Editing Thomas Crapper

{{Short description|British businessman, plumber (died 1910)}}
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{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2021}}
{{Use British English|date=July 2023}}
{{Infobox person
| name               = Thomas Crapper
| image              = Thomas Crapper.jpg
| image_size         = 
| birth_place        = [[Thorne, South Yorkshire|Thorne]], Yorkshire, England
| baptised           = 28 September 1836
| death_date         = {{Death date and age|df=y|1910|1|27|1836|9|28}}
| death_place        = [[Anerley]], [[London Borough of Bromley|Bromley]], England
| education          = 
| occupation         = Plumber, businessman
| spouse             = {{Marriage|Maria Green|1837|1902|end=d.}}<ref name="odnb"/>
}}

'''Thomas Crapper''' (baptised 28 September 1836; died 27 January 1910) was an English plumber and businessman. He founded Thomas Crapper & Co in London, a plumbing equipment company. His notability with regard to toilets has often been overstated, mostly due to the publication in 1969 of a [[tongue-in-cheek]] biography<ref>{{Cite book |last=Reyburn |first=Wallace |url=https://archive.org/details/flushedwithpride0000reyb_r5x1 |title=Flushed with pride: the story of Thomas Crapper |date=2010 |publisher=Polperro Heritage |isbn=978-0-9559541-5-3 |edition=2nd |location=Clifton-upon-Teme}}</ref> by New Zealand satirist [[Wallace Reyburn]].<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Eschner |first=Kat |date=28 September 2017 |title=Three True Things About Sanitary Engineer Thomas Crapper |url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/three-true-things-about-sanitary-engineer-thomas-crapper-180965008 |access-date=27 January 2022 |magazine=Smithsonian |publisher=Smithsonian Institution |location=Washington D.C.}}</ref>

Crapper held nine patents, three of them for water closet improvements such as the floating [[ballcock]]. He improved the S-bend plumbing trap in 1880 by inventing the [[Trap (plumbing)|U-bend]]. The firm's lavatorial equipment was manufactured at premises in nearby Marlborough Road (now Draycott Avenue). The company owned the world's first bath, toilet and sink showroom in [[King's Road]]. Crapper was noted for the quality of his products and received several [[Royal Warrant of Appointment (United Kingdom)|royal warrant]]s.

[[Manhole cover]]s with Crapper's company's name on them in [[Westminster Abbey]] have become one of London's minor [[tourist attraction]]s.<ref>{{citation|url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B05E6DB1639F935A15756C0A963948260&sec=travel&spon=&pagewanted=2|title=Group Walks Gain Ground in London|last=Goddard|first=Donald|date=26 May 1985|newspaper=The New York Times|access-date=2 March 2009|archive-date=25 January 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220125062428/https://www.nytimes.com/1985/05/26/travel/group-walks-gain-ground-in-london.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Crapper History">{{citation|url=http://www.thomas-crapper.com/history02.asp|title=Thomas Crapper history, Westminster Abbey, Sandringham|date=24 January 2004|publisher=Thomas Crapper & Co.|access-date=2 February 2009|archive-date=11 December 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081211130136/http://www.thomas-crapper.com/history02.asp|url-status=live}}</ref>

==Life==
Thomas Crapper was born in [[Thorne, South Yorkshire|Thorne]], West Riding of Yorkshire, in 1836; the exact date is unknown, but he was baptised on 28 September 1836. His father, Charles, was a sailor. In 1853, he was apprenticed to his brother George, a master plumber in [[Chelsea, London|Chelsea]], and thereafter spent 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.<ref name="odnb">{{cite ODNB |last=McConnell |first=Anita |contribution=Crapper, Thomas (1837–1910) |title=Dictionary of National Biography |year=2004 |doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/55389 |url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/55389 |access-date=10 November 2008 |archive-date=25 January 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220125062434/https://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-55389;jsessionid=A740E5409CDC4160BD995C330D0EF56F |url-status=live }} </ref>

[[File:Thomas Crapper Toilet Horta Museum Branding.jpg|thumb|Thomas Crapper Branding on one of his company's toilets]]
In the 1880s Prince Albert (later [[Edward VII of the United Kingdom|Edward 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 of Appointment (United Kingdom)|Royal Warrant]]. The firm received further warrants from Edward as king and from [[George V of the United Kingdom|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 six years of his life and died on 27 January 1910. He was buried in the nearby [[Beckenham Crematorium and Cemetery|Elmers End Cemetery]].<ref name=odnb/>

==Posthumous fate of the Crapper company==
In 1966 the Crapper company was sold by then-owner Robert G. Wharam (son of Robert Marr Wharam) upon his retirement to its rival 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.<ref>{{citation |last=Hume |first=Robert |title=Thomas Crapper: Lavatory Legend |date=2010 |magazine=BBC History Magazine  |publisher=Stone Publishing House  |isbn=978-0-9549909-3-0}}{{page needed|date=December 2020}}</ref>

==Achievements==
[[File:A genuine Crapper - geograph.org.uk - 108112.jpg|thumb|left|Manhole cover, inscribed "T Crapper & Co Sanitary Engineers Marlboro Works Chelsea London"]]
As the first man to set up public showrooms for displaying sanitary ware, Crapper became known as an advocate of sanitary plumbing, popularising the notion of installation inside people's homes. He also helped refine and develop improvements to existing plumbing and sanitary fittings. As a part of his business he maintained a foundry and metal shop, which enabled him to try out new designs and develop more efficient plumbing solutions.<ref>{{cite web|title=When Did Thomas Crapper Die?|url=http://biography.yourdictionary.com/articles/when-thomas-crapper-die.html|website=biography.yourdictionary.com|access-date=5 November 2017|archive-date=7 November 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171107022327/http://biography.yourdictionary.com/articles/when-thomas-crapper-die.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

