Information Sheet 70
GLADSTONE POTTERY MUSEUM INFORMATION 70
The Development of the Flushing Toilet
1596
Sir John Harington is usually credited with being the inventor of the first flushing water closet. He is known because he describes the toilet in his book “Metamorphosis of Ajax”, a pun on the word “jakes” which was a Tudor name for a privy. He built a flushing toilet for himself, and for his godmother Queen Elizabeth at Richmond Palace, neither survives. There is a replica built from his instructions in Gladstone Pottery Museum.
Harington’s toilet did not catch on. It was too complicated and expensive for a time when most people, including royalty used chamber pots or close stools.
1775
Alexander Cummings, a watchmaker took out the first patent for a water closet. It is described as an improvement, rather than invention. Many people were working on valve closets (which used a moving metal plate or valve to seal the toilet from the drains, rather than water which is used today) from the early 1700s. Cumming’s design was notable for its “S-trap feature” and used swirling water to clean the bowl.
1778
Joseph Bramah, a locksmith, took Cummings patent and improved it further to perfect a design, which was the standard for the next 100 years. It was very expensive, so was only used in wealthy households. Water Closets of this type were still being installed at the beginning of the 20th century. They were seen as the Rolls Royce of Water Closets as they were so expensive, but actually it wasn’t very effective or hygienic compared to other toilets available by then.
1827
John Doulton starts making ceramic pipes at Lambeth Pottery; his son Henry joins aged 15 in 1835.
1842
Publication of “General Report on the Sanitary Condition of the Labouring Population”, by Edwin Chadwick, this drew the country’s attention to the death and disease caused by poor sanitation.
1845
Henry Doulton builds a new Lambeth factory to make salt glazed stoneware pipes, he goes into mass pipe production influenced by Chadwick’s report. These pipes were glazed inside and out and had a special non-leaking joint.
1848 Cholera Year
14,000 dead in London, up to 70,000 throughout the nation.
1848 Public Heath Act
This was the first Public Health Act. It made it compulsory for every new or refurbished house to have a fixed sanitary arrangement – this could be a “water closet, privy, or ash pit, furnished with proper doors and coverings”
1849 Nuisances Removal Act
The Act gave local authorities greater powers to enforce better public hygiene.
1850 Thomas Twyford begins sanitaryware manufacture.
The Twyford family had been making pottery for centuries but with this impetus for sanitation and toilets, Thomas Twyford switched to making sanitaryware, the company growing to be Stoke-on-Trent’s (and therefore Britain’s) biggest manufacturer of toilets.
1851 Development of an improved Water Closet
George Jennings continued the development of the WC and his patent described a “wash-out” design of toilet bowl. In this year George Jennings also fitted out the world’s first flushing public toilets at the Great Exhibition, charging 1d per use. From which we get the phrase “to spend a penny”.
1858 “The Great Stink”
Sitting of Parliament is suspended due to foul smells from the Thames. Similar problems were found throughout the country, but this hit home at the people who governed the country and money was found to do something about it.
1859-1865 Building of the London Sewer System
Designed by engineer John Bazalgette, it was the most ambitious engineering project of Victorian times. Henry Doulton’s salt glazed ceramic pipes were used.
1861 Thomas Crapper sets up his plumbing business
Thomas Crapper, born in Yorkshire, sets up his plumbing business in Chelsea, London at just the right time to take advantage of the forthcoming boom in interest in public health and sewage. Although his name is well known it is for the wrong reasons! He didn’t invent the flushing toilet (he didn’t make toilets he bought them from Twyford in Stoke or Sharpe’s in Derbyshire); he didn’t invent the cistern; and the word crap doesn’t come from his name.
Thomas Crapper had an inventive mind and was a greater promoter of the cause of toilets and sanitation. The plumbing he supplied was printed with his name as the retailer, and the inventors and manufacturers are largely unknown.
1872 Metropolis Water Act
The Act required water saving measures to prevent the waste of water throughout the capital. Water Closets at this time were fed water using valves, which when opened let through as much water as the chain puller wanted. Many engineers worked on the idea of a “water waste preventer” which we call a cistern, - “pull and let go” a measured flush of water using a siphon inside the cistern. Again Thomas Crapper campaigned to get people to use these – buying them from him of course!
1875 Public Health Act
This act required that “Every local authority shall provide that all drains, water closets, earth closets, privies, ash pits, and cess pools within their district be constructed and kept so as not to be a nuisance or injurious to health”.
1875 First Wash-Out Closet
Daniel Bostel's “Excelsior” wash out appears, the beginning of modern toilets.
1883 “Unitas" – The first one piece ceramic pedestal clos 
Thomas W Twyford designed the first one-piece ceramic pedestal wash-out closet which was an improvement on previous designs which had joins. It was hygienic and cheap. It was free standing rather than surrounded by wood.
1884 First wash-down one ceramic pedestal water closet
The firm of Humpherson and Co is generally credited with introducing the wash-down closet with their “Beaufort” closet. This is a toilet as we would know it today. It was not a drastically new development which replaced the washout, the idea had been around for a while. Humpherson produced a compact, effective and cheap closet.
See also
Information Sheet 62 – Sir John Harington – The First Flushing Loo?
Information Sheet 63 – Thomas Crapper
Information Sheet 66 – Flushing Re-invented 18th century valve closets
Information Sheet 68 – Public Toilets
