Short History Update

A short history of the toilet The word loo originates from a Today French expression “Gardez l’eau!” So it’s only in the past Roman Medieval which means “Watch out for the century and a half that the water water!” People used to empty their closet (WC) or toilet has graced Going to the toilet in private has only been In medieval England in the country, the general rule was that ordinary homes in the UK. And that you would go “a bow’s length” from your home to go to the chamber pots out of bedroom we’ve understood the importance of part of British culture for the last 150 years. windows into the streets so you toilet in a bush or field. That means, as far as you could shoot hand-washing to prevent disease. an arrow away, that was your spot. had to keep an eye out when you were walking below. Sadly in many parts of the world they still don't have a toilet, which is vital for health and well-being. A third of Inform the palace of the royal the world’s population is still at risk bowels being evacuated! from disease because they don’t have a safe or sanitary place to go to the toilet. In cities people used cesspits which were emptied by gong farmers. Toilet Twinning A gong farmer was a very The Big Stink By spreading the loove of smelly man who owned a In the 1850s parliament had loos, you can help people horse, a cart and a shovel. to shut down in the summer without a loo, get training He would empty out the because of the smell from the and help to create a safe “Watch out for the water!” cesspits for a small fee. poo in the River Thames. This place to go to the toilet. delightful episode was called The Big Stink. In Roman0 times the 1348 1600 1775 1850 1861 TODAY toilets were communal Alexander Cumming 100BC with places for up to 30 120 500 Legend has it that Sir1500 John Harington created a If anyone can lay claim to the title of being people at a time. To wipe flush toilet for his godmother Queen Elizabeth I father of the modern-day toilet, it is they used a sponge on a but she was too embarrassed to use it for fear that Alexander Cumming, a watchmaker in stick. (No toilet paper the roar of the rushing water would “inform the Bond Street, who was granted the first back then.) palace of the royal bowels being evacuated”. patent for a flush toilet in 1775. 100BC 0 500 1348 1500 1600 1775 1850 1861 1880 TODAY The lack of hygiene really got serious when the Black Death took hold of the population and spread like wildfire. 1861 is one of the most significant years in the history of the toilet. Louis Between 1348 and 1350 it killed nearly Pasteur published his Germ Theory which said that germs caused disease. one third of the whole population of He encouraged surgeons to wash their hands before operating on people. England. The disease was spread by the fleas on rats, which thrived in the filthy, When Prince Albert died in 1861, apparently of typhoid, a grief-stricken poo- and wee-ridden streets. Queen Victoria demanded that piped water and sewage treatment Remember, be installed throughout Britain. A decade later, her son Prince Edward loos save came close to dying of the same disease, and word about the need for flush toilets went out across the land. From Britain, it spread to France, lives. Some light started to dawn and then the rest of Europe and the world. about the connection between unsanitary conditions and disease when the people discovered washing their hands in warm water with wine or Thomas Crapper vinegar seemed to increase He did not invent the flush toilet. their chances of survival. He did, however, do much to Meanwhile, the Crusaders Every minute, a child under increase the popularity of the returned to Europe from the Far toilet, and developed some five dies because of dirty East with a strange new water and poor sanitation important related inventions, substance called soap. such as the ballcock.

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