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1920s Kitchen Display: Tin Bath

How often do you have a bath or a shower? Every day?

A plumbed in bathroom was still quite rare in the 1920s, and bathing was usually a weekly affair, done in the warmest place in the house: in front of the fire. A tin bath like this one would be filled with water heated on the stove, and each family member would take it in turns to wash in the same water. Bad luck if you were last in the queue!

This tin bath has two handles to make it convenient to carry. It would have been bought from the local ironmongers.

Wealthier people would have a chambermaid carry the bath up to the bedroom and fill it with hot water brought up from the kitchen. The bath, probably a hip bath which was more comfortable to sit in, would have been placed in front of the fire with screens placed around it to keep out the draughts. An extra jug was kept alongside to top up the water as it cooled.