Rooting for Ancestors: Sir John Harrington, inventor of the first flush toilet

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!

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