It’s a subject I’ve not written much about, but was part of everyday life. Just how did our Victorian ancestors in Blantyre go to the toilet?!
As you can imagine, separation of toilet facilities was often kept outdoors, either in common privvys in separate blocks outwith homes or at the back end of a house or garden, away from living areas.
Prior to water supplies being run into Blantyre, almost all toilets were ‘dry’ toilets, i.e no flush. No flush toilets have a long history used in antiquity. But unpleasant odours were a big problem at the time and this was only lessened by the arrival of water closets and flushing mechanisms.
Many houses directed their secretions directly into rivers or ditches and this was continuing even into the 1890’s in Blantyre. Where this was not possible, sinkers and coolers were used in the middle of the 18th century. Here, the dirty or faecal water was passed into supposedly waterproof cesspools that were made of wood or masonry. However, these cesspools were not as watertight as everyone thought and they were only rarely emptied. As a result, there was groundwater contamination and the spread of epidemics.
In efforts to prevent or mitigate intrusion into the ground, the cesspools were more conveniently bricked or cemented and regularly emptied – first by hand, with buckets and also carts. These were mixed with coal ash, kitchen waste, rubbish or soil – processed into compost or used to fertilize the fields and taken to areas away from the population. A whole industry around this necessary disposal was thriving.
In the middle of the 19th century, Victorian citizens wanted to finally master the evil odours and in an era of improvement, throughout the nation, with the arrival of sanitation acts, larger more competent sewers were built, usually underground. Sanitation was on the minds of every Parish Council, including Blantyre.
When reliable water supplies were first run into Blantyre in the early 1880s, it offered the opportunity for new house builders to incorporate flushing water closets into their builds, not only as a desirable modern convenience, but it helped flush away arisings down sewers and primarily had the purpose of preventing odours into homes and the area in general.
By 1890s, with an explosion in population in Blantyre and many new homes being built, the inclusion of flushing water closets became a standard and a drive to remove as many of the old dry closets as possible (pictured) was apparent.
With the arrival of another hot summer in 1895, the Country Council authorities had enough and issued an order that ALL dry closets were to be done away with and water closets substituted with as many connections to permanent sewers made as possible. The situation however was expensive for many landlords, their tenants looking to them for the improvements to be made. A focus by authorities was first on toilets within homes, rather than outbuildings.
In October 1895, a few weeks after this order had been given by the Council, it was evident that there were difficulties arising with conversion of toilets. The Hamilton Herald newspaper reported that in High Blantyre several proprietors had been put to great expense in carrying out the provisions of the order and a roaring trade was being done for plumbers, some of whom had come into the area due to the abundance of work.
A dilemma was also manifesting affecting some ‘regular’ business. Certainly in High Blantyre, the farmers in surrounding areas used to take away this mucky refuse and manured their farm fields with it. (Yes you read that right!). A whole industry had thrived for many decades on that principal. Blantyre proprietors would be up to 1s per cart for their containers to be emptied and removed from their premises. Landlords, business owners and colliery owners of tied homes also paid similar rates to ensure their tenants had no need to complain, though the cost of this was shared and charged back with rents.
The problem was this. Now that sanitation laws were improved to prevent human waste spilling into the water table, it meant that spreading waste on most fields adjacent to population centres was no longer permitted. Those very farmers who relied previously upon a lucrative industry of disposal, suddenly found they would have to dispose of waste in dedicated cesspits or coups, none of which were free. Suddenly the farmers not only couldn’t put waste on their fields, but had to incur further cost to remove it. Almost overnight the farmers side business collapsed as they refused to empty the containers.
by Autumn 1895, Proprietors containers were overflowing and the question arising was ‘Should the County Council not provide free coups in safe areas away from population?” This was the eventual solution allowing farmers to start collections again, but I can’t help but wonder how many farmers continued to spread waste on their fields and crops, rather than taking it to County Coups!
Working in the modern industry of disposal of waste on a day to day basis as my own full time job, I personally find this topic fascinating, but perhaps from a perspective of how much technology, habits, intolerance have changed since then. Thank goodness for modern, world class infrastructure, treatment plants and methods, safety in this industry and efficient disposal equipment. With thanks to this industry, we hardly, if at all give this a thought when we click ‘flush’.
Not a pleasant subject, but an interesting one nonetheless.
