Sir John Harrington, inventor of the first flush toilet

© 2021 Christy K Robinson

Sir John Harrington, 1560-1612, was my 11th great-grandfather. He and his wife, Lady Mary Rogers, had around 20 children, if we're to believe genealogy records, but I'm not sure I trust them. There were numerous branches of the Harrington family across Great Britain, and lots of cousins with common names. His oldest child, Lucy Harrington, became Countess of Bedford. I descend from his son Robert. 

He was a man of learning (Eton College, and Bachelor's and Master's degrees at Cambridge University, plus legal training at Lincoln's Inn by the time he was 21). He was High Sheriff of Somerset in 1591; he was Commander-of-Horse with Robert Devereux, Earl of Essex in 1598; and was created Knight of the Bath in 1599. Sir John's poetry and pamphlets, though entertaining to the people of his time, seem mostly incomprehensible today because we don't understand the "inside" jokes. 

Despite those worthy accomplishments, the reason Sir John Harrington is remembered today is that he was the inventor of the water closet: the first flush toilet. 

"The first flush toilet or water-closet was invented by Sir John Harrington in 1596. He was the godson to Queen Elizabeth I of England. Harrington invented both a valve at the bottom of the water tank, and a wash-down system. However it was not widely adopted because there was no supply of running water to flush it.  -- ⁠https://madeupinbritain.uk/⁠Toilet

"There was a noble origin to the water closet in its earliest days. Sir John Harrington, godson to Queen Elizabeth I, set about making a "necessary" for his godmother and himself in 1596. A rather accomplished inventor, Harrington ended his career with this invention, for he was ridiculed by his peers for this absurd device. He never built another one, though he and his godmother both used theirs. 

⁠"Two hundred years passed before another tinker, Alexander Cummings, would reinvent Harrington’s water closet. Cumming’s invented the S-trap, a sliding valve between the bowl and the trap. It was the first of its kind."   

-- https://www.pmmag.com/articles/91499-the-men-that-made-the-water-closet​ 

 

From the book  Poop Happened!: A History of the World from the Bottom Up 
by Sarah Albee and Robert Leighton

Sir John wrote to his cousin about his invention of a flush toilet. He made puns and referenced classical literature in his treatise, but this paragraph seems to be concerned with marketing his invention to Queen Elizabeth. 

 "You tell me, belike to encourage me, that my invention may be beneficial, not only to my private friend, but to towns and cities, yea, even to her majesty's service for some of her houses: trust me, I do believe you write seriously as you term it herein; and for my part I am so wholly addicted to her highness' service, as I would be glad, yea, even proud, if the highest strain of my wit could but reach to any note of true harmony in the full concert of her majesty's service, though it were in the basest key that it could be tuned to." 

-- Microsoft Word - Ajaxpdf.docx (exclassics.com) 

That message to his cousin must have worked magic on the aging queen, who included Harrington's water closet in her residence at Richmond, for here is an epigram Harrington wrote to the queen's ladies.

It's titled "To the Ladies of the Queen's Privy Chamber, at the making of their perfumed Privy at Richmond." 

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you: 

Sir John Harrington, in my guest bathroom. 

Also, if you're a gentleman: Mind the Gap.

Fair dames, if any took in scorn and spite,
Me, that Misacmos' [nickname meaning "filthy man"] muse in mirth did write,
To satisfy the sin, lo, here in chains
For aye to hang my master he ordains:
Yet deem the deed to him no derogation,
But doom to this device new commendation;
But here you see, feel, smell, that his conveyance
Hath freed this noisome [stinky] place from all annoyance:
Now judge you, that the work mock, envy, taunt,
Whose service in this place may make most vaunt:
If us, or you to praise it were most meet,
You that made sour, or us that made it sweet.  

-- Microsoft Word - Ajaxpdf.docx (exclassics.com) 

 

Perfumed! Yes. Notice in the drawing that there's a bunch of lavender herb hanging from the front-right post. I prefer a more proactive perfume: a canister of room deodorizer. 

I'd say "You can't make it up," but anyone who studies history and genealogy knows that some people out there can and do make it up. If you are willing to follow the trail and back it up with citations (rather than copying someone else's line), you might find some wonderful anecdotes about your ancestors, too! 

