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Spa sociability in Bath and Pyrmont [ Health / Nature ]

… Bath and Pyrmont were each renowned for their waters in the long eighteenth century. Bath set up an innovative model of spa sociability that supposedly exemplified the main principles of an ‘open society,’ while Pyrmont also defined a new approach to spa life but along different lines. This comparative entry seeks to outline the contours of a transnational spa … the emergence of new communities. Places > Health Places > Nature Keywords Health Open society Master of Ceremonies Spa doctor regulation Identity celebrity Spa Spa sociability is very often considered as a paradigm of an ‘open society.’ …

Spas [ Health ]

… Abstract Spa towns encompass various sizes and categories in eighteenth-century Britain. The role of health and medicine pervades social interactions in spa towns which abounded in urban spaces dedicated to sociability: the pump-room, the assembly rooms, the walks, villas … with the social structure of the towns that were comparable to market-towns provided with an exceptional amount of inns, doctors, and paid care providers (doctors, bath women, porters &c.). In smaller-sized spas, however, social life was less …

Bath (and the reinvention of spa sociability) [ Cities / Politics & Society ]

… Abstract The ancient city of Bath renowned for its waters ever since the Roman era played a decisive role in reinventing spa sociability in the first half of the eighteenth century. At a time when the British nation was being forged, manners … > Cities Practices > Politics & Society Keywords Civitas Codes Fashion Healing Health Invalid leisure Politeness ritual Spa The transformation of Bath in the long eighteenth century occurred against a background of urban, socio-economic, and … two seasons, Spring and Fall – it was part and parcel of the treatment. Entertainment was prescribed by the Bath doctors as an antidote to a well-known English malady that was caused by – or caused – different sorts of physical …

Beau Nash [ Fashion ]

… the transformation of Bath, Britain’s ancient watering-place, into a fashionable resort. The inventor of a new type of spa sociability, he contributed to the emergence of a British model of sociability in a decisive way. Through his … ambiguity. People > Fashion Keywords Bath Fashion Gaming Social codes Manners Master of Ceremonies Politeness Refinement Spa Wit Richard Nash, who was born in Swansea in 1674, has gone down in history as Beau Nash – the inventor of spa … the Mineral Water Hospital, which was funded by subscriptions. He developed a friendly relationship with well-known Bath doctors such as Dr William Oliver who paid tribute to his generosity in A Faint Sketch of the Life, Character, and …

Gaming table [ Sports & Gaming accessories ]

… plain everyday tables in dark taverns, gaming tables evolved into fashionable objects especially designed for domestic spaces at the end of the seventeenth century, testifying to the growing popularity of gaming. This evolution, which was … They testify to the growing trend of specialised furniture-making following the changes in the organisation of domestic space which was by then centred on smaller rooms that had a permanently designated function. Indeed, the demand for … of the card table is tantamount to the battlefields where aristocrats vied for honours and chivalric deeds:  ‘You call a doctor an honourable man, a swindling quack, who does not believe in the nostrums which he prescribes, and takes your …

Scientific experiments [ Politics & Society / Science ]

… Meeting Society Coffeehouses Public sphere Conversation Scientific experiments played a significant role in the spaces of sociability that characterized British society in the eighteenth century. They were shown in learned societies, … body. As the charge passed from body to body, participants experienced peculiar sensations. They felt shocks or saw sparks fly as they approached or touched one another. Electricity was a force of nature generated from matter; it also … the Mathematical Society formed by weavers in Spitalfields in the East End of London. The Lunar Society, which embraced doctors, chemists, and industrialists around Birmingham in the second half of the eighteenth century, was perhaps the …