The Birmingham Baths Committee was an organisation responsible for the provision and maintenance of public swimming and bathing facilities. Birmingham City Council funded, constructed and ran bathing facilities throughout the city. The movement to develop baths and wash houses in Britain had its impetus with the rapid urbanisation of the Industrial Revolution, which was felt acutely in Birmingham, one of England's powerhouses.
In the planning procedures before the construction of a swimming bath, the department regularly partnered with the Free Libraries Committee to provide a new swimming bath alongside a new public library.
Establishment
Private baths
Birmingham had been provided with swimming baths for some time before the establishment of the Birmingham Baths Committee, which became possible through the introduction of an Act of Parliament. These baths were private and members were often only the wealthy who were able to pay for the service.
The baths received water from natural resources, often springs, which were plentiful throughout the town. Digbeth was a significant site for spring water and had provided water for the area for drinking and washing purposes as well as contributing to the River Rea. However, Digbeth and Deritend became increasingly industrialised and the natural spring was built over as a result.
In William West's "Topography of Warwickshire" (1830), there were around ten private baths. Whilst the dimensions of the baths were small, they provided a range of services and had different aims. A major proprietor of bath houses in Birmingham was a Mr. Monro who had had premises in Lady Well and Snow Hill.
The campaign for public baths
Private baths were advertised as having healing qualities and being able to cure people of diabetes, gout and all skin diseases, amongst others. On 19 November 1844, it was decided that the working class members of society should have the opportunity to access baths, in an attempt to address the health problems of the public. On that day, a committee was formed and a fund was opened. Within a week, £4,000 had been donated to the fund.
On 22 April and 23 April 1845, two lectures were delivered in the town hall urging the provision of public baths in Birmingham and other towns and cities. It was recorded that the attendance of the lectures was low, however, those in attendance were 'highly respectable'.
A second public meeting was held by the committee on 15 June 1845, where they proposed to purchase a plot of land at the corner of Kent Street and Gooch Street in Birmingham. On 24 June 1845, the committee purchased the land for £6,102, which was taken from the funds they had accumulated.
Official establishment of the committee
After a period of campaigning by many committees, the Public Baths and Wash-houses Act received royal assent on 26 August 1846. The Act empowered local authorities to incur expenditure in constructing public swimming baths out of its own funds.
Following the Act of Parliament, the town council called a meeting on 7 October 1846. It was at this meeting that they decided to adopt the act, and at a meeting of the Public Baths Association in November 1846, they decided to give the land purchased by the committee to the council.
On 2 October 1848, the council gave their sanction for the construction of the first public baths and wash house on Kent Street site purchased by the Public Baths Association.
Baths owned by the committee
The committee constructed many public baths and never acquired private baths. Also, Birmingham was undergoing a period of change in that it absorbed many urban districts which were not within the boundaries before. As a result of this, the committee often gained the ownership of bathing facilities owned by the district councils before.
Kent Street Baths
Kent Street Baths were the first baths opened by the committee. Construction began on 29 October 1849, with the laying of the first foundation stone. The baths were opened on 12 May 1851, however, the baths were not completed until 1852. The building was designed by D. R. Hill. The baths were close to the town centre and so received a good amount of water. However, this supply of water posed a problem to builders of the baths who found it difficult to prevent water from entering and flooding the construction site. The final cost of the baths was £23,000.
The building contained first and second-class swimming baths for men, first and second-class baths for women, Turkish baths and laundry facilities. On 30 March 1914, a women's swimming baths and baths for women were opened in an adjoining building to the main building on Gooch Street.