The first Victorian Turkish bath was built during Queen Victoria’s reign, in Co. Cork, Ireland. The baths are not of Turkish origin, but are at least 2000 years old, and based on the hot dry air bath of the ancient Romans. Over 700 Victorian Turkish baths have so far been identified as having opened in the British Isles alone. They were often also found in asylums and hospitals, hotels and hydros, private houses and members’ clubs, and in public baths run by commercial companies and local authorities. There were even Turkish baths on ocean liners and Turkish baths for animals. Yet in 2025 only 11 remain, of which seven, known as Victorian-style Turkish baths, were built after Queen Victoria’s death.
What is a Victorian Turkish Bath?
An increasingly recognized definition reads: “The Victorian Turkish bath is a type of bath in which the bather sweats freely in a room heated by hot dry air (or in a series of two or three such rooms maintained at progressively higher temperatures), usually followed by a cold plunge, a full body wash and massage, and a final period of relaxation in the cooling room.” The path a bather might take through a Turkish bath is shown in this diagram found in Malcolm Shifrin’s book, with the Latin names given for the different areas:
Building the first Victorian Turkish bath
An Irish physician, Dr Barter, had opened a hydropathic, or ‘water cure’ establishment, known as St. Anne’s Hydro, near Blarney in Co. Cork, successfully using both cold water and hot, moist, mist-like vapour baths with his patients. Early in 1865 David Urquhart, formerly a British diplomat in Constantinople (now Istanbul), was travelling in Ireland with his wife Harriet. He needed some medical help. They visited Dr Barter and found they were both interested in forms of therapeutic bathing.
After they left, Dr Barter read one of Urquhart’s books, The Pillars of Hercules, stemming from his travels in Turkey and Morocco. Barter was captivated by the chapter on the bath as experienced by Urquhart in Turkey. He wrote: “I was electrified; and resolved, if possible, to add that institution to my Establishment.” He contacted Urquhart, offering him money, workers and building materials, and even: “a number of patients upon whom experiments might be made” [1] if Urquhart would return and help him build a Turkish bath.
After a number of experiments, Dr Barter realised that the hot air in the bath had to be very dry. This was so that the bathers could withstand the high temperature needed for effective therapy. Following ancient Roman hot dry air principles, he built a ‘Turkish’ bath, which was formally opened at St Anne’s Hydro near Blarney, on 11 May 1858. In fact, he built an Irish-Roman bath but the name ‘Turkish’ bath has stuck ”.
Urquhart and the spread of the Victorian Turkish bath
Barter was a great proselytiser for the Turkish bath, especially in Ireland. In the rest of the UK, Urquhart was the main promoter, through his political passions as much as his devotion to Turkish baths. Earlier he had formed a series of Foreign Affairs Committees (FACs). These were small but active pressure groups, initially in the north of England and the Midlands, mainly comprising ordinary working-men. Trained and largely educated by Urquhart. They promoted his anti-Russian/pro-Turkish views on foreign policy, holding numerous public meetings, writing to the press, and petitioning government ministers and MPs.
Many FACs, supported by Urquhart and others, took up building and running Turkish baths. One of their key aims was to give financial support to their less affluent members. By managing the baths, members and their wives who supervised the women’s sessions, could earn a living. They also promoted the health benefits of Turkish baths, encouraging more to be opened. Also, the buildings provided meeting places for their political gatherings. Urquhart helped his Manchester FAC to build the first Turkish bath for the use of the public in 1857, in Broughton Lane, Manchester.
Styling the baths
Most Victorian Turkish baths were housed in small buildings that have largely disappeared over time. Barely a handful had exteriors which purported to be ‘oriental’ in style, though many tried to ape an ‘eastern’ ambience inside. We have a fair idea of what William Potter’s second establishment looked like, from an 1859 publicity leaflet (below top picture). Unusually, its appearance has been confirmed by archaeological excavations in 2013, on the site of Manchester’s Graphene Institute.
Baths which are still open, such as Harrogate, or Carlisle, which closed in 2022 (above middle picture), show how beautiful the interiors of these baths could be. Even when baths have escaped demolition and been repurposed, a single reconstructed feature, such as the blocked entrance to the upper floor baths in Preston’s famous Miller Arcade (above bottom picture), is an impressive reminder of the past.
Another important Manchester Turkish bath was in Oxford Street. This was owned and run by Keighley-born Joseph Constantine, a hydropathist who added Turkish baths to his existing vapour baths establishment. Together with another Turkish bath owner, Thomas Whittaker, he invented and patented the ‘Convoluted Stove’ in 1866. This was extremely successful and became the ‘industry standard’ for heating Turkish baths. The first publicly financed body specifically set up to open a Turkish bath was the Rochdale Subscription Turkish Bath Society, in 1859. This was a Co-operative Society founded by the Rochdale Pioneers, several of whom were also FAC members.
