The queen of ’em, ‘Old Martha Gunn’

Martha Gunn, the most famous of Brighton’s dippers, died 210 years ago today. It’s impossible not to read about the town’s history without coming across Martha, and it’s clear that she was something of a celebrity, despite her relatively humble work. Today the so-called Queen of the Dippers can be found in many much-reproduced images, on postcards and in local histories, and she even features in popular rhymes. 

Martha Killick was born in Brighton in 1726. She married fisherman Stephen Gunn, and they had eight children, though only some survived into adulthood. She gained prominence during the town’s transformation into a fashionable seaside resort, as one of the most famous seawater dippers of her time, known for her robust physique, commanding presence, and no-nonsense attitude. Her work involved physically lifting clients - often wealthy or aristocratic visitors - into and out of the cold sea, using bathing machines. This demanding occupation required strength and confidence, qualities she seems to have possessed in abundance.

Gunn’s fame grew in part due to her association with the royal family, particularly the Prince of Wales (later George IV), who frequented Brighton and is said to have been on friendly terms with her. Gunn’s image appeared on various prints, satirical cartoons, and souvenirs, often showing her in a striped dress and bonnet, sometimes defending the prince or warding off critics of sea bathing. She remained a local celebrity throughout her life and is remembered as a symbol of Brighton’s early days as a health resort. She died in 1815 and was buried in St Nicholas’ Churchyard in Brighton, where her grave can still be seen today.

There’s more information about Martha Gunn at Wikipedia, in John Ackerson Erredge’s History of Brighthelmston (readily available online, at Project Gutenberg for example), and in John George Bishop’s ‘A peep into the past’: Brighton in the olden time, with a glance at the present (available at Internet Archive). Also, the Sussex PhotoHistory website (run by David Simkin) has good details and a selection of images.

Here’s a slightly saucy (but anonymous) rhyme about Martha (as quoted by Erredge).

There’s plenty of dippers and jokers,
And salt-water rigs for your fun;
The king of them all is diary ‘Old Smoaker,’
The queen of ’em, ‘Old Martha Gunn.’

The ladies walk out in the morn,
To taste of the salt-water breeze;
They ask if the water is warm,
Says Martha, ‘Yes, Ma’am, if you please.’

Then away to the machines they run,
’Tis surprising how soon they get stript;
I oft wish myself Martha Gunn,
Just to see the young ladies get dipt.

And Erredge also quotes this diary-like extract from The Morning Herald 28 August 1806: ‘The Beach this morning was thronged with ladies, all anxious to make interest for a dip. The machines, of course, were in very great request, though none could be run into the ocean in consequence of the heavy swell, but remained stationary at the water’s edge, from which Martha Gunn and her robust female assistants took their fair charges, closely enveloped in their partly coloured dresses, and gently held them to the breakers, which not quite so gently passed over them.’