Milnrow & Newhey Feb 2019

From The Archives
THE PAIL CLOSET OR THE ROCHDALE SYSTEM
Rochdale is famous for many things, absorbed by straw, grass or cotton mixed
for Gracie Fields and for the Rochdale with a chemical compound which broke it
Pioneers to name only two. However, it down before land disposal or conversion
is with a less attractive but nonetheless into compost. Instead, in 1869 Rochdale
necessary domestic institution that chose the Pail Closet system which was
Rochdale gave its name, the Pail closet, created in 1868 by Edward Taylor, a local
also known as the ‘Rochdale system’. pharmacist with a shop on Yorkshire Street
who had a sense of urgency about the
There were a number of ways in which
health consequences of poor water supply
human waste was disposed of in the 19th
and the disposal of waste in the town.
century including the dry earth system
Furthermore, he had advanced ideas on
and the midden or privy midden. By the
how to turn human waste to profit. In his
1860’s Manchester had 10,000 flush toilets
system, an outside toilet or closet contained
but more than 38,000 middens which were
a seat under which stood a wooden 10
sometimes no more than a hole in the
gallon pail or bucket at the bottom of which
ground, a dunghill or an ash pit. Sometimes
would be left one sixteenth of an inch of
called Lancashire middens,they held
disinfectant or ashes. An air-tight lid on the
particular dangers to the public. Not only
bucket made for ease of removal.
did they overflow and cause river pollution
According to records in 1871 the full pails
but they were one of the main reasons
were removed once a week.
typhoid became a killer in society,
particularly amongst the working class. By April of 1869 100 pail closets had been
Developments such as ventilation shafts set up in Rochdale. The waste, sometimes
and deodorising mixtures made middens known as ‘night soil,’ was mixed with half
a little more hygienic and less of an
a pint of antiseptic fluid then taken away
immediate danger to public health but they under the auspices of the Scavenging
were difficult to empty and clean so an Department on a 24-bay wagon to a
alternative was sought.
building near the railway station but later
Wealthier homes had flush toilets (usually to a depot on Entwistle Road which became
outside the house) but the lack of effective known as the Manure Works. A
water supply meant that for many working replacement pail was left behind in the
people in heavily built-up areas waste had closet. By 1874 Rochdale had five of these
to be dealt with as it was or ‘by dry
wagons collecting over 3000 buckets on a
conservancy’. Rochdale Corporation looked weekly basis across the town and by 1876
at the French Goux system which was used this number had grown to 5000 serving
in Halifax whereby waste materials were over 300 closets.
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