Past innovations and future challenges
Earliest toilets
SECOND MILLENNIUM BC
This rough-looking brick structure is a toilet in an Akkadian palace, built during the second millennium BC in Eshunna, Mesopotamia – an ancient region now mostly in Iraq – making it one of the earliest known sit-on loos.
Structures we’d also recognise as toilets were being built around the same time in Crete and the Indus Valley, among other places now in Pakistan – some with a kind of flushing system.
(Picture: Oriental Institute, University of Chicago, Diyala Archaeological Database. Creative Commons CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 Unported License)
This rough-looking brick structure is a toilet in an Akkadian palace, built during the second millennium BC in Eshunna, Mesopotamia – an ancient region now mostly in Iraq – making it one of the earliest known sit-on loos.
Structures we’d also recognise as toilets were being built around the same time in Crete and the Indus Valley, among other places now in Pakistan – some with a kind of flushing system.
(Picture: Oriental Institute, University of Chicago, Diyala Archaeological Database. Creative Commons CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 Unported License)
Roman toilets & sewers
SECOND CENTURY AD
Men chat as they sit on long wooden seats in the communal latrine at Housesteads Fort. This bastion in Northumberland, built on Hadrian’s Wall between AD 122 and 138, boasts the best-preserved Roman loos in Britain.
Over two millennia ago, the Romans developed sophisticated toilet and sewer systems – though some aspects might make us grimace a little today…
(Picture: Philip Corke © Historic England Archive)
Men chat as they sit on long wooden seats in the communal latrine at Housesteads Fort. This bastion in Northumberland, built on Hadrian’s Wall between AD 122 and 138, boasts the best-preserved Roman loos in Britain.
Over two millennia ago, the Romans developed sophisticated toilet and sewer systems – though some aspects might make us grimace a little today…
(Picture: Philip Corke © Historic England Archive)
Garderobes
MIDDLE AGES
Relieving yourself was a chilly business in the Tower of London, even for the royal residents of the White Tower, built by William the Conqueror in the late 11th century. Perch on the wooden seat and your backside would be open to the fresh air as you go.
(Picture: Trevor Huxham/licenced under CC by 2.0)
Relieving yourself was a chilly business in the Tower of London, even for the royal residents of the White Tower, built by William the Conqueror in the late 11th century. Perch on the wooden seat and your backside would be open to the fresh air as you go.
(Picture: Trevor Huxham/licenced under CC by 2.0)
Chamber pots
ANCIENT TIMES TO 20TH CENTURY
This bourdaloue of c1776, with its beautiful blue oriental-style design, is a type of chamber pot – one designed specifically for women – that was popular in the 18th century. Women urinated into it under their skirts.
Chamber pots of various styles have been used since ancient times. Similar vessels discovered in Egypt date from the New Kingdom (16th–11th centuries BC).
(Picture: Bourdaloue by Spode Pottery & Porcelain Factory, c1776. Dunham Massey © National Trust/Robert Thrift)
This bourdaloue of c1776, with its beautiful blue oriental-style design, is a type of chamber pot – one designed specifically for women – that was popular in the 18th century. Women urinated into it under their skirts.
Chamber pots of various styles have been used since ancient times. Similar vessels discovered in Egypt date from the New Kingdom (16th–11th centuries BC).
(Picture: Bourdaloue by Spode Pottery & Porcelain Factory, c1776. Dunham Massey © National Trust/Robert Thrift)
Medieval privies & latrines
MIDDLE AGES
This tired-looking plank of wood is actually a nine-century-old oak toilet seat with three holes, discovered during excavations in London in the 1980s. It was found in damp earth above a cesspit near where the River Fleet, now culverted underground, flows into the Thames.
In the Middle Ages, waste from toilets generally fell into such pits or, in some cases, directly into rivers.
(Picture: © Museum of London)
This tired-looking plank of wood is actually a nine-century-old oak toilet seat with three holes, discovered during excavations in London in the 1980s. It was found in damp earth above a cesspit near where the River Fleet, now culverted underground, flows into the Thames.
In the Middle Ages, waste from toilets generally fell into such pits or, in some cases, directly into rivers.
(Picture: © Museum of London)
Nightmen & gongfermours
MIDDLE AGES TO 19TH CENTURY
This 18th-century brass plaque advertises the services of Nicholas Arendell, a ‘chimney sweeper & nightman’ – someone who emptied waste from privies and cesspits, carrying it to horse-drawn carts to transport it away.
This was an unpleasant but important job: if not emptied periodically, privies and pits could overflow, causing horrible smells and diseases.
