Is This Film of Women in 'Scandalous' Swimsuits Really From 1898?

There's something about this film that strikes me as strange. According to the film archive company British Pathé, it shows beach bathers in England in 1898. Supposedly, people of the time were scandalized by their "wanton display of bare flesh." But I get the feeling that it's all a big joke. And a more recent one at that.