During the mid-century years, and particularly after the coming
of the railway, Harrogate's prosperity went forward by leaps and
bounds. The social pattern of the gentry was to move at set times of
the year from their country seats to their town houses for the
London season. This started in May, with coming-out parties for
eligible daughters, and continued into June, the month for weddings
and Royal Ascot, then Wimbledon and finally Henley. Harrogate nicely
filled the gap before the "Glorious Twelfth" of August when Grouse
Shooting began on the moors and residence was again taken up in the
country to supervise the harvest, to shoot, and later to hunt.
Nineteenth century Victorian socialites needed the rest and the
purge which Harrogate could offer after such a round of indulgence.
Their annual arrival, in season, became known as "The
Harvest that never Failed."
There were other spas, of course, Cheltenham, Leamington, Bath,
Buxton and Matlock, but none had the variety of waters Harrogate
offered.
At Matlock in Derbyshire, the famous Doctor Smedley, taking a
leaf out of the European spas' book, had been developing Hydropathic
treatments in Smedley's Hydro with some success.
Doctor Richard Veale, of Cornish stock, had qualified at the age
of 21, after studies in Edinburgh and Paris. He had come to
Nidderdale for the traditional year's service with another doctor
and, taking a liking for the Yorkshire Dales, decided to settle in
Hampsthwaite, but to practice in Harrogate. Dr Veale became deeply
interested in hydropathic treatment and in the possibilities of
extending their range. He went to Smedley's Hydro in Matlock for
three months and came back convinced that a hydropathic
establishment in Harrogate would succeed and have a bright future.
The Swan Hotel was the obvious choice. Enlarged by its architect
proprietor on an almost adequate site, a further acre and a half
were leased from the Duchy of Lancaster for £50 a year to complete a
tidy symmetrical plot. This was more than adequate for the
200-bedroomed Hydro, planned with dining room for 300 patients,
quiet rooms, billiard room, ballroom, Winter Garden and pleasure
grounds. Coal fires in every bedroom with running hot and cold water
basins but bathing was to be only in the magnificent new suite of
medical baths approached by separate stairways from the bedroom
floors. There were wc's in plenty, most with extractor fans to
combat the sulphuretted hydrogen fumes associated with the cure.
The Medical Baths were under the strict supervision of qualified
bath attendants, masseurs, and the doctor himself. Behind were the
Turkish bath and rest cubicles; in front, side by side, the
gentlemen's medical bath and the ladies' baths, both complete with
Vichy douches, Berthol let and even electric shock baths, for the
new Harrogate Hydro was the first building in Harrogate to be lit by
electricity.
Power came from an enormous Cornish boiler, coke fired, burning
10 tons per week; this raised steam which in turn provided vast
reserves of hot water at roof level for the baths. Steam at 80 lbs
per square inch drove the steam engine, which generated the
electricity and also powered the laundry with a capacity of 1,000
articles per day. Harrogate had its own Gas Works, so coke was an
available byproduct in those days.
Dr Veale became The Hydro's first resident doctor. Any fears that
the intense concentration on visitor-patients might prove
unprofitable were soon at rest. The Hydro, under what in effect was
Dr. Veale's managing directorship was an instant success. The course
of treatments - a very strict and plain diet plus baths, exercise,
massage, and carefully controlled water drinking together with a
total absence of any temptations of the flesh - appealed strongly to
the Victorians' masochistic instincts and what is more to the point,
the treatments worked and became immensely popular.
The Hydro, owing to the allegiance of the clientele, continued to
be known during its 70 years of prohibition as the 'Swan
Hydro'. It was the first of Harrogate's hydropathic establishments;
for success soon brought a number of imitations, but it remained the
most highly thought of, because in choosing the Swan Hotel for this
venture, Dr. Veale had rightly put his faith on the hotel's most
valuable and personal asset - the affection its guests had for it as
a family concern. The strict regime of the Hydro which included
early to bed and early to rise, morning prayers, and no alcohol, was
not maintained unfeelingly. Dr Veale was the father figure who made
his patients feel at home whilst involved in rigorous treatment
provided for their well being.
It is curious how great influences of the past seem to reflect on
into the regimes that follow, for as we shall see, the inheritance
after two world wars still imbues the present day management with a
fatherlike approach in providing for the needs of the visitors and
with the job satisfaction of the resident staff; though the
qualification may have changed from medical authoritarianism to
culinary persuasion in the process.
