The Victorian-style terraced houses where my mother grew up were state of the art at the time with flush lavatories, but many working class families in older properties lacked such modern conveniences. My mother wrote that one of her grandmothers lived in little more than a hovel and used an outdoor privy as a lavatory. I wanted to know what this involved and much of what I found out is due to discussions with Bill Hogg, Anne Davey (born Anne Cole) and Phyllis Durbidge (born Phyllis Money) who were familiar with such privies as children.
All privies were down an outside path somewhere to keep the smell away from living quarters, and they were used in all weathers, rain or shine. However chamber pots were used inside the house, particularly during the nights.
Privy at the Tottenham Tile Kilns. Photo taken in 1897, around the time when the kilns went out of business. Either the door opened inwards or it was off its hinges, leaving only a thin slat behind..
Some privies were in wooden huts and some were brick-built. The roofs sloped to let the rain drain off, and the doors had ventilation in them (above eye level) to keep the air as fresh as possible. The lavatory seat was made of wooden slats with a hole to sit over. Some families had two holes of different sizes to accommodate the children. Or there was just one large hole and a board behind to lean on, so that users could line themselves up with the hole. There was no flush.
There seem to have been various ways of disposing of the products of a visit.
The principle of one type of privy is shown in the diagram below. The area under the seat was open at the back and there was a sloping floor to let urine drain out behind. Presumably one person's urine helped to wash out the last person's faeces, although the occasional bucket of water probably helped. Behind the privy was a compost heap for any rubbish that would rot down. This 'enhanced' compost heap was said to be a great soil improver for the garden. If or when the privy got blocked up, there were contractors who would come to dig it out and empty it. This probably happened every few months.
The principle of the draining privy. The area under the seat was open at the back and there was a sloping base to let the results of a visit drain out behind.
In another type of privy, a bucket was placed under the hole(s) in the seat to receive the results of a visit. It was a specially made bucket which was wide at the top with an oval basin. This bucket was taken out at intervals of between a day and a week, and its contents either buried or put onto a compost heap. Alternatively the 'night soil man' could be engaged to come round by cart to do the emptying.
I am told from first hand recollections that certain poorer people in rural Ireland did not even have an outside privy. They just went outside and leant against a tree. It seems likely that this practice was widespread everywhere in labourer's families during the 1800s and earlier; it just did not and does not get reported. Pat Cryer.
The bucket was kept fresh by sprinkling the products of a visit with whatever was readily available and would serve the purpose. Ash was an effective common commodity at the time as open fires and cooking ranges were the only forms of heating. Sawdust was also used, as was plain garden soil. I wonder if a little water could have been put in before re-use, but no-one has confirmed this. Apparently some privies had a lever system which 'flushed' like modern lavatories, but with the ash or sawdust - but by all accounts they never really worked effectively. I am unsure whether the seat lifted for removal of the bucket or whether it was taken out through the back of the privy. If someone could please tell me, I will add a sketch.
If you have any information to add or perhaps a photograph, I would be very pleased to hear from you. Pat Cryer
Toilet paper, as in the lavatories of the Victorian-style terraces, was newspaper, cut into squares, pierced with a skewer and hung on the wall with string.
Mains drainage did not come to some rural areas until the 1950s or even after that.
This page is on outside lavatories, known as privies, which were common for working class households in the late 1800s and early 1900s.