Plumber. Born in Thorne, Yorkshire, and baptised 28th September 1836, (his exact date of birth is unknown). He is often mistakenly credited with the invention of the flushing lavatory (which actually first appeared in 1596), but he did invent the floating ballcock. He actually specialised in selling bathroom equipment, and his (long gone) shop in the King's Road Chelsea appears in the opening shot of the film 'The Servant'.
Popular belief has it that he gave his name to a bodily function, but the word 'crap' is originally Middle English, and its first reference to defecation appeared in the Oxford English Dictionary in 1846. When the future King Edward VII purchased Sandringham House, he asked Crapper to supply the plumbing, including thirty lavatories with cedarwood seats, giving him his first of several royal warrants.
One wonders what Crapper himself thought of his surname. Was it a life-long embarrassment or did he value the link between his name and the products he was selling? Either way, an excellent example of nominative determinism - see Isambard Brunel for more.
Credit for this entry to: Alan Patient of www.plaquesoflondon.co.uk
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