If you’ve already read our pages about the slipper baths, you will know that most house did not have their own bathroom and this meant that they did not have a toilet either. The toilet was outside in a shed called a ‘Privvy’ in the yard. Some houses were lucky enough to have one to themselves but most families would have to share with other houses on the street as well.

 

As these toilets weren’t as modern as the ones we used today, the waste was not cleared away by a flush but instead had to be collected and taken away. Every morning the ‘Night soil’ man would collect the ‘poo’ and take it away to be used as fertiliser.