Flushing Your Troubles Away

Normally when the term "toilet" is used in a Georgian context the image of a lady sitting at a dressing table comes to mind.  Did you know, though, that the flushing toilet existed at the time?  It's difficult to picture when we know this was the time period when these were still popular.  But believe it or not, the likes of Thomas Jefferson were sitting upon this flushing water closet.

The flushing water closet is very English.  The first flushing toilet was made for Queen Elizabeth, who was delighted by the new, yet unreliable invention.  I suppose that means "throne" is a rather accurate nickname.  The model obviously didn't catch on, despite Liz's affection for it.  Next, a real Renaissance man, Alexander Cummings took the idea and improved upon it.  He installed a lever on the primitive toilet which you would slide aside and therefore create an exit for the unwanted waste.  New water would come in as the waste would hopefully move into the sewers.  Perhaps the smartest part about the invention was that Cummings got a patent for it in 1775.  It is always good to protect yourself!

Bramah's useful contraption

Three years later a clever locksmith/plumber by the name of Joseph Bramah was installing some of Cummings' patented invention and couldn't help but notice that the water in the toilet would freeze on especially cold days which didn't help anyone.  He replaced the sliding valve with a flap that sealed off the bottom of the bowl.  Now the toilet water wouldn't freeze and as an added bonus: those sewer smells stopped traveling up the pipes and into your house.  The description reminds me a bit of those frightening airplane bathrooms that we so enjoy while in mid-air. 

Of course the modern flush toilet as we know it wasn't to arrive until the following century.  Ironically, the inventor who is responsible for that was named Thomas Crapper.

A Stanky Subject

Fashion and wit may have been more of a priority than hygiene in the age of Enlightenment, with the subjects of Britain having a reputation for being...well, rather gross.  Casanova's sensibilities were shaken as he toured St James's Park and saw, "hinder parts of persons relieving nature in the bushes..." Casanova was rather shocked at the Bosh-like qualities of the metropolis and went on to say that people were even relieving themselves in the middles of the street rather than hiding themselves to do their business.  Visitors to the royal court would find much of the same behavior.  The French ambassador's wife was known to use the court chamber pots in view of everyone, "...at least ten times a day amongst a cloud of witnesses."  Yup, England had no shame.  The little shame that they did have could easily be covered up with powder and perhaps a few patches.

To add insult to injury, defecating in public was the least of England's hygiene problems.  Bathing tended to only include the washing of hands and the face.  Most everything else was neglected, resulting in course commentary about the sort of odors emitted from body parts.  As much as sex was enjoyed as a recreational activity, the appendages needed for the act didn't get much love from the bath tub.  Due to this transgression 18th-century lovers tended to avoid putting their mouth on anything they didn't have to, and clothing tended to stay on in the bedroom.  If that doesn't leave horrible enough images in your imagination, just ask John Wilkes who was especially harsh on poor Scottish girls,

"it is shocking how much of [the vagina] is neglected, especially in the Northern part of this Island.  The Face, the neck, the Hands, I owe are clean, but of a Whiteness which would rival Leda's lover.  All the rest, alas! is hid in mysterious Sluttishness."  

Wilkes was also known to famously say, "the nobler parts are never in this island washed by women; they are left to be lathered by men." This naturally leaves one to wonder how clean Mr. Wilkes' gentlemen-bits were.

In the last quarter of the century bath basins became slightly more widespread, at least in the homes of the more well-to-do.  Dr James Graham who would be dismissed as a quack (and was Scottish) for his work in the sexual field was a strong advocate of frequent bathing.  When childless couples came to him for help in the bedroom, a relaxing bath was usually part of the procedure.  Graham's novel advice seemed to catch on, for one of the prostitutes in Harris' List of Covent Garden Ladies's trademark was her hygiene which, "from a practical knowledge of its increase of pleasure, from motives of cleanliness, or as a certain preventative we will not pretend to say; but we know it makes her the more desirable bed-fellow."  Based on this evidence it is safe to say that there were prostitutes that were cleaner than heads of state, yikes!

Smiling Chamber Pots

We all know the 18th century was time that predated indoor plumbing.  That meant chamber pots, lots and lots of chamber pots.  These chamber pots can now be found housed in some of the greatest museums and private collections and range from the crude clay pottery used by the lower classes to the fanciest silver (brr!) used by the upper echelons of society.  But there are some chamber pots that stand out among the rest.

Pretend, for example, you are a guest in someone's house and nature calls.  You politely excuse yourself to make a dash for the chamber pot, shuffle your various layers and...