 

 

*****

Christy K Robinson is author of these books (click a highlighted title):

 

We Shall Be Changed (2010)

Mary Dyer Illuminated Vol. 1 (2013)  

Mary Dyer: For Such a Time as This Vol. 2 (2014)

The Dyers of London, Boston, & Newport Vol. 3 (2014)  

Effigy Hunter (2015)  

Anne Marbury Hutchinson: American Founding Mother (2018)

 

And of these sites:  

Discovering Love  (inspiration and service)

Rooting for Ancestors  (history and genealogy)

William and Mary Barrett Dyer (17th century culture and history of England and New England)

Editornado [ed•i•tohr•NAY•doh] (Words. Communications. Book reviews. Cartoons.)

 

 

To love this world the less, and heaven the more

Rev. John Robinson and love for his flock amid great loss

#OnThisDay30June1621

© 2021 Christy K Robinson

When the Mayflower made the perilous voyage from the Netherlands to Plymouth, the passengers were beset by depression (perhaps one suicide), grave illness that some think was scurvy or typhus, and starvation.

The pastor of the Pilgrim congregation that fled England and lived in Amsterdam and Leiden was John Robinson, a Cambridge University graduate who became a professor at the University of Leiden. In an era when many ministers were harsh and stringent, Robinson can be seen in his writings as a man of grace and kindness. He was beloved by his congregation, and his influence continued for years after he died in 1625. In fact, 40 years later, his son Isaac Robinson became first a Quaker sympathizer and then a Quaker--and though he was disfranchised for a time, he wasn't whipped or jailed as some other Quakers were. Respect for John Robinson seems to have given some immunity to Isaac!

Jail cells in Boston, Lincolnshire, where Robinson and fellow leaders 
were imprisoned when they first tried to escape England for
the sake of religious liberty.

Of the 50 or so Pilgrims and "strangers" (business investors or Mayflower crew) who died in the first winter of 1620-21, many were members of Robinson's church community who had been with him for 10 to 20 years. They'd risked their lives and fortunes together, escaping England. They were people he'd taught and baptized and had gone to prison for. Some of them were relatives: his wife's siblings, in-laws, and nephews and nieces. The following letter was written at the end of June 1621, and it's unclear if he knew the full extent of the losses by then because ocean voyages bearing letters to him might take three months or more to cross the Atlantic and be delivered on land. He knew the losses were many, though. And it sounds like he intended to pull up stakes and follow them to New England.

Here's Robinson's letter to his flock in Plymouth Colony:

***** 

To the church of God, at Plymouth in New England.

Much beloved brethren, neither the distance of place, nor distinction of body, can at all either dissolve or weaken that bond of true Christian affection in which the Lord by his spirit hath tied us together. My continual prayers are to the Lord for you; my most earnest desire is unto you; from whom I will not longer keep (if God will) than means can be procured to bring with me the wives and children of divers of you and the rest of your brethren, whom I could not leave behind me without great, both injury to you and them, and offence to God and all men.

The death of so many our dear friends and brethren; oh how grievous hath it been to you to bear, and to us to take knowledge of, which, if it could be mended with lamenting, could not sufficiently be bewailed; but we must go unto them and they shall not return unto us: And how many even of us, God hath taken away here, and in England, since your departure, you may elsewhere take knowledge. But the same God has tempered judgment with mercy, as otherwise, so in sparing the rest, especially those by whose godly and wise government, you may be, and (I know) are so much helped.

In a battle it is not looked for but that divers [various people] should die; it is thought well for a side, if it get the victory, though with the loss of divers, if not too many or too great. God, I hope, hath given you the victory, after many difficulties, for yourselves and others; though I doubt not, but many do and will remain for you and us all to strive with.

Brethren, I hope I need not exhort you to obedience unto those whom God hath set over you, in church and commonwealth, and to the Lord in them. It is a Christian's honour, to give honour according to men's places; and his liberty, to serve God in faith, and his brethren in love orderly and with a willing and free heart. God forbid, I should need to exhort you to peace, which is the bond of perfection, and by which all good is tied together, and without which it is scattered. Have peace with God first, by faith in his promises, good conscience kept in all things, and oft renewed by repentance; and so, one with another, for his sake, who is, though three, one; and for Christ's sake who is one, and as you are called by one spirit to one hope.

