Thunderbox.

[Keith Tindell]

The world that most of us here were born in, was a different world entirely. In 1946 my father worked as a chauffeur gardener for a guy who owned a large mansion in Empshot Hampshire, his official title was General Sir Arthur Warchope, he had been a general in the 1st world war, we lived in a bungalow at the end of the drive, it had no electricity, no main drainage, so no flushing toilet. The toilet was a big galvanised bucket which was under a fixed wooden seat. This bucket when full would be buried in the large garden, and moved accordingly round various spots, ( grew fantastic veg lol). While we were there the General, who was a nice chap, installed a flushing toilet and electric , what joy was that , no more oil lamps, and pull the chain and it dis appeared !!, mum cooked on an open range before, so now could cook on electric. Unfortunately Dad had driven the General to his club in London,, when he died, so after a few weeks were on the move again, this was life *in service* as it was known.Move to today, i would not book accommodation anywhere unless it was en suite etc, we are all spoilt compared to our youth.

[cappy]

why did you not dig the new one first, then the soil excavated could have been used to fill the old one?

like that time and motions lol cappy r683532

[Johnny Kieran]

We had a similar setup in my dads place in Ireland Keith when I was younger. Galvanised bucket, with a removeable seat, it was housed in the chicken house, next door to the pigsty. Help dad carry it down the huge garden, then tip it into a hole for burial. Jayes fluid helped with the aroma. We also had a water pump outside the cottage that squeaked like crazy when the handle was pumped.

[j.sabourn]

#1 . Maybe where that song originated from... A.Hs. Are cheap today , cheaper than yesterday , big ones are half a crown standing up or sitting down , little ones are one and six ..... etc etc etc. JS

[Tony Taylor]

#1 . Maybe where that song originated from... A.Hs. Are cheap today , cheaper than yesterday , big ones are half a crown standing up or sitting down , little ones are one and six ..... etc etc etc. JS

I heard a different version - AHs are cheap today come try one right away, all our prices down, smallee boys are half a crown etc etc.

[John Arton]

On geared bulker I was mate on we were due to unload steel pipes at anchor off Bandar Mashur with stevedores living on board, so we built a magnificent thunderbox over the stern complete with privacy screen and water for ass washing. Did the stevedores use it, did they heck. By the time we left, fortunately only a few days at anchor before going alongside to complete discharge, they had crapped in the crane pedestals and in the hold bilge. Mind you it was not much better when alongside as we were berthed ahead of the livestock berth when live sheep were being unloaded, the noise and stink was bloody awful in addition to the usual noise and stink you normally expect to have in Arabic countries.
The first house we lived in after coming back from Gibraltar in 1952 only had an outside toilet, no electricity or running water, it was a farm house and ducks and geese used to regularly wander in.. we had an elson toilet for during the night with jeyes fluid for its disinfection.
Rgds
J.A

[Frank Thorp]

I remember as a kid during the war i lived in London. We visited my aunt who had moved to a cottage in Cambridgeshire, they had a Thunderbox type toilet half way down the garden. I know now it was a wooden shed that housed an Elsan toilet, that was a large bucket that was emptied into a whole in the garden. Also known as "Bucket and Chuck it".

Frank.

[j.sabourn]

Believe there are a couple of members from North Shields . In a previous post talking about Palm Line where I mentioned I had a cousin, well his parents lived all their married life in a flat at the top of Howard Street close to the square where the Wooden Dolly stands or used to in latter years .they lived in the flat above the Oxford School of Motoring. The only bathroom facilities was a loo in the backyard , there was no kitchen in the flat and as said no bathroom, the made up kitchen was a table standing on the landing with a bucket of water , a gas burner, and that was it. They used to use the publiic baths , and on Occassion visit us in Whitley bay to get a bath as we lived in a posh council house which had a bathroom. It’s hard to believe some of the whiners of today , they don’t know what hard living is. JS
PS there was also a wash house in the backyard with a poss tub . Quite a difference to out here where most new buildings have 2 or 3 bathrooms and. By law have to have a built in separate laundry and not like old times where a washing machine in the kitchen was considered a luxury. JS

[Des Taff Jenkins]

Now I always said that us Welsh people were so far ahead of the others in the UK. All the houses in our Village built in 1925 had proper flushing toilets, albeit outside; but attached to the house, they also had bathrooms upstairs with a hot water tank, heated by a wet back in the back of the fire, this was all complemented by a big treatment plant about four miles away. We had two greens to play on. Unfortunately it was all spoiled after I left around 1970 when rich footballers bought and built houses on the greens. When I went back for a trip in the 90s one couldn't drive around the village that easy; for all the parked cars, the latest pictures show where they have subdivided the local farm, it now looks like a small suburb.
Des
Ps I bet none of the kids there go down the Common to play or down to the river to swim.

[j.sabourn]

#19. Shades of Donald Peers there Des , you just left out the Babbling Brook. JS