(Picture: Heritage Image Partnership Ltd / Alamy)
This 18th-century brass plaque advertises the services of Nicholas Arendell, a ‘chimney sweeper & nightman’ – someone who emptied waste from privies and cesspits, carrying it to horse-drawn carts to transport it away.
This was an unpleasant but important job: if not emptied periodically, privies and pits could overflow, causing horrible smells and diseases.
(Picture: Heritage Image Partnership Ltd / Alamy)
Earliest flushing water closets
HARINGTON’S AJAX (c1596)
A 16th-century woodcut shows a man, afflicted by a devil, sitting on a new kind of toilet invented by Sir John Harington around 1596. The turning key on the seat to the man’s left will flush the pan beneath him with water from the fish-filled cistern behind.
Though versions of water-flushed closets may have existed previously, Harington’s was the earliest for which details survive.
(Picture: Granger/Bridgeman Images)
A 16th-century woodcut shows a man, afflicted by a devil, sitting on a new kind of toilet invented by Sir John Harington around 1596. The turning key on the seat to the man’s left will flush the pan beneath him with water from the fish-filled cistern behind.
Though versions of water-flushed closets may have existed previously, Harington’s was the earliest for which details survive.
(Picture: Granger/Bridgeman Images)
First water-traps
CUMMING’S WATER CLOSET (1775)
This simple yet innovative arrangement of pan and pipes was devised by Scottish watchmaker Alexander Cumming (c1732–1814). The valve that closed the bottom of the pan, and the S-shaped, water-filled bend in the soil pipe below that created an airtight seal, stopped nasty gases from reaching the user.
(Picture: Patent, courtesy of British Library)
This simple yet innovative arrangement of pan and pipes was devised by Scottish watchmaker Alexander Cumming (c1732–1814). The valve that closed the bottom of the pan, and the S-shaped, water-filled bend in the soil pipe below that created an airtight seal, stopped nasty gases from reaching the user.
(Picture: Patent, courtesy of British Library)
Hinged valves
BRAMAH’S WATER CLOSET (1778)
This iron contraption – the water closet patented in 1778 by cabinet-maker Joseph Bramah (1749–1814) – was a key step forward in the evolution of the flushing toilet. Instead of a sliding valve that emptied the pan, as in Cumming’s earlier design, Bramah’s was hinged.
(Picture: Hugh Sainsbury/Crossness Engines Trust)
This iron contraption – the water closet patented in 1778 by cabinet-maker Joseph Bramah (1749–1814) – was a key step forward in the evolution of the flushing toilet. Instead of a sliding valve that emptied the pan, as in Cumming’s earlier design, Bramah’s was hinged.
(Picture: Hugh Sainsbury/Crossness Engines Trust)
Cheap toilets for the working classes
19TH-20TH CENTURIES
This stoneware pan and trap – a Sirex, from c1910 – was a type of toilet known as a ‘soil-pan’, a cheap, simple style introduced from the early 19th century. As more urban areas became connected to piped water supplies, even outdoor privies could be fitted with water closets. But designs involving levers and valves were too expensive and considered too complex for working-class people.
(Picture: Hugh Sainsbury/Crossness Engines Trust)
This stoneware pan and trap – a Sirex, from c1910 – was a type of toilet known as a ‘soil-pan’, a cheap, simple style introduced from the early 19th century. As more urban areas became connected to piped water supplies, even outdoor privies could be fitted with water closets. But designs involving levers and valves were too expensive and considered too complex for working-class people.
(Picture: Hugh Sainsbury/Crossness Engines Trust)
Fighting water pollution
MID-19TH CENTURY
London’s main river is portrayed as an unkempt old man collecting filth in this cartoon published in Punch magazine in October 1848. By that time, the capital’s population had soared to around 2.5 million and produced a huge volume of waste, much of which ended up in the Thames. Water-borne diseases proliferated – and something had to be done.
(Picture: Private
Collection/Look and Learn/Peter Jackson Collection/Bridgeman Images)
London’s main river is portrayed as an unkempt old man collecting filth in this cartoon published in Punch magazine in October 1848. By that time, the capital’s population had soared to around 2.5 million and produced a huge volume of waste, much of which ended up in the Thames. Water-borne diseases proliferated – and something had to be done.
(Picture: Private
Collection/Look and Learn/Peter Jackson Collection/Bridgeman Images)
Pay-as-you-go toilets
19TH CENTURY
A handy little sign advertises the 1d (one old penny) cost of using a public toilet – hence the concept of ‘spending a penny’. The origins of this phrase are found in the Great Exhibition of 1851, at which pioneering sanitary engineer George Jennings offered to install public flushing water closets in refreshment rooms at the exhibition – with a small charge for each use.
