Task 3 - COPY 1/465/f.33

Photograph caption: ‘Photograph of Mary Wheatland, the Bognor bathing woman’
1903, Catalogue ref: COPY 1/465/f.33

Mary Wheatland (1835-1924), from the age of 14, worked as a bathing machine operator, gave swimming lessons to children and acted as lifeguard in the seaside town of Bognor. She stopped swimming in 1906 owing to rheumatism. She was awarded two medals from the Royal Humane Society for saving over thirty people from drowning. Mary became famous with visitors to Bognor and was also pictured on postcards!

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Look at the photograph.

  • Can you find the name of the person in the photograph? [Also check the caption for her name.]
  • Look at her face, what type of person do you think she was?
  • What is she holding?
  • What do the medals suggest about this person?
  • Why do you think she is wearing a hat?
  • Why do you think this photograph was taken?
  • The style of this photograph is called ‘portrait’. Can you explain why?
  • Can you find out what a ‘Landscape’ photograph would look like?
  • Look at the background of this photograph, where does it suggest the photograph was taken?
  • How can we say that this photograph is posed?
  • What does the photograph show about changes in women’s lives at that time? [Clue: think about her job]
  • Mary was born in 1835. How old was she when she stopped swimming in 1906?