created different entertainment venues to match these: winter gardens, assembly rooms, bandstands etc.. This effective segregation of entertainment created certain tensions, that the audience for a song like ‘Oh I do Like to be Beside the Seaside’ would be very different to the audience for ‘The Poet and Peasant Overture’ by Franz Von Suppe.
The Victorians brought some of these ‘entertainments’ under the umbrella of Rational Recreation (inevitably linked to temperance and educational reform), in which certain types of music and entertainments were seen as ‘improving’. Thus, anywhere that provided opportunities for self-improvement was encouraged, whereas going to public houses was not. The wonderful science of hindsight shows this up as just an attempt at social engineering, as Peter Cecil Bailey describes it
The movement aimed to improve the conduct of working-class leisure in such a way as to promote moral progress and class reconciliation. Through the philanthropic provision of new recreational amenities and fraternal encouragement of middle-class superintendents, the workers were to be immunised against the corruptions of their own culture and instructed in the social values and disciplines of their betters.
(Bailey 1961 p. i)
This highlights that whilst the upper classes wanted to protect the working class from the ‘corruptions of their own culture’, they certainly would not have wanted to mix with them, hence the many different venues. Working classes would most certainly have not been welcome in Assembly Rooms, but they would have been encouraged to enjoy brass bands and the brass band contests that became a popular attraction at seaside resorts.
Difference between the classes was very much in evidence at the beach also in the manner of dress. Where the upper classes had a more extensive wardrobe the working classes were restricted to their working clothes or their Sunday best. At the turn of the 19th/20th century beach dress was quite formal, men in suits and ties wearing shoes, women wearing long dresses and skirts with heads and arms covered. The inter-war period saw a more relaxed attitude towards dress at the beach. From the 1930s there was a much more relaxed attitude towards the exposure of flesh, reflecting the health-giving benefits of being at the seaside. However, the older generation had yet to be convinced, and are still more formally dressed. The change in dress becomes even more marked in the post-war period, especially the 1950s, when bathing costumes became much more revealing, especially those for women, and more comfortable for men - and less likely to come off whilst swimming. The changes at the seaside reflected greater informalities in dress in wider society, with the move from ‘Sunday best’ formal clothing for leisure time towards clothing that exposed more of the body.
Wider societal mores are also reflected in styles of dress for swimming. In the early nineteenth century people, with the exception of middle and upper class women, tended to bathe naked. Middle and upper class men bathed naked because it was thought that it was the only to get the full benefit of the sea, and the wearing of drawers was seen as effeminate. Working class men and women bathed naked because they had no choice and they were unable to afford costumes. Throughout this period, and well into the twentieth century, there was a segregation of sea bathing, with distinct areas for men and women. However, no one seems to have thought through that once in the sea it was difficult to prevent the mingling of the sexes. Some resorts implemented local legislation against naked swimming, but this was often seen as being as a discrimination against the working classes who could not afford the costumes.
The technology of the industrial revolution, along with societal changes in working practices, played a big part in the development of seaside resorts like Blackpool. The 1840s was a time of railway fever with the first passenger railways opening, with the first branch into Blackpool opening in 1846. This appears to be the point at which the seaside resort reconstructed itself as a place of entertainment. The construction of piers not only provided opportunities to promenade ‘over the sea’ but also made it easier for paddle steamers to land their passengers without the need for small boats and/or porters to bring them ashore. The increased methods of travel combined with the various Factory Acts, providing workers with more time and holidays, albeit unpaid, led to what we would call ‘mass tourism’ today. This was reflected in the Wakes Weeks. Workers saved during the year for the week at the seaside during factory closures. However, technology was something of a double-edged sword, and by the second half of the twentieth century the jet engine made air travel much easier and more affordable, and brought resorts, like Benidorm on the Spanish coast, within easy reach of the British tourist This led to a marked the reduction in numbers going to the British seaside for a one or two week holiday.
Although the British tourist may have taken flights to Spain for their main seaside holiday, in the era before the ‘continental short break’ the British resorts still benefited from the day trippers and the Bank Holiday trade - albeit with unforeseen consequences at times. Violence came to the seaside at Clacton on the Easter Bank Holiday of 1964, or so the press of the time would have us believe. Groups of Mods and Rockers arrived, and soon found themselves with no form of entertainment aimed at them, and with not much to do in the inclement weather. Subsequently, there were clashes between the two groups, a pattern which repeated over several subsequent bank holidays. There probably would not have been subsequent clashes had the press accurately reported, or even ignored, what had happened at Clacton. But the press went into full moral panic mode blowing the trouble out of all proportion, and linking them to every kind of societal problem as Stanley Cohen points out
Through a process of free association, statements conveyed that the problem is not just the Mods and Rockers but a whole pattern in which pregnant schoolgirls, CND marches, beatniks, long hair, contraceptives in slot machines, purple hearts and smashing up telephone kiosks were all inextricably intertwined.
(Cohen, 2002, p.52)
There is no doubt that there was a bitter rivalry between the two groups, but it can be argued that being turned into demons by the press only exacerbated the situation.
It is unsurprising that two separate youth cultures emerged simultaneously within society, and that this came to be reflected in what happened at the seaside. The rocker subculture focused on motorcycles, leather jackets, motorcycle boots and 1950s rock and roll, whilst the mod subculture was more about fashion and music, their outward appearance was defined by scooters, clean cut outfits, soul/rhythm and blues in music, and The Who in particular. My Generation by The Who, came to be described as 'an anthem for delinquent youth', after the Mods and Rockers clashes. As a corruption of Wilfred Owen's ‘Anthem for Doomed Youth’, this perhaps downplays the sacrifice of those young men in World War One. It can be argued that My Generation was rock’s most explosive expression of teenage rebellion. The techniques used, feedback, crashing drums, power chords etc. had all been used on previous tracks, but were delivered with a defiance and fury that could not be matched, or exceeded by any other band. The track itself seems to reflect the general mood of frustration of the Mods at that time.
In conclusion, this essay has shown that the British seaside reflected societal changes through time in many ways. Although the early days of the seaside resort did not truly reflect society, this all changed during the nineteenth century. The Victorian period saw many societal and technological changes which changed the seaside for ever as a venue for leisure. Fashion at the seaside did not really change that much from the end of the nineteenth century until the inter-war years when what was worn at the seaside became much more relaxed, and even more so into the 1950s when costumes became much more revealing. The technological changes were not confined to the Victorian era, as the second half of the twentieth century saw travel to foreign seaside resorts in jet-powered aircraft become more affordable, with the subsequent decline of resorts at home. Yet the seaside is now seeing a revival in leisure use (see Figure 3, Thomas, 2015), and today the rise in commuting makes living near the seaside more accessible. The seaside has always been a place of tension, whether between classes or youth subcultures, perhaps now between commuter and visitor. Such tensions will continue to exist so long as it remains a mirror of society.
Bibliography
Baldwin, P. C. 1961, 'Rational Recreation': The Social Control of Leisure and Popular Culture in Victorian England, 1830-1885, University of British Columbia
Cohen, S, (2002) Folk Devils and Moral Panics
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