A rapidly spreading phenomenon
By the end of 1859, 18 months after the first Manchester Turkish bath was opened, Urquhart’s committees were already running nine of the 30 or so baths they were to open in England. And in Ireland, where Barter’s influence predominated, there were another seven. Entrepreneurs had seen how popular they were, and the business opportunity they offered, and started to build them independently. By 1859-1860 there were at least 17 such commercial baths in England. These numbers are probably underestimated. Research regularly identifies other baths, especially those not connected with the FACs. Also, early baths in private houses, hospitals, and hydros have only partially been investigated. From these beginnings, the Victorian Turkish bath spread not only in the UK but to many countries around the world.
Experiencing the Victorian Turkish Bath
But what were the physical and mental experiences of the bather? The Turkish bath was new and strange. We should remember that most British people had likely never experienced, nor even imagined, sitting in an enclosed space heated to a very high temperature to induce sweating, in order to cleanse themselves. Very few indeed would have anticipated having what was then known as a shampoo. This meant that a skilled ‘shampooer’ or ‘rubber’ would lay them, virtually naked, on a marble slab, and then lather and vigorously pummel them all over as a massage, before finally washing them down.
The manager of the co-operative Rochdale Turkish bath understood, in 1860, that many people were, “afraid of the Turkish Bath, simply because of the cold shower after being in the hot room. We cannot blame such, because a short time ago we would have thought of nothing but instant death if such a change had been proposed to us.” [2]
The healthy Turkish bath
The key selling point of the Victorian Turkish bath, certainly to start with, was its possible health benefits. Bathers, bereft as they were of modern medicines, at least gained physical cleanliness and mental relaxation. An advertisement placed in Manchester’s Classified and Street Directory in 1858, probably the first display advertisement for Turkish baths in England, claimed that: “It fortifies the body against colds, influenza, consumption, gout, rheumatism, nervousness, neuralgia, tic-doloureux [now generally called trigeminal neuralgia, that brings on sudden attacks of severe facial pain], toothache, all skin diseases, and disorders arising from the liver.”. These were typical claims in the early years.
Which? Magazine published an article in its April 2025 edition, ‘Inflammation: what to know and how to tackle it’ by Martha Roberts [3]. She suggests four ways of reducing inflammation, including: “Increasing your body temperature passively, such as in a sauna or a hot bath, leads to an initial release of inflammatory markers followed by a longer-lasting anti-inflammatory response.” Undoubtedly the Victorians had noticed some real health benefits, without knowing about the role of inflammation in the body. We suffer today from two forms of inflammatory arthritis, gout and rheumatoid arthritis, neither of which is currently fully curable.
The Turkish bath clientele commented freely
Many bathers commented on their Turkish bath experiences, the ‘shampooing’ in particular receiving much notice. I particularly enjoyed this early tongue in cheek account by an unknown bather describing His Turkish bath:
“I was now ushered into the ‘hot room’, where a number of gentlemen were perspiring affably and fluently…So I flung myself with an affectation of easy grace upon a marble divan, but immediately arose therefrom with a vivid blush and a large blister. I then sat upon a seething chair until I came to a boil, when I rose up and endeavoured to alleviate my sufferings by restlessly pacing the room…I then passed into the ‘manipulating room’, where I was laid out on an unelastic marble slab…and was taken in hand by a muscular attendant, who proceeded to manipulate me with great violence. Manipulation consists of disjointing, dismembering, bruising and rending limb from limb, and may be healthful, but it is not popular with me…” [4]
Perhaps cartoonist George Luks read these anguished words and illustrated them perfectly?
A rather more realistic view shows William Morris sketched by Sir Edward Burne-Jones.
Or to put it plainly…
A Yorkshire man, taking his first Turkish bath, in 1933, is more straightforward: “And so on, through a shampoo, scrub, showers, and sleep, till at the end, My word, but Ah did enjoy it!..Ah just felt like velvet when Ah came aht—it wor lovely! An’ Ah’m sure of this: it’s t’ finest bath Ah’ve ever ad”. [5]
The Victorian Turkish bath came to be more appreciated for its relaxing and de-stressing effects. By 1935, Bradford Corporation’s advertisement poetically mentioned health only in a general way, to get residents to visit its Turkish bath more regularly:
Here’s the way, if health you seek:
Take a Turkish! Every week.
