Thursday 21 January 2010

The Advancement of Civilisation

In 1836, in the County of Yorkshire, was born a man by the name of Thomas Crapper.

At the age of fourteen he was apprenticed as a plumber to a firm in London.

Having learnt his craft, he set up a company in Robert Street, Chelsea, to provide and install, bathroom fittings.

Whilst Thomas did not invent the flushing toilet, this accolade went to a chap called John Harrington, in 1596, he did however gain notoriety in the World of toilets!

Chelsea, fashionable then as now, provided him with customers for his stylish lavatories.

His major breakthrough came in the 1880's when the Prince of Wales, commissioned him to install plumbing and thirty lavatories at Sandringham, in Norfolk. Now the Queens private residence in England.

For this he was rewarded with the first of a number of Royal Warrants.

' Toilets By Appointment to Her Majesty!'.

Thomas Crapper remains part of English folklore, relating to toilet humour and thus he will be forever remembered when we wish to go for a crap!

So the next time you visit the Throne Room, spare a thought for Thomas, he created for us a place of peace and tranquillity!

4 comments:

  1. Yes, I see. The advancement of civilization is a pile of crap! Hmm.

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  2. OK, I admit, you made me smile.

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  3. Well, that's a huge advancement indeed. Our world is unimaginable without Toilets... lol
    Have a good day!:)

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  4. Having spent much time in the Aussie bush where the traditional long drop dunny is still sometimes in vogue(try Googling dunny), I would agree that Mr Crapper's refinements are a definite advance in civilisation.

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