Thomas Crapper was a plumber who founded Thomas Crapper & Co in London. Contrary to widespread
misconceptions, Crapper did not invent the flush toilet. He did, however, do much to
increase the popularity of the toilet, and developed some important related inventions,
such as the ballcock. He was noted for the quality of his products and received several
royal warrants. Manhole covers with Crapper's company's name
on them in Westminster Abbey are now one of London's minor tourist attractions. Thomas
Crapper & Co owned the world's first bath, toilet and sink showroom, in King's Road until
1966. The firm's lavatorial equipment was manufactured at premises in nearby Marlborough
Road.
Company
Crapper was born in Thorne, Yorkshire, in 1836; the exact date is unknown, but he was
baptised on 28 September 1836. His father, Charles, was a sailor. In 1853 he was apprenticed
to his brother George, who was a master plumber in Chelsea. After his apprenticeship and three
years as a journeyman plumber, in 1861 Crapper set himself up as a sanitary engineer, with
his own brass foundry and workshops in nearby Marlborough Road.
The flushing toilet was invented by John Harrington in 1596. Joseph Bramah of Yorkshire patented
the first practical water closet in England in 1778. George Jennings in 1852 also took
out a patent for the flush-out toilet. In a time when bathroom fixtures were barely
spoken of, Crapper heavily promoted sanitary plumbing and pioneered the concept of the
bathroom fittings showroom.
In the 1880s, Prince Edward purchased his country seat of Sandringham House in Norfolk
and asked Thomas Crapper & Co. to supply the plumbing, including thirty lavatories with
cedarwood seats and enclosures, thus giving Crapper his first Royal Warrant. The firm
received further warrants from Edward as king and from George V both as Prince of Wales
and as king. In 1904, Crapper retired, passing the firm
to his nephew George and his business partner Robert Marr Wharam. Crapper lived at 12 Thornsett
Road, Anerley, for the last six years of his life and died on 27 January 1910. He was buried
in the nearby Elmers End Cemetery. In 1966 the company was sold by then owner
Robert G. Wharam on his retirement, to their rivals John Bolding & Sons. Bolding went into
liquidation in 1969. The company fell out of use until it was acquired by Simon Kirby,
a historian and collector of antique bathroom fittings, who relaunched the company in Stratford-upon-Avon,
producing authentic reproductions of Crapper's original Victorian bathroom fittings.
Siphonic flush toilet
Crapper held nine patents, three of them for water closet improvements such as the floating
ballcock, but none was for the flush toilet itself. Thomas Crapper's advertisements implied
the siphonic flush was his invention; one having the text "Crapper's Valveless Water
Waste Preventer One movable part only", but patent 4990 was not his, but that of Albert
Giblin in 1898. Crapper's nephew, George, did improve the siphon mechanism by which
the water flow is started. A patent for this development was awarded in 1898.
Origin of the word "crap" It has often been claimed in popular culture
that the slang term for human bodily waste, crap, originated with Thomas Crapper because
of his association with lavatories. The most common version of this story is that American
servicemen stationed in England during World War I saw his name on cisterns and used it
as army slang, i.e. "I'm going to the crapper". The word crap is actually of Middle English
origin; and predates its application to bodily waste. Its most likely etymological origin
is a combination of two older words, the Dutch krappen: to pluck off, cut off, or separate;
and the Old French crappe: siftings, waste or rejected matter. In English, it was used
to refer to chaff, and also to weeds, or other rubbish. Its first application to bodily waste,
according to the Oxford English Dictionary, appeared in 1846 under a reference to a crapping
ken, or a privy, where ken means a house. References
Further reading
External links Thomas Crapper at Snopes.com
Thomas Crapper & Co. Ltd. - the plumbing company founded by Thomas Crapper