And the God of peace and grace and all goodness be with you, in all the fruits thereof, plenteously upon your heads, now and forever. All your brethren here, remember you with great love, a general token whereof they have sent you.

Yours ever in the Lord,

John Robinson

Leiden, (Holland) June 30, Anno 1621.

***** 

Robinson wrote essays in the latter part of his life that were not published until after his untimely death at age 49 in 1625. This is the last paragraph of his essay entitled "Of Death." 

We are not to mourn for the death of our Christian friends, as they which are without hope, 1 Thess. iv.13: either in regard of them or of ourselves. Not of them, because such as are asleep with Jesus, God will bring with him to a more glorious life, in which we, in our time, and theirs, shall ever remain with the Lord, and them: not of ourselves, as if that, because they had left us, God had left us also. But we should take occasion by their deaths to love this world the less, out of which they are taken; and heaven the more, whither they are gone before us, and where we shall ever enjoy them. Amen. 


*****

Christy K Robinson, 12th-generation descendant of Rev John Robinson, is author of these books (click the colored title): 

We Shall Be Changed (2010)

Mary Dyer Illuminated Vol. 1 (2013)  

Mary Dyer: For Such a Time as This Vol. 2 (2014)

The Dyers of London, Boston, & Newport Vol. 3 (2014)  

Effigy Hunter (2015)  

Anne Marbury Hutchinson: American Founding Mother (2018)

And of these sites:  

Discovering Love  (inspiration and service)

Rooting for Ancestors  (history and genealogy)

William and Mary Barrett Dyer (17th century culture and history of England and New England)

Editornado [ed•i•tohr•NAY•doh] (Words. Communications. Book reviews. Cartoons.)

Memories of Edith Hall Stone

 This story was written by my mother, Judith Anson Robinson, as a tribute to her grandmother, Edith Hall Stone. Rather than retype it, I've taken photos of the typed article. 

Article by Judith Anson Robinson, written 1974, copyright 2021. 

People mentioned in this article, l to r. 
Helen Stone Prebil, Mabel Rowley Hall Lattimer, Edith Hall Stone, Ruth Stone, Lois Stone Anson.
Children: Raymond Prebil, Judith Anson, Sharron Peterson. 
Four generations 

The beloved satin quilt given to my great-grandmother Edith at Christmas 1945. My mother treasured it all her life, and I've had it since my mom passed. I store it folded, behind glass, to keep it safe from my cats' claws. Considering the life of poverty my ancestor experienced most of her life, this satin quilt must have been a great luxury. 

A 100-year-old inheritance

© 2021 Christy K Robinson


Leonard Robinson and Opal Carter were married on June 30, 1921. They were married for 54 years, until Leonard passed away in 1975. 

Leonard held several jobs before he married, including as an Iowa coal miner, and a carpenter (builder) in the US Expeditionary Force based in France during World War I. Opal was a school teacher in Iowa during the nineteen-teens. She had a high school education, but probably had to pass a teaching exam to earn a certificate. Opal lived at home with her parents in Albia, Iowa, while teaching, but she and her colleagues would have had to follow regulations in this "Rules for Teachers" list. 

1915 Rules for Teachers

1. You will not marry during the term of your contract.

2. You are not to keep company with men.

3. You must be home between the hours of 8 p.m. and 6 a.m. unless attending a school function.

4. You may not loiter downtown in ice cream stores.

5. You may not travel beyond the city limits unless you have the permission of the chairman of the board.

6. You may not ride in a carriage or automobile with any man unless he is your father or brother.

7. You may not smoke cigarettes.

8. You may not dress in bright colors.

9. You may under no circumstances dye your hair.

10. You must wear at least two petticoats.

11. Your dresses must not be any shorter than 2 inches above the ankle.

12. To keep the school room neat and clean, you must sweep the floor at least once daily, scrub the floor at least once a week with hot, soapy water, clean the blackboards at least once a day and start the fire at 7 a.m. so the room will be warm by 8 a.m.

