Thomas William Twyford lived from 1849 to 1921. During that time he would bring toilets to London.
Twyford was born to a toilet man. His father spent his life trying to build the perfect toilet. He died before his dream could be realized, but his son carried his dream on.
In 1883 Twyford unveiled the Unitas. While building the Unitas, Twyford tried to fix problems of earlier toilet models. These problems included leaky joins, and foul odor. These problems can still exist with modern day toilets, and a modern day plumber will have to fix them.
While building the Unitas, Twyford would test the toilet by dropping 10 apples into the toilet and seeing if they could make it through. Clearly, Twyford was testing for a worst case scenario. If a plumber in London found out you had put 10 apples in your toilet, he’d be likely to wallop you across the head.
The Unitas was a completely ceramic, free-standing, toilet that would washout. It was the first of its kind. It gained worldwide appeal, and made Twyford a famous sanitation man. It also established a new need for plumbers.
You see, for toilets to work there need to be plumbers. How else can the pipes be installed? A toilet needs pipes coming and going. The pipes entering the toilet are needed to supply it with fresh water. The pipes leaving the toilet take the waste products away.
Before Twyford, his father came along toilets were entirely different. There were no pipes leading in and out of those toilets. Instead the waste would just sit there. If you are having trouble imagining such a thing you should go to a construction site. Once there you will find toilets that do not clear their own waste. Take a sniff of what life used to be, and see if you aren’t thankful for Twyford. Even these toilets are cleaned out regularly. The old waste would just sit and rot.
Stagnant liquid like this would lead to typhoid epidemics throughout the world. People lived and died in their own feces. This was a fact that people like Twyford couldn’t live with. They dreamt of a sanitary world.
A latter day plumber will carry on this noble tradition. They fight for a clean world. Broken pipes threaten our world’s cleanliness. As London was the beginning of the toilet age, it continues to be a place where a plumber can practice his craft. Since the time of Twyford the need for a plumber has not left London. It has only grown.
Twyford helped rid the world of typhoid. He cleaned up London. Today, when a leaky toilet threatens to bring back the terrible diseases of yesterday, a plumber comes to the rescue. A plumber truly is a modern day Thomas Twyford. They should be treated with the respect they deserve. If it wasn’t for men like Twyford we would be living in our own filth.
The London plumber is a staple of society. Hooray for the London plumber!