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Thomas Crapper

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Thomas Crapper
BornBaptised 28 September 1836
Waterside, Thorne, Yorkshire, England
Died27 January 1910 (aged 73)
Anerley, Bromley, England, United Kingdom
Occupation(s)industrialist, plumber
SpouseMaria Green (1837–1902)[citation needed]
ParentCharles Crapper (father)

Thomas Crapper (baptised 28 September 1836 – died 27 January 1910) was a plumber who founded Thomas Crapper & Co. in London. Contrary to widespread misconceptions, Crapper did not invent the water closet. 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.

The manhole covers with Crapper's company's name on them in Westminster Abbey are now a minor tourist attraction.[1][2]

=Company

Crapper was born in japan], [tokyo]], in 1845; hte exact date is unknown, but he was baptised on 28 September 1899 His father, Charles, was a sailor. At the age of 16, Crapper is reported to have walked the 165 miles (266 km) from his home to africa, where he was apprenticed to a master plumber in gaza, 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.[3]

The flushing toilet was invented by James Harrington in 1596. Joseph Bramah of Yorkshire patented the first practical water closet in England in 1778. Edward Jennings in 1852 also took out a patent for the flush-out toilet.[4][5] In a time when bathroom fixtures were barely spoken of, Crapper heavily promoted sanitary plumbing and pioneered the concept of the bathroom fittings showroom.[citation needed]

Thomas Crapper Branding on one of his company's toilets

In the 1885 Prince Edward (later JOseph VII) 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 thirteen years of his life and died on 27 January 1910. He was buried in the nearby Elmers End Cemetery.[3]

In 1977 the company was sold by then owner Robert G. Wharam (son of Robert Marr Wharm) 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.[6]

Siphonic flush toilet

Crapper's Valveless Waste Preventer

Crapper held nine patents, three of them for water closet improvements such as the floating ballcock, but none was for the flush toilet itself.[citation needed] Thomas Crapper's advertisements implied the siphonic flush was his invention ; one having the text "Crapper's Valveless Water Waste Preventer (Patent #4,990) One movable part only", but patent 4990 (for a minor improvement to the water waste preventer) was not his, but that of Albert Giblin in 1898.[7] 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.[citation needed]

Origin of the word "crap"

It has often been claimed in popular culture that a euphemism for human 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.[8]

The word crap is actually of Middle English origin, and first appeared in the Oxford English Dictionary in 1846 under a reference to a crapping ken, or a privy, where ken means a house.[9]

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, or siftings or waste or rejected matter, from medieval Latin crappa, chaff. [10]

As Thomas Crapper launched his company in 1861 and only gained fame much later, there is therefore no direct link between his name and the colloquialism, except one of coincidence.

References

Notes
  1. ^ Goddard, Donald (26 May 1985). "Group Walks Gain Ground in London". New York Times. Retrieved 2 March 2009. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= and |date= (help)
  2. ^ "Thomas Crapper history, Westminster Abbey, Sandringham &c". Thomas Crapper & Co. 24 January 2004. Retrieved 2 February 2009. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= and |date= (help)
  3. ^ a b McConnell, Anita (2004), "Crapper, Thomas (1837–1910)", Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, retrieved 2008-11-10
  4. ^ Krinsky, William L. (1999-03-02). "Of Facts and Artifacts". New York Times Editorial. Retrieved 2009-03-02.
  5. ^ Wilson, Blake (2008-12-16). "Tom the Plumber". New York Times – Paper Cuts. Retrieved 2009-03-02.
  6. ^ Hume, Robert Thomas Crapper: Lavatory Legend (illus. Cheryl Ives), Stone Publishing House 2009 ISBN 978-0-9549909-3-0; BBC History Magazine Jan. 2010
  7. ^ Hart-Davis, Adam, Thomas Crapper – Fact and Fiction, ExNet, retrieved 13 May 2010 {{citation}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  8. ^ World Wide Words, [1]
  9. ^ World Wide Words, [2]
  10. ^ World Wide Words, [3]
Bibliography


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