Taken from One-Room Schools of Knox County, by the Knox County Retired Teachers Association. Source: Rules for one-room schoolhouse teachers - News - Illinois State

This certificate of marriage was recorded in Albia, Iowa, in 1921.

After Leonard and Opal married, they moved from Iowa to northern Minnesota, where they bought a two-story log house with unfinished cellar, a small barn, and a well with a hand pump. Though the house had electricity, it didn't have plumbing, so the upstairs bedroom, divided by hanging sheets, had chamber pots that had to be emptied in the outdoor privy. Baths were taken in a relatively small galvanized tub with water carried in and warmed on the wood stove in the kitchen. I remember these features from the family reunions held on the farm in the 1960s, when I was a little girl.  

My mother, Judith Anson Robinson, painted this Robinson log house in 1956 when she was 19. 

When my grandparents, um, "bought the farm" in 1921, the house was already there, probably from about 1900. My dad and his older siblings were born in this house. Because it was vacant, being used and abused by deer hunters, etc., it was decided to torch it rather than suffer the potential liability. I think that was in the 1990s. As the house burned, it fell into the root cellar my grandmother used as a larder for 50 years.

Leonard and Opal had five children: Dale, who died in infancy; and four who lived long lives and had numerous children: Donald, Audrey, Carolyn, and Kenneth.

After my father passed away in 2012, and his (second) wife three years later, the executor for his wife's estate sent me some of the heirlooms my dad had kept over the years. I assume that Dad gave a number of the things on my list to antique or thrift shops, or gave them away to his wife's family and friends, because sadly, the wooden coffee mill and crank butter churn I wanted were not among their possessions. They had two telephones: one from the home across the road from my grandparents' farm, which we had in our house from the 1960s on; and the other one, pictured here, from my grandparents' log house. This one has a heavy battery inside, whereas the smaller, darker-finished one was empty, and therefore light enough to mount on drywall. I don't know what happened to the smaller phone.

This crank phone may have been manufactured 
between 1880 and 1900. I don't know if it 
came with the house or if my grandparents
purchased it used. When my dad was growing up,
the phone was on a party line and anyone could 
know your private business!

Of my grandma's two daughters, four granddaughters, and many great-granddaughters, I'm the unmarried one. She left me her wedding ring. And I wear this lovely, smooth gold ring every day.

Along with two hand-stitched quilts, I inherited my paternal grandmother's 100-year-old wedding ring.

Center in photo:  Opal and Leonard Robinson with his parents in about 1921-1922.
Leonard's parents were Lyman "Wesley" Robinson and Mary Isabella "Belle" Hamner, the two people on far left and far right.

This is a hand-quilted bow-tie design. In the 19th and early 20th centuries,
a girl was expected to make quilts and keep them in a "hope chest" for her future household.
There's a good chance that Opal's mother, Nancy Evaline Swinney, also worked on these quilts.

This quilt is done in lavender postage-stamp quilt blocks.
I keep the 100+ year-old quilts in plastic blanket bags now, to save them from dust and pet hair. I have pets that enjoy tearing through the house occasionally, coming to a screeching halt on the bed, so I can't use the quilts as they were intended.

In 1971, Leonard and Opal celebrated 50 years of marriage.

In 1991, Leonard's and Opal's four children and many grandchildren held a reunion in Wisconsin.
Opal is sitting in the lawn chair at the lower left.

My cousins received several cherished mementos from Grandma Opal, including quilts, embroidery, a few porcelain dishes, and other domestic items from a long life. My brother inherited Grandpa Leonard's WWI Army uniform. 

*****

Christy K Robinson is author of these books:

We Shall Be Changed (2010)

Mary Dyer Illuminated Vol. 1 (2013)  

Mary Dyer: For Such a Time as This Vol. 2 (2014)

The Dyers of London, Boston, & Newport Vol. 3 (2014)  

Effigy Hunter (2015)  

Anne Marbury Hutchinson: American Founding Mother (2018)

And of these sites:  

Discovering Love  (inspiration and service)

Rooting for Ancestors  (history and genealogy)

William and Mary Barrett Dyer (17th century culture and history of England and New England)

Editornado [ed•i•tohr•NAY•doh] (Words. Communications. Book reviews. Cartoons.)