A demonstration of Women's Suffrage

The Darenth Valley open-air Swimming Bath was completed and opened on June 24 1914, the construction having been paid for by local subscription and fundraising events such as concerts and a dance festival. As the pool neared completion, Committee member Edwin Dowsing penned a timely song titled ‘Brasted Bathing Pool’ to be sung to the tune of ‘the girl I left behind me.’

The start was made some months ago by the men and boys of Brasted      Go down there now and you’ll agree their labour wasn’t wasted

Mr Botting’s help was then called on to finish off the pool Sir!      The work now done I think gives proof  Mr Botting is no fool Sir!

Lord Stanhope let us have the land we hope he won’t regret it      To him we owe our hearty thanks and don’t think we’ll forget it

The Bath is near completion now and anyone who wishes      Can go down there and do his best to imitate the fishes

We hope Lloyd George won’t come down now and tax us on the site      Because we won’t grow mangolds there on which poor pheasants bite

But Winston he has no excuse for want of safer docks, oh!      He can go on building Dreadnoughts now and give the Germans socks, oh!

Winston soon may need our help to keep her on the panel      and if they close the ports my boys we’ll swim the Irish Channel

The Suffragettes they say may soon come down to play the fool here      Well if they do, my word, I guess we’ll duck them in our pool here.

There is a poignancy to the prose bearing in mind that the pool was built and opened in the year that Britain went to war, and there must have been a ‘back-story’ to that final verse, as a young Suffragist did in fact dash past the policeman standing on the gate at the opening ceremony. She ran along the side of the pool shouting ‘votes for women’ in a loud voice. An attempt was made to arrest the lady but she retreated to the diving tower, pursued by a member of Tunbridge Wells Swimming Club in his swimming trunks. The entertainment continued on the top diving board with the crowd beside themselves in excitement. The man and the lady protester struggled until they both fell into the pool with a loud splash. The protest became a rescue as the lady was pulled out of the water, given some dry clothes and then arrested by the policeman.

The photograph above shows Lord Stanhope talking to the contractor Mr Botting, while the policeman keeps his eye out for anything untoward…

Comments about this page

  • Fascinating story. What was the name of the Suffragist woman? Was she local?
    Thank you.

    By Sandra Bennett (07/03/2021)
  • Hi Sandra, assuming you mean the suffragist that ran around the bathing pool, nobody knows her name or whether she was local as the newspaper article of the day didn’t give that detail. Somebody somewhere probably has this as a family story such as “… your great aunt Mabel held that protest when they opened the Brasted swimming baths…” Maybe it will come to light one day!

    By Bill Curtis (07/03/2021)

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