Southend Ingram family's bathing empire during Victorian-era

During the grinding (yet opportunistic) years of the Victorian and Edwardian eras several notable families made their mark on Southend.

You’ve heard of the Rossis who scooped out their own ice cream empire in the town, yet long before they settled in Southend there were the Dowsetts, the Tweedy Smiths and the Absaloms to name but a few.

There was also the Ingrams who spent decades running bathing facilities on the seafront.

The patriarch of the family was Thomas Ingram. Thomas came to Southend from his family home in Holland on Sea. He lived in Grove Terrace and had ten children with wife Elizabeth.

Mayor of Southend four times - JC Ingram (Image: Newsquest)

In 1804 he opened the ‘Ingram baths’ on a steep slope between the old wooden pier and the Shrubbery. The baths, which were used by a great number of people in the town - at a time when hardly anyone had their own hot water heating system in order to bathe - would last until the late 1880s.

In 1868 Thomas’s son George Ingram died following what was described as a ‘long and painful illness’. He was only 32. Yet many of his other children fared better and went onto make their own stamp on Southend, Another son, Thomas William Ingram, would go onto bring the first floating baths to Southend in 1871 - something that turned out to be a big attraction. The bath was a huge floating contraption moored on the seafront off West Esplanade, as it was known at the time where men, women and children, could go to swim.

He later expanded into hiring out bathing machines on the seafront.

But TW Ingram’s greatest impact came when he entered public life. He was elected as treasurer of the Ratepayers Association and then as a member of the Local Board.

Throughout his career Ingram was renowned for his tenacity. He never missed a council meeting, was never once late for a meeting and was always the last person out of the council chamber at the end. He was a real grafter.

His bathing machines and boats were a staple part of the seafront leisure facilities. At this time there were several high-profile families who acted as rivals to the Ingrams when it came to baths and bathing machines in Southend - mainly the Pages and the Abasaloms.

In August 1879 one of Mr Ingram’s boats were used in a daring rescue after a party of men on a ‘bean feast’ got into trouble in the water.

Input - TW Ingram had plenty of thoughts about how the new Southend iron pier should be designed (Image: Newsquest)

One of the men began sinking under the water and people rushed out to help him. They managed to drag the man to shore and then took him to Ingram’s warm baths to revive him, but he tragically died.

At the inquest into the man’s death the coroner issued a stark warning to swimmers not to bathe or swim on a full stomach to avoid similar tragedies.

Thomas and his wife Jane, who was from Devon, had two sons – William and Robert. The family lived in Clarence Street, Southend along with a few servants.

Ingram was also known for speaking his mind. At one council meeting in 1891 – just months before his died – he gave a long speech about how women weren’t being protected from ‘prying eyes’ on the seafront while using bathing machines.

Bathing machines were little huts on wheels, with entrances on either side. A swimmer would enter the bathing machine while it was parked on the beach and change into their bathing suit.

Then the bathing machine would be dragged out into deeper water, either by horse or by a group of men.

Once the machine had gone far enough into the water, the swimmer would emerge from the opposite door and dive into the water with their modesty intact.

The topic of the meeting was whether to allow boats and stall holders to continue operating near to the bathing machines on the seafront- as complaints had been made they were getting too close to women bathers.

Mr Ingram addressed his colleagues in the council chamber, saying: “There is nothing in this town more limited than bathing accommodation for ladies. It is a gross insult to women that boats are allowed to ply their trade by the machines.”

Ingram also spoke up when it came to designs to replace Southend’s wooden pier with a permanent iron structure. He gave his opinion in many a meeting about the size of the pier head and its layout.

Thomas Ingram was 66 when he died of acute spinal effusion in November 1891. He has been ill for a while but was working right up until four weeks before his death.

In the months before his death, he had begun selling off some of his bathing machinery and had placed adverts in the Southend Standard newspaper.

At the last council meeting before he stepped down due to his health woes, he gave an emotional speech where he said he would always look back on his years working for the Local Board as the most successful Southend had ever had.

Many tributes were paid to him. Alderman Burrows said of Mr Ingram: “He was a gentleman who was well known to all of you. I can hardly trust myself to express the great regret which I personally feel at the loss the town has suffered, and the love which I may say this board has suffered by his death.

“I remember the last occasion he attended here, and the last speech he made in this place.

“ He was not merely a man who kept a quorum, but that he took an intelligent interest and was deeply concerned in all the work of the town. Among all the gentlemen I have met he was one of the most honest.”

Ingram’s son Robert carried on with his father’s businesses for a while. His other son William ran a successful mineral water business in Southend. He died in 1909 aged 75. The cause was ‘senile decay’. Unlike his father he was never part of public life and didn’t marry.

TW Ingram’s brother was James Colbert Ingram- the youngest of the 10 siblings- who was not only a successful businessman but was elected as mayor of Southend four times – in 1901, 1907 and 1908 and 1910.

In 1910 JC Ingram, who lived in Argyle House, Westcliff, was presented with a diamond pendant for his work in serving Southend for four terms.

In accepting the honour JC Ingram spoke of his love for Southend. He remarked how he had never been away from Southend for more than two weeks and hoped to die in the town.

He did – in 1923 after reaching the age of 76.