Women and the Turkish bath
There were no social barriers to women taking Turkish baths. However, out of 370 Turkish baths open to the public during Queen Victoria’s reign, only around 100 made provision for women within the same establishment. Only two Turkish baths not adjoining a men’s bath are known to have catered solely for women. The first was opened by Bradford Corporation in 1883, and it remained open for 13 years.
But women were involved in many roles in Victorian Turkish baths: as shareholders, proprietors or managers. They were essential during women’s hours, as receptionists, as attendants supervising the women’s baths – a point often stressed in advertisements, and as shampooers. Turkish baths run by FAC members normally made provision for women. Certainly, the two Manchester FAC baths owned by member Mr Potter, welcomed them. Elsewhere, they also had their own times, and normally fewer days to enjoy the Turkish bath, very occasionally at reduced prices.
Selling the cosmetic benefits
As might be expected, the beautifying aspect of the Turkish bath was seized upon to encourage women to use it. In 1872, an anonymous leader in the Manchester Critic wrote: “If ladies only knew what a real and lasting beautifier the Turkish Bath is, they would abandon all agitation for ‘Women’s Rights,’ &c,…by using it they would render themselves so fascinating and beautiful, that there would be no resisting any appeals they might make to the weaker sex.” [6]
A rather more rational view was offered by the well-known actress Lillie Langtry, for the Pilgrim Street Turkish bath in Newcastle-upon-Tyne: “…I attribute my health entirely to the Turkish bath which I take twice a week regularly. I find it keeps my skin in excellent condition, notwithstanding the pigments one is unfortunately obliged to use on the stage, and I think for all the small ailments the Turkish Baths is the best Doctor.” [7]
The baths could aid women’s health
In Manchester, Mr Potter advertised the arrangements made for women at his baths with considerable subtlety. Few of them, apparently, were, “conscious of its power to mitigate the natural ills and inconveniences to which nature and an artificial mode of life have subjected them. This portion of the subject can, however, only be slightly touched upon, but a word to the wise will be sufficient.” [8] Some medical men felt that the Turkish bath was beneficial in connection with irregular periods. Mention of this was made, for example, in accounts of its use in Victorian ‘asylums for the insane’. Dr Charles Lockhart Robertson believed that even if its only healthful effect was to restore ‘suppressed menstruation’ it would still be valuable.
The gradual demise of the Victorian Turkish bath
Very gradually, Turkish baths lost their popularity, for three main reasons: first, during the twentieth century, more and more homes had bathrooms with hot and cold running water; second, advances in medicine reduced the need for the palliative aspect of the Turkish bath; and third, the sauna arrived in London and Manchester at the end of 1959 and has grown in popularity, especially since 2020.
Malcolm Shifrin, the doyen of the Victorian Turkish bath, acknowledges that: “‘we are likely to be left with perhaps a handful of usable Turkish baths retained, in the main, because their buildings are of historic importance in their own right.” [9]
Visiting the remaining baths
There are, in 2025, 11 Victorian or Victorian-style Turkish baths still open for business in the British Isles: three in Scotland and the rest in England. Of these, the Royal Automobile Club baths are only open to members and their guests, and two of the Scottish ones are also in clubs, though non-members are sometimes allowed to use them.
It is important always to contact baths before visiting them. Shifrin’s website has a page with contact details which is usually up-to-date. The Carlisle Turkish baths are “temporarily closed”, but local supporters are working towards their regeneration.
Manchester—the city with the first public Victorian Turkish bath—became home in the following years to a further 21 baths, although none remains open. But 21st century Mancunians have not let their Victoria Baths disappear. Through a magnificent community effort, they are open to view, and have become a popular site for film producers, weddings, guided tours, and a host of entertainment events, all raising funds towards the restoration of the bathing facilities.
1 ‘Testimonial to R Barter, Esq’ Cork Construction (7 June 1856)
2 Jagger, J The Turkish Bath Barker: [1860])
3 Roberts, Martha ‘Inflammation: what to know and how to tackle it’ Whoch? Magazine (Apr 2025) pp.16-19
4 ‘His Turkish bath’ Pearson’s Weekly(12 Jan 1895) p.13
5 ‘A Yorkshireman takes his first Turkish bath’ Harrogate Herald (8 Mar 1933)
6 ‘The Turkish bath’ Critic 17 Feb 1872) p.124
7 Coley, Frederic Collins The Turkish Bath (Walter Scott, 1887) p.10, and widely used elsewhere in advertisements
8 Potter, William The Roman or Turkish bath: its hygienic and curative properties (Simkin & Marshall, 1859)
9 Shifrin, Malcolm Victorian Turkish Baths Swindon: Historic England, 2015) p.319