Crapper improved the S-bend trap in 1880. The new [[Trap (plumbing)|U-bend plumbing trap]] was a significant improvement on the "S" as it could not jam, and unlike the S-bend, it did not have a tendency to dry out and did not need an overflow.<ref>{{cite web|title=Difference between U, P, and S Traps explained|url=http://www.differencebetween.info/difference-between-p-trap-and-s-trap|website=differencebetween.info|date=20 January 2017 |access-date=30 October 2017|archive-date=11 September 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190911193400/http://www.differencebetween.info/difference-between-p-trap-and-s-trap|url-status=live}}</ref> The BBC nominated the S-bend as one of the ''50 Things That (have) Made the Modern Economy''.<ref name=fifty>[http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w3csv3gp 50 Things That Made the Modern Economy: S-Bend] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180405131652/http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w3csv3gp |date=5 April 2018 }} BBC</ref>

Crapper held nine patents, three of them for water closet improvements such as the floating [[ballcock]], but none for the [[flush toilet]] itself.<ref>{{cite web|title=Thomas Crapper: Myth & Reality|url=http://theplumber.com/thomas-crapper-myth-reality/|website=theplumber.com|date=June 1993 |access-date=5 November 2017|archive-date=11 November 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171111090711/http://theplumber.com/thomas-crapper-myth-reality/|url-status=live}}</ref>

Crapper's advertisements implied the siphonic flush was his invention. One such advertisement read, "Crapper's Valveless Water Waste Preventer (Patent #4,990) One movable part only", even though patent 4,990 (for a minor improvement to the water waste preventer) was not his, but that of Albert Giblin in 1898.<ref>{{citation |last=Hart-Davis |first=Adam |title=Thomas Crapper&nbsp;– Fact and fiction |url=http://www.exnet.com/1995/11/01/science/science.html |publisher=ExNet |access-date=13 May 2010 |archive-date=18 January 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200118034630/http://www.exnet.com/1995/11/01/science/science.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite patent |inventor-last=Giblin |inventor-first=Albert |title=Improvements in Flushing Cisterns |country-code=GB |patent-number=189804990 |publication-date=1 March 1898 |issue-date=9 April 1898 }}</ref> However, Crapper's nephew, George, did improve the [[siphon]] mechanism by which the water flow starts. A patent for this development was awarded in 1897.<ref>{{cite patent |inventor1-last=Crapper |inventor1-first=George |inventor2-last=Wharam |inventor2-first=Robert Marr |title=Improvements in or relating to Automatic Syphon Flushing Tanks |patent-number=189700724 |country-code=GB |publication-date=11 January 1897 |issue-date=6 March 1897 }}</ref>

==Origin of the word "crap"==
It has often been claimed in popular culture that the vulgar slang term for human [[feces|bodily waste]], ''[[wiktionary:crap|crap]]'', originated with Thomas Crapper because of his association with lavatories. A common version of this story is that [[Doughboy|American servicemen]] stationed in England during [[World War I]] saw his name on cisterns and used it as Army slang, i.e., "I'm going to the crapper".<ref name="World Wide Words">{{citation |url=http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-cra1.htm |title=World Wide Words |access-date=11 April 2010 |archive-date=7 April 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100407161136/http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-cra1.htm |url-status=live }}</ref>

The word ''crap'' is actually of [[Middle English]] origin and predates its application to bodily waste. Its most likely etymological origin is a combination of two older words: the [[Dutch language|Dutch]] ''krappen'' (to pluck off, cut off, or separate) and the [[Old French]] ''crappe'' (siftings, waste or rejected matter, from the [[medieval Latin]] ''crappa'').<ref name="World Wide Words"/> In English, it was used to refer to chaff and also to weeds or other rubbish. Its first recorded application to bodily waste, according to the ''[[Oxford English Dictionary]]'', appeared in 1846, 10 years after Crapper was born, under a reference to a ''crapping ken,'' or a privy, where ''ken'' means a house.<ref name="World Wide Words"/>

==References==
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==Further reading==
{{refbegin}}
*{{cite book |last=Hart-Davis |first=Adam |author-link=Adam Hart-Davis |title=Thunder, Flush and Thomas Crapper: An Encyclopedia |publisher=Michael O'Mara Books |year=1997 |isbn=1-85479-250-4 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/thunderflushthom00hart}}{{refend}}

==External links==
{{Commons category|Thomas Crapper}}
{{Wiktionary|crap}}
* [http://www.snopes.com/business/names/crapper.asp Thomas Crapper] at Snopes.com
* [http://www.thomas-crapper.com/ Thomas Crapper & Co. Ltd.] – the plumbing company founded by Thomas Crapper
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20231021052825if_/https://render.fineartamerica.com/images/rendered/default/print/5.5/8/break/images/artworkimages/medium/1/1-thomas-crapper-water-closet-poster-jeff-townsend.jpg Thomas Crapper Water Closet Products Advertisement]

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Crapper, Thomas}}
[[Category:1836 births]]
[[Category:1910 deaths]]
[[Category:British chief executives]]
[[Category:British plumbers]]
[[Category:British royal warrant holders]]
[[Category:People from Thorne, South Yorkshire]]
[[Category:Toilets]]
[[Category:19th-century British businesspeople]]
[[Category:King's Road, Chelsea, London]]