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‘wordy battles’ were fought
through the pages of the local
press. Some mocked that
Emms had bought a white
elephant, so on the day the
bathing station opened he
organised a parade through
town led by a band – and an
elephant. There is an Emms
Passage in Kingston, possibly
named after him.
The new bathing place was
known as Boats and Cars,
explains June Sampson, ‘the