45 Hours - Rotherham
Rotherham (45 hours) – 31 December 1931 to 1 January 1932
Corporation Baths
Charles L. des Forges, Rotherham’s Town Clerk of the Peace, wrote to Mercedes on 26 November 1931 to confirm that his Corporation had agreed to provide the necessary facilities for an endurance swim at the usual terms of 50 per cent of the gross receipts from the sale of tickets, plus five pounds to cover travel expenses. Admission charges were eventually advertised at sixpence for adults and one penny for children, rising on the final day to one shilling for adults and sixpence for children.
Councillor W. Brooke JP, a former Mayor of Rotherham, hosted Mercedes and her husband during their stay in the city.
The Borough of Rotherham was known for its coal mining heritage, and Mercedes’s strong empathy with poor people on low wages and suffering exploitation, prompted her to ask Thomas W. Paine, the General Manager of the Public Baths, if she could visit a mine. Mr Paine contacted the local Pit Manager and arranged a tour of the local coalface while she was there.
The endurance swim took place at the Rotherham Corporation Baths, and both the Sheffield Independent and Rotherham Advertiser
covered the event.
Mercedes entered the water at midnight on Wednesday, swam through Thursday 31 December, and finished the swim at 9.00 p.m. on Friday 1 January – this being the third occasion on which she had swum the New Year in. The water temperature varied between 81oF and 87oF, and she maintained an average of 28–30 strokes per minute. It was estimated that she had swum 75,600 strokes over the two days.
She entered the water in the presence of the Mayor, Alderman G.E. Caine JP, Councillor A. Buxton (Chairman of the Markets and Baths Committee), Mr T.W. Paine (the Baths Manager) and four members of the Rotherham Amateur Swimming Association: Mr M.H. Woollen (Hon.Sec), Mr W.E. Laughton (Hon. Treasurer), Mr J.W. Fellows, and Mr E. Hancock.
Mrs Ivy Gill, who successfully swam the English Channel a few days after Mercedes in 1927, was also on poolside. She had travelled from her home in Sheffield to lend her support, and was a welcome addition to the team.
Photograph from the collection of Dr Ian Gordon. Any forthcoming information about the photographer will be included in future reprints.
Entertainment was provided right from the early stages by a local brass band and vocalists, as well as by community singing – which on the second evening was organised and conducted by Mr E. Sissons. In between live entertainment a radio gramophone played waltz music, and she swam breaststroke in rhythm with the Valse des Fleurs from the Nutcracker Suite.
Just before Mercedes left the water the Mayor addressed a message of congratulations to her. Other dignitaries present at the end of the swim were the Mayoress (Mrs Caine), the Deputy-Mayor (Councillor J. Dickinson JP), Aldermen S. Hall JP and E. Cruikshanks JP, Councillor A. Buxton, and most members of the Rotherham Corporation.
Mr Lawrence Steeples, the current Empire Billiards Champion was present as well as a large number of officials from the Rotherham Amateur Swimming Association. The Chief Constable, Mr E. Weatherhogg, accompanied by Councillor W. Brooke JP, had called in during the early part of the swim to watch her progress.
No fewer than five local doctors volunteered to be in attendance during the swim, and one of them – Dr L.F. Copping – reported that afterwards she was in fine condition, and that her pulse rate was even better than when she entered the pool on Wednesday morning.
The media reported remarkable scenes both inside and outside the public baths. Towards 5.00 p.m. on the second day, Councillor Buxton appealed to those spectators who had been there all day to leave, to make room for others. The baths were packed to the utmost capacity, and in Main Street and Market Street many thousands of people were gathered. Cheering was almost continuous during the last half hour of the swim, reaching a climax when three members of the Rotherham Corps of the St John Ambulance Brigade, led by Sergeant-Major E.W. Gillings, plunged in to lift her out. With this swim she successfully raised the British Endurance Swimming record to 45 hours.
The Mayor of Rotherham, Alderman Caine, commented that he had done a good deal in his time for the enfranchisement of women, but it now looked as though they were going to be on top!
(Photograph: Sheffield Independent)
Caption reads: The Mayor of Rotherham (Alderman F.G. Caine JP) presenting two bronze ornaments and the official log of the swim to Miss Mercedes Gleitze, who established a new world’s endurance record in Rotherham last week. The presentation took place at the Borough Council meeting on Wednesday.
Reproduced courtesy of the Rotherham Advertiser
(Note: The above caption incorrectly credits Mercedes with a new World Endurance Record, whereas it should have read a new British Endurance Record.)
