British Toilet Manufacturers Old and New Quiz

Answer: They were made in South Molton Lane

Located in London's Mayfair, John Bolding and sons began in South Molton Lane, then taking over the adjoining premises in Davies Street, which is now (in 2007) an antique market. After taking over Thomas Crapper in 1966 they themselves went broke in 1969, although the name was revived in 1998 and the new company are based in Stratford Upon Avon.

South Molton is a village in Devon which gave its name to the London street.

Answer: Shires

A very popular household suite for decades, the Shires Lynx was a standard no frills, but well made, model familiar to a few generations and still made. Shires are now a huge company, Qualceram Shires plc based in Ireland, and have taken over some great British names including Selecta and Trent.

Answer: Adamsez

Most men will be very familiar with the logo although women may have had to guess this one. Many school buildings were equipped with Adamsez urinals in the 50s and 60s, with the familiar logo. The 'Bean' model was one of the most well known. It took me a long time to find the meaning of the name, and was told by an employee that the company is owned by the Adams family, and its name was supposed to be a phonetic representation of "Adams's".

Although originally from Scotswood in Newcastle on Tyne, they are now based in Northern Ireland and still going strong.

Answer: Hanley

One of our first toilets at home was a Twyford, and I was very disappointed the first time I went to Twyford in Berkshire there were none to be seen, as they were made in the potteries in Hanley, part of Stoke on Trent, by Thomas Twyford. They originally made tableware but collaborated with Crapper to make toilets.

Answer: Cellulose McArd

The McArd family made early cellulose toilet seats so decided to name the company something that would immortalise their product, combining the cellulose with some of their own name. They were based in Yorkshire and began making toilet seats in the 1880s, and now part of Polypipe.

Answer: Crapper

Crapper have a lot of mythology around them as the name was so similar to the product, but all was a coincidence, and flushing toilets, as well as the word crap, had been around a long time before they made them in London. With a name like that it would have been a natural choice of profession.
Thomas Crapper moved to London from Yorkshire to start a plumbing company, and made many of the Victorian toilets until the company was taken over by John Bolding in 1966, only to go broke themselves in 1969. Ironically he lived the last 13 years of his life in a suburb of South London called Anerley, which if mispronounced also sounds fairly appropriate for his name. And he was born in a place called Waterside!

Despite the folklore, the syphon flush was actually invented by Sir John Harington in 1594, long before Crapper improved them. Although due to lack of interest only two were made for use, one for himself and one for Queen Elizabeth I at Richmond Palace. It was called 'The Ajax' meaning 'A jakes' or toilet.

Jeyes, Lever Brothers and Minton all made products seen in the toilet though, the first two for cleaning. Although Minton were also great potters they stuck to making tiles for them and no bowls I am aware of.

Answer: Twyford

It's their first names. The others are all Johns, but Twyford was a Thomas, like Thomas Crapper. It is quite strange that so many manufacturers were named John (Harington, Bolding, Howie) and Thomas (Crapper and Twyford) although the American 'John' is supposed to be named after John Harington. And we won't go into details of John Thomas here...

Answer: True

In Victorian times, only the rich could afford flush toilets. And after the success of Twyford's, the established local firms Wedgewood and Royal Doulton in the potteries area in and around Stoke on Trent were only too pleased to follow.

Answer: Sapphire

The Sapphire was made by the now little known company Pickup, from Horwich, Lancashire. All the others were made by Twyfords. Adamant was also a popular toilet well into the 20th century, but not connected to the similar sounding Adamsez or a separate company. Unitas was so widespread at the time that it became the Russian name for a toilet, Unitaz. Deluge was a very appropriate name for a flushing toilet, which were still a novelty at the time.

There were around 50 different Twyford toilet models of the era.

Answer: George Jennings

While all great innovators and manufacturers, it was Jennings (who used his middle name, his first being Josiah) who ventured the most into providing facilities for the public. Priding himself on designing toilets "as perfect a sanitary closet as can be made", George Jennings of Hampshire, who manufactured in London, was also responsible for the design of the underground fully tiled British public toilet. Accessible from a stairway usually on a pavement or traffic island, most have now been sold off as commercial premises, including a snooker hall on Shepherds Bush Green in London. He also introduced public toilets to over 30 countries.

Joseph Bramah, born Brammer but wanting to sound classier, was an innovative engineer both in the toilet and related area. He was one of the great lock manufacturers of his time as well, with the lock company surviving to the present day. So if anyone could sort out being locked in the lavatory he would have been the best equipped!