(Picture: Hugh Sainsbury/Crossness Engines Trust)
A handy little sign advertises the 1d (one old penny) cost of using a public toilet – hence the concept of ‘spending a penny’. The origins of this phrase are found in the Great Exhibition of 1851, at which pioneering sanitary engineer George Jennings offered to install public flushing water closets in refreshment rooms at the exhibition – with a small charge for each use.
(Picture: Hugh Sainsbury/Crossness Engines Trust)
Wash-out water closets
MID-19TH CENTURY
In 1852, the year after the success of his ‘spend a penny’ toilets at the Great Exhibition, George Jennings patented his new ‘monkey closet’. This simple, robust style, effective at blocking smells and easily cleaned, was the forerunner of what became known as the wash-out closet.
(Picture: Courtesy of Simon Kirby/George Jennings Ltd)
In 1852, the year after the success of his ‘spend a penny’ toilets at the Great Exhibition, George Jennings patented his new ‘monkey closet’. This simple, robust style, effective at blocking smells and easily cleaned, was the forerunner of what became known as the wash-out closet.
(Picture: Courtesy of Simon Kirby/George Jennings Ltd)
Toilet paper
ANCIENT TIMES TILL TODAY
Scraps of newspaper, hanging from a hook in a privy, were used by many people in Britain and the US to clean their behinds in the first half of the 19th century. In 1857, though, American entrepreneur Joseph Gayetty began selling what’s believed to be the first commercially produced toilet paper – and over the following decades, toilet paper became the preferred cleaning method for most users in many regions, particularly Europe and North America.
(Picture: Hugh Sainsbury/Crossness Engines Trust)
Scraps of newspaper, hanging from a hook in a privy, were used by many people in Britain and the US to clean their behinds in the first half of the 19th century. In 1857, though, American entrepreneur Joseph Gayetty began selling what’s believed to be the first commercially produced toilet paper – and over the following decades, toilet paper became the preferred cleaning method for most users in many regions, particularly Europe and North America.
(Picture: Hugh Sainsbury/Crossness Engines Trust)
Transforming London’s sewers
1858–1875
This cartoon, showing a filthy Father Thames presenting diseases (his ‘offspring’) to London, was printed in the magazine Punch in July 1858 – the summer of the infamous ‘Great Stink’, when the river emitted a stench that enveloped the capital. Having prevaricated for years, Parliament finally acted to address the problem of human waste.
(Picture: Bridgeman Images)
This cartoon, showing a filthy Father Thames presenting diseases (his ‘offspring’) to London, was printed in the magazine Punch in July 1858 – the summer of the infamous ‘Great Stink’, when the river emitted a stench that enveloped the capital. Having prevaricated for years, Parliament finally acted to address the problem of human waste.
(Picture: Bridgeman Images)
Earth closets
LATE 19TH CENTURY
This basic seat-and-pail set-up is a version of the earth closet patented in 1860 by Reverend Henry Moule. The premise was simple: waste dropped through a seat hole into a bucket or trough to which soil was added from the hopper behind, to cover the smell and promote composting. It provided a dry solution to replace cesspits in areas without sewer connections.
(Picture: Musphot, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons)
This basic seat-and-pail set-up is a version of the earth closet patented in 1860 by Reverend Henry Moule. The premise was simple: waste dropped through a seat hole into a bucket or trough to which soil was added from the hopper behind, to cover the smell and promote composting. It provided a dry solution to replace cesspits in areas without sewer connections.
(Picture: Musphot, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons)
Ash closets
LATE 19TH CENTURY
This Victorian-era urban privy consists of a seat with its hole over an iron pail contained in a wooden box. Such rudimentary loos formed part of an effective system implemented from the 1860s and 1870s by authorities in many working-class areas where water closets weren’t suitable.
(Picture: Lee Hudson/Alamy)
This Victorian-era urban privy consists of a seat with its hole over an iron pail contained in a wooden box. Such rudimentary loos formed part of an effective system implemented from the 1860s and 1870s by authorities in many working-class areas where water closets weren’t suitable.
(Picture: Lee Hudson/Alamy)
Reducing water waste
LATE 19TH CENTURY
An advert for Thomas Crapper’s toilet cistern promises ‘silent action’, a ‘certain flush’ and a ‘powerful discharge’. Importantly, this cistern limited the volume of water discharged with each flush to two gallons (nine litres) in the smaller model – the maximum set by the Metropolitan Water Act 1871.
(Picture: Granger Historical Picture Archive/Alamy)
An advert for Thomas Crapper’s toilet cistern promises ‘silent action’, a ‘certain flush’ and a ‘powerful discharge’. Importantly, this cistern limited the volume of water discharged with each flush to two gallons (nine litres) in the smaller model – the maximum set by the Metropolitan Water Act 1871.
