Covering a time of great social and technological change, this history traces the development of the four classic aquatic disciplines of competitive swimming, diving, synchronized swimming and water polo, with its main focus on racing. Working from the beginnings of municipal recreational swimming, the book fully explores the links between swimming and other aspects of English life society including class, education, gender, municipal governance, sexuality and the Victorian invention of the sports amateur-professional divide.
Uniquely focused on swimming -often neglected in analytic sports histories- this is the first study of its kind and will be an important landmark in the establishment of swimming history as a topic of scholarly investigation.
This book was previously published as a special issue of the International Journal of the History of Sport.International Journal of the History of Sport.
Rev. Christopher Love was born in Cardiff, Wales in 1618. He was converted at the age of 15 and attended New Inn Hall, Oxford, against the wishes of his father, but supported by his minister and mother. While at Oxford, Love was tutored by Dr. Christopher Rogers, a man with Strong Puritan leanings.
Love pastored in London after several short stops along the way. Before he assumed the pastorate of St. Lawrence Jewry in London, Love catechized and taught theology to the children of the sheriff of London. He married Mary Stone, the daughter of a London merchant, whom he met while they were both employed by Sheriff Warner. They had five children, two girls who died early in life, and three boys, the last who was born a week after Love's death. Love, a Presbyterian, obtained ordination in the Church of England after much difficulty. He would have had it easily in Scotland, but not without leaving England to live in Scotland, which he was loathe to do.
Because of his political leanings and involvements, he was arrested by Oliver Cromwell's forces for his alleged involvement with a plan to raise money for the restoration of the monarchy, a charge Love denied. He was arrested along with six other prominent ministers in London (all Presbyterians, the venerable Thomas Watson being the most noted), for treason. The rest were released after six months; Love was beheaded on Tower Hill, London on August 22, 1651.
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