Spend a penny in the first public flushing toilets

Spend a penny in the first public flushing toilets

On the 1st May 1851, the Great Exhibition took place in Hyde Park, London.
The refreshment rooms featured public conveniences, for which a small charge of a penny, was made.

By the time the exhibition closed over 800,000 visitors had paid more than £2,000 for use of the facilities.

So was born the concept of ‘spending a penny’ to use the loo.

For centuries the streets of England’s towns and cities had been fouled by human waste.
In 1858 George Jennings who had supplied the ‘sanitary appliances’ to the Great Exhibition, wrote to the Commissioners of Sewers, offering to set up public toilets in the City of London.

These were known as ‘Monkey Closets’
By the late Victorian era many local authorities were providing public conveniences.

It was routine to find toilets in workplaces, railway stations, parks, shops, pubs, restaurants and an array of other places.

Many public lavatories were built beneath urban streets or public buildings.
These subterranean lavatories took up minimal space on busy streets and station concourses.

They also helped to hide ‘objectionable contrivances’ from the view of sensitive Victorians.

Mr. Thomas Crapper developed some improvements to Jennings’ initial flushing mechanism, which promised “a certain flush with every pull”.

These improvements did a lot to increase the popularity of the public toilet.

Crapper also developed some other important toilet – related inventions, such as the ballcock.

He is often mistakenly credited with inventing the flush toilet, but he merely improved its functionality….and yes, his name really was Crapper 👀

The vast majority of the early facilities only served men.
After ‘spending his penny’, the Victorian Gentleman could also get a hot shave, a haircut, or even his shoes shined.

Victorian society believed ‘modest’ women would not wish to be seen entering a public convenience.
The lack of provision for women meant that they were often forced to stay close to home.

It wasn’t until 1889, a grand municipal women’s convenience opened at Piccadilly Circus, in the heart of London’s West End shopping district.

Anyone caught short in modern times, will know that public lavatories are no longer as convenient as they once were.

Many have gone altogether, whilst others are frustratingly padlocked awaiting sale or demolition by local authorities.

While you can’t just stop in for a quick pee anymore, some of the former public potties are still up and running, just in different forms.

Many have changed into Bars & Cafe’s, and still retain all the original ‘charms’ of a public convenience, even using the original urinals as seating