A Question of Toilets

[Pete1052]

What Steve Becker describes as the "pan system" seems a lot like the so-called "honey bucket" I saw during a stay at a summer cabin on the Potomac River here in Virginia in the 1960s. The cabin had been built in the 1920s, prior to the economic crash of 1929.

The "facilities" were a wooden box of approximate toilet height. On top was a lid on a hinge, so the smells would be confined within; below that was a toilet seat, also on a hinge for vertical or horizontal. ...and of course there was a hole in the top of the wooden box so it would serve its intended purpose.

Inside was a miniature garbage can, partly filled with a water-ammonia solution. When the can was half- or two-thirds filled, it was taken away for dumping, pouring down a pit and burial, or burning, you take your pick. There was a lid for the can so the contents of it wouldn't splash around when taken away for disposal.

[healdav]

In years gone by diarrheal diseases killed more soldiers than bullets and shells. I believe it was press coverage of the Crimean War and Florence Nightingale that first alerted the British public to how squalid a soldier's lot can be. When I was in the U.S. Army in the late '70s to early '80s our divisions had Field Sanitation Officers who had the job of inspecting latrines in the field. It seemed no latrine would ever pass inspection. I guess everyone, even Field Sanitation Officers, has their job to do....

In the Great War it was U.S. Army policy to erect signs on the sites of abandoned field latrines, also called heads, so people would know better than to dig there. General George S. Patton, Jr. recalled his return to his Great War headquarters in Bourg, France in 1944 in his book War as I Knew It :

"We then drove through Langres, where we had no time to stop, and on to Bourg, my Tank Brigade Headquarters in 1918. The first man I saw in the street was standing on the same manure pile whereon I am sure he had perched in 1918. I asked if he had been there during the last war, to which he replied, "Oh, yes, General Patton, and you were here then as a Colonel." He then formed a triumphal procession of all the village armed with pitchforks, scythes, and rakes, and we proceeded to rediscover my old haunts, including my office, and my billet in the chateau of Madame de Vaux.

"The grave of that national hero, "Abandoned Rear," was still maintained by the natives. It originated in this manner. In 1917, the mayor, who lived in the "new house" at Bourg, bearing the date 1700, came to me, weeping copiously, to say that we had failed to tell him of the death of one of our soldiers. Being unaware of this sad fact, and not liking to admit it to a stranger, I stalled until I found out that no one was dead. However, he insisted that we visit the "grave," so we went together and found a newly closed latrine pit with the earth properly banked and a stick at one end to which was affixed crosswise a sign saying, "Abandoned Rear." This the French had taken for a cross. I never told them the truth."

The 'grave' is no longer there. Bourg is a nothing village, but up the main road towards Langres there is a memorial to Patton, just beside a very isolated cottage -it is very easy to miss.

Anyone wanting to stop should be very careful. There is no stopping place on the side of the road by the memorial but in theory there is on the other side. I stop in a side road leading into the fields. Crossing the road can be interesting, dodging trucks.

[BJanman]

Sue

Do you know anything about the Cresol Drum Latrine?

Whilst flicking through a file to see if I had any info on 2/2nd W. Riding Fld Amb for Ironduke, I spotted an article called 'A Labora of Love', The Odyssey of a Field Ambulance by Alistair Mackie from Stand To! September 2003 No 68. The article is about 2nd/1st (S. Midlands) Fld Amb and gives details about a rest station at Ligny. There is a couple of diagrams titled "Diagrammatic sketch showing the origins and construction of our Cresol Drum Lactrine, and it's manner of use" and a "rough sketch plan showing our arrangement of Latrines, Incinerator, hot water tanks, Wash and Bath houses in any of our fixed camps behind the lines.

I know this is Fld Amb and not hospital but as it is behind the lines I thought it may be of interest to you.

Barbara

[Sue Light]

Barbara

As it happens, I've just had a new toilet here at home - but after a lot of soul searching, I decided against the Cresol Drum Latrine, and settled for some new-fangled white ceramic thing instead...

But as soon as you mentioned the article, I remembered it, and dug it out - I don't think my interest in toilets was fully developed then, but a great article with good detail - thanks for jogging my memory. And Field Ambulances are becoming increasingly interesting to me, as it becomes evident that trained nurses were employed in many of them from the autumn of 1915 onwards, often 4-6 at a time, and their popularity with the COs increased dramatically in the run up to July 1916. Mind you, there were still quite a few FA medical officers who'd have nothing to do with women.

[Do I hear any 'Quite Right's?]

Sue

[Clive Maier]

Sue,

Wouldn't these huts have been built and kitted out by the Royal Engineers? If so, their museum and library may contain the answer.

[Sue Light]

Clive

Yes, I think they would, and I there's loads of information at The National Archives if you can find what you're looking for. I have a feeling that our revered moderator, and owner of TR Enterprises is probably intimately acquainted with their construction, but has held back at present - anyway, his fee would be beyond my means. But certainly I'm getting a good idea now of the basics of toilets, and will have to investigate some of those documents.

Sue