How British Is Your Toilet?
Having explored my new pen name, I started researching the names I noticed in my London home. It turned out that I’d been using “facilities” made by some of the most famous British brands: Dudley, Celmac and McAlpine.
How British is your toilet? Mine turned out to be proudly so, even though, after being painted red (???) by the previous owner, it has, over the years, acquired a soft pink tinge reminiscent of the Italian stucco. Not only does this British toilet have the famous separate taps for hot and cold water. It is also OUTSIDE!
In the 1930s, when this toilet was built, times were tough. This toilet is, in fact, part of the Hanger Hill estate, built in the 1930s on the former site of Acton Aerodrome in West London. Houses were heated by coal back then, and hot water was a luxury – hence the absence of a hot-water tap in this quaint little sink.
But how do I know this toilet is truly British? Because its parts were made, it turns out, by giants of British plumbing: McAlpine, Thomas Dudley and Celmac. Well, Celmac is now part of the French Wirquin Group (established by Daniel Le Coënt in Nantes, France). But two out of the three manufacturers are still proudly flying the British flag.
McAlpine, which made my toilet pipes, was based next to the main Glasgow shipyards. In 1938, McAlpine installed its products on the Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth ocean liners. It's like I'm on a cruise ship already, breathing in the ocean air!
Thomas Dudley, the manufacturer of my toilet’s flush system, was established in 1920. In 1971, its bathroom-products factory opened, and the first Dudley exposed plastic cistern was unveiled.
But the crown jewel is, of course, the proudly named Celmac Saxon toilet seat. In the 1930s, Celmac was one of the first companies to experiment with plastics. They made this seat, which they claimed was the most hygienic because it was “scratch-resistant” and “impervious to water and acid”.
The new Celmac seats were an immediate success, first for domestic use and then in the emerging market for school toilet seats. Apparently, if you went to school in the UK, this was the seat you were likely to use.
I get the name “Saxon”, but why Celmac? Apparently, the founder of the company, Robert McArd, left a thriving toilet-seat business to his daughters, Celia, Elizabeth and Lucy McArd. They incorporated their initials – C, E, L and Mc – into the company’s name: Celmac Ltd.
Would you put your name on a toilet seat? I would – but only if it’s a bestseller!
Now, look at your toilet: which stories is it hiding?
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