Two Brighton celebrities called John

9 February marks the anniversaries of the deaths of two well known Brighton figures: John ‘Smoaker’ Miles and John Standing. Aside from the shared first name, these Johns also share the distinction of being working class men who became local celebrities.

John ‘Smoaker’ Miles was a local ‘bather’ who capitalised on the fashion for sea dipping in the second half of the eighteenth century. Like his female contemporary, Martha Gunn, Miles operated a number of bathing machines on the seafront. Regular readers of this blog will be familiar with Thomas Rowlandson’s aquatint showing several of Miles’ bathing machines; these are identified as such in this 19th century print based on Rowlandson’s original.

John ‘Smoaker’ Miles’ bathing machines on Brighton Beach. Aquatint by Thomas Rowlandson, 1790 (FA205960)

Portrait of John ‘Smoaker’ Miles by John Russell, 1790s (FA100842)

Miles became a bathing attendant to George, Prince of Wales, and the men established a firm friendship. He was a regular visitor to the Pavilion, and is reputed to have once walked to London to pay his respects to the Prince after a bout of illness.

Miles died on 9 February 1794 and is buried in the graveyard of St Nicholas’ Church. In his honour, the Prince established the Smoaker Stakes at Brighton Racecourse in 1804. His memory is marked today by his portrait which hangs in the Royal Pavilion.

Less is known of John Standing, the ‘Brighton Matchmaker’. A local tradesman, several portraits of him exist, such as this print held by the Bodleian Library. The print may well derive from a drawing in our collections, ascribed to John Bruce. A profile portrait, the matchmaker appears a little less decrepit in the drawing than in the print. The drawing bears handwritten lines of verse that form the opening stanza of the three that can be read in the print:

The Celebrated Matchman of Brighton

There was an old woman

In Rosemary Lane

She cuts ‘em and dips ‘em

And I door [sic] the same

Hand drawn portrait of John Standing, the Brighton match maker, 1829

Standing died on 9 February 1833, and the print appears to have been circulated in the last years of his life. Although the precise reasons for his fame are obscure, he is an early example of a tradition of celebrity trades persons in Brighton, such as Brandy Balls and Blind Harry.

Kevin Bacon
Digital Development Officer

Object of the Month – Pearce’s Brighton Guide 1861

Brighton Guide 1861

Pearce’s Brighton Guide set out to woo the potential tourist with its bright orange cover, coloured street map, and its illustrations of the Old Steine and the Royal Pavilion. It assumed that the modern traveller would arrive by railway and thus described the route from London to Brighton noting that once the visitor had arrived:

Railway Carrier

‘to the sea then we shall at once conduct him and shall afterwards endeavour… to point out all the objects of interest in and near this “Queen of Watering Places”.’

Advice was given about places to stay and aside from the more fashionable accommodation on the seafront, apartments could be obtained in ‘respectable houses’ in Gardner or Bond Street for six or seven shillings a week.

Brighton Map

The guide offered the tourist various descriptive tours of the town including a walk along the promenade to the Chain Pier. The promenade itself was to be swallowed up a few years later by the construction of the Aquarium, which opened in 1872. Visitors were directed to the souvenir shops on the pier and the steps that once led to the Dieppe bound steam packets, before Brighton lost the route to Newhaven and Shoreham.

Hot Air Baths

Various visitor attractions were listed, such as the ‘Roman or Turkish hot air baths’ at 65 Western Road, tennis at the Bedford Hotel, racing at the Brighton Race-course in August and sea bathing from bathing machines, which cost a shilling per person or six pence for a child. For the less energetic, there were a number of reading rooms where a copy of the Brighton Times could be found by those seeking the ‘fashionable arrival list’. The Royal Brighton Literary & Scientific Institution was located adjacent to the Albion Hotel and the Chess Club met on the Chain Pier.

Surgeon Dentist

The back pages of the guide carry a number of advertisements for local businesses, including one for Mr. Morganti, a dentist who supplied:

‘A good set of TEETH on the new Vulcanite principle – £5’

Schweitzer & Co., chemists of King’s Road offered Franken’s Celebrated Stuttgart Water and Cocoatina (a chocolate drink) which was recommended for those with ‘weakness of the stomach’ and became ‘exceedingly delicious’ when Brandy or Wine were added.

This line from the guide book may be as equally applicable to the visitor of 2011 as it was to the one in 1861:

Pavilion Parade

‘the visitor who has for weeks or months been confined to the impure atmosphere of the close streets of London, will be delighted to breathe the pure sea air’

Paul Jordan, Senior History Centre Officer

An Unsinkable Swimming Costume

19 May 1928, Brighton Herald

Jabez Wolffe and Hilda Harding Demonstrate in Sea

Brighton has an interest in the new “Swimeesi” bathing costume, for it is the invention of a Harley-street doctor – Dr. M. W. Browdy – assisted by Mr Fred Eyles, son of Mr Frank Eyles, the well-known outfitter, of 8, Western-road, Brighton.

The “Swimeesi” is a costume on novel and scientific lines. It is a perfectly orthodox bathing dress in appearance, with inflatable rubber air-chambers, rather resembling hot water bottles, fixed inside a the chest and back. These air chambers are so regulated to the particular size of the costume that with a very little inflation they will support the swimmer with a buoyancy that enables him or her to concentrate purely on “strokes.” And at the same time with the most complete safety. It is considered impossible for anyone to sink while wearing this costume.

 

Find this and other fascinating stories in our collection of local newspapers at the Brighton History Centre.