Based on childhood recollections
of working class family life in north London in Edwardian times.
A basic china chamber pot photographed at the Museum of Nottingham Life.
A basic enamel chamber pot photographed at Milestones Museum in Basingstoke.
In the Victorian style terraces where I grew up in the early 1900s, we considered ourselves fortunate to have a built-in flush lavatory, even though it meant having to go outside into the back garden to get to it. Many people, my grandmother included, had to use a privy right at the end of the garden. So it is not surprising that chamber pots were a part of everyday life.
Unfortunately my mother's recollections do not say whose job it was to empty the family's chamber pots every morning or how the smell was kept down inside the house. I know that normal practice was to cover chamber pots with newspaper during the emptying process and that ordinary people at the time just accepted smells. Perhaps fresh newspaper was placed beside the washed chamber pots under the beds each morning. Or perhaps a large plate was used to cover each chamber pot. If so it is surprising that no examples seem to have survived as parts of the decorative toilet sets. If you can add any information, I would be pleased if you would contact me. Pat Cryer
Chamber pots were like babies' potties but larger and more substantial, as they were for adult use. They were made of china or enamel and could be quite decorative.
Chamber pots were normally kept under beds in bedrooms.
Decorative china chamber pot as part of an upmarket wash set: wash bowl, hot water jug, slop bowl, soap dish and shaving jug, photographed at Milestones Museum.
More about keeping clean in the early 1900s.
Commodes were (and are) essentially chamber pots built into chairs.
In Victorian and Edwardian times commodes must have been necessary for the older members of the family. My mother's grandmother, who ended up living with the family in the Victorian terraces was 92 when she died, and at that age would doubtless have wanted a 'lavatory' in the night. She could hardly have been expected to handle a chamber pot.
In Victorian and Edwardian England, 'family' commodes could be very attractive pieces of furniture, and it would have been quite difficult to tell that they were not ordinary chairs. They had removable padded cushion-style lids which not only improved appearances but must also have kept down the smell.
It is surprising that my mother never mentioned commodes, as they must have been a feature of all households with no indoor lavatory.
MORE ON VICTORIAN/ EDWARDIAN TERRACED HOUSING
............................
the housing estate
............................
room plans
............................
the front garden
............................
the parlour
............................
the kitchen
............................
the scullery
............................
the bedrooms
............................
the back yard & garden
............................
the flush lavatory
............................
computer models / reconstructions
............................
chamber pots
............................
sash windows
............................
washing facilities
............................
cooking & heating: the kitchen range
............................
hot water: the copper
............................
lighting: gas lamps
............................
mice
............................
rubbish disposal
............................
SEE ALSO:
............................
older properties
............................
1940s & 50s properties
............................