(Picture: Granger Historical Picture Archive/Alamy)
Locks for privacy & security
LATE 19TH CENTURY
This lock, incorporating a rotating disk indicating whether a toilet is vacant or engaged, was patented by Arthur Ashwell c1882. He was reputedly inspired, during a train journey through southeast London, to devise a solution for a potentially embarrassing problem: how to establish whether a toilet is occupied before trying the handle. His brainwave has saved countless red faces in the years since.
(Picture: Hugh Sainsbury/Crossness Engines Trust)
This lock, incorporating a rotating disk indicating whether a toilet is vacant or engaged, was patented by Arthur Ashwell c1882. He was reputedly inspired, during a train journey through southeast London, to devise a solution for a potentially embarrassing problem: how to establish whether a toilet is occupied before trying the handle. His brainwave has saved countless red faces in the years since.
(Picture: Hugh Sainsbury/Crossness Engines Trust)
Stand-alone pedestal toilets
1880s
Twyford’s Unitas wash-out closet, launched in c1883 was possibly the first all-in-one ceramic pedestal toilet; this highly decorative model was produced in 1888. Pan and trap were moulded in one piece, with an integrated flush spreader at the back, and stood alone rather than being housed in a wooden cabinet – the toilet as a work of art!
(Picture: © Lucinda Lambton/Bridgeman Images)
Twyford’s Unitas wash-out closet, launched in c1883 was possibly the first all-in-one ceramic pedestal toilet; this highly decorative model was produced in 1888. Pan and trap were moulded in one piece, with an integrated flush spreader at the back, and stood alone rather than being housed in a wooden cabinet – the toilet as a work of art!
(Picture: © Lucinda Lambton/Bridgeman Images)
Wash-down closets
1880s
Externally, the Twyford Deluge, produced in 1889, looks not dissimilar from the same manufacturer’s Unitas, introduced just a few years earlier. Inside the pan, though, there are fundamental differences: rather than a shallow tray to hold the waste, which is then flushed down into a separate water trap below the basin, in this ‘wash-down’ style closet the trap sits at the bottom of the pan.
(Picture: Hugh Sainsbury/Crossness Engines Trust)
Externally, the Twyford Deluge, produced in 1889, looks not dissimilar from the same manufacturer’s Unitas, introduced just a few years earlier. Inside the pan, though, there are fundamental differences: rather than a shallow tray to hold the waste, which is then flushed down into a separate water trap below the basin, in this ‘wash-down’ style closet the trap sits at the bottom of the pan.
(Picture: Hugh Sainsbury/Crossness Engines Trust)
Automatic flushing toilets
1887
This curious-looking toilet – a fluted brown pedestal topped with a seat – is a 'tipper closet', a type installed in towns mainly in northern England, particularly Lancashire and Yorkshire, at the end of the 19th and early 20th century. Waste water (slops, now usually called ‘grey water’) drained from kitchen or scullery sinks into a tilting tank which, when full, automatically flushed the basin beneath the seat.
(Picture: Black Country Living Museum)
This curious-looking toilet – a fluted brown pedestal topped with a seat – is a 'tipper closet', a type installed in towns mainly in northern England, particularly Lancashire and Yorkshire, at the end of the 19th and early 20th century. Waste water (slops, now usually called ‘grey water’) drained from kitchen or scullery sinks into a tilting tank which, when full, automatically flushed the basin beneath the seat.
(Picture: Black Country Living Museum)
Siphonic flush
LATE 19TH CENTURY
This stately arrangement, which looked rather old-fashioned even when first launched, is the Closet of the Century – one of the first commercially produced siphon-flush toilets, designed by the company of pioneer George Jennings in 1894.
(Picture: Hugh Sainsbury/Crossness Engines Trust)
This stately arrangement, which looked rather old-fashioned even when first launched, is the Closet of the Century – one of the first commercially produced siphon-flush toilets, designed by the company of pioneer George Jennings in 1894.
(Picture: Hugh Sainsbury/Crossness Engines Trust)
Seat fittings
LATE 19TH CENTURY
This beautifully decorated pedestal water closet, Le Syphonic (1910), displays two small but important features of the modern toilet: holes in the ceramic pan for the attachment of a hinged seat. These holes had begun to be incorporated into designs by manufacturers including Shanks from at least 1895.
(Picture: Hugh Sainsbury/Crossness Engines Trust)
This beautifully decorated pedestal water closet, Le Syphonic (1910), displays two small but important features of the modern toilet: holes in the ceramic pan for the attachment of a hinged seat. These holes had begun to be incorporated into designs by manufacturers including Shanks from at least 1895.
(Picture: Hugh Sainsbury/Crossness Engines Trust)