bobbinsme Posted May 10, 2007 Share Posted May 10, 2007 I have an old toilet cistern manufactured by a company called W. Emery & Co Ltd. The cistern is called a Sheffield No. 2. I was wondering if anyone knows more about the company that made this or whether there was a Sheffield No. 1 or No. 3 manufactured. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slimsid2000 Posted May 10, 2007 Share Posted May 10, 2007 I have an old toilet cistern manufactured by a company called W. Emery & Co Ltd. The cistern is called a Sheffield No. 2. well, it does what it says on the tin. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobbinsme Posted May 10, 2007 Author Share Posted May 10, 2007 It is the connection between this being a Sheffield No. 2 cistern and erm "a number two" that makes me wonder if a number 1 or number 3 were ever produced. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobbinsme Posted May 10, 2007 Author Share Posted May 10, 2007 Just to provide a bit more detail. The cistern itself is made of wood, with dovetailed joints and is copper lined. It was located in an outside privvy to a terrace house I lived in at Handsworth. The house dated back to around 1890, but I think that the cistern was added later. An old next door neighbour informed me that when the houses where originally built they (or the toilets at least) were not connected to the water supply and that "waste" was collected in a large container between the two privvies and that this was removed on a regular basis much the same as bins are emptied today. Not certain how true this is, but am certain that it would not be a job I would fancy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HughW Posted May 10, 2007 Share Posted May 10, 2007 The waste would have been taken away in 'Night soil carts'. There are a few pictures of these at PictureSheffield. I found some entries for 'W Emery & Co' in Trade Directories: White's 1901 Arundel Street [unnumbered, between 169 & 173] Emery W. & Co. chandelier manufacturers & general brass founders White's 1905 167 Arundel Street Emery W. & Co. chandelier manufacturers & general brass founders White's 1911 167 Arundel Street Emery W. & Co. chandelier manufacturers & general brass founders [Thorpe Charles AE chandelier manufacturer (W Emery & Co)] White's 1919/20 167 Arundel St Emery W & Co brass founders I was hoping there would be adverts illustrating their products but I couldn't find any in these volumes. [the first three volumes above are online at http://www.historicaldirectories.org Hugh Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
geocol Posted May 10, 2007 Share Posted May 10, 2007 The waste would have been taken away in 'Night soil carts'. It would have given people a bit more ammunition, to sort out their grievances with the local council, wouldn't it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HughW Posted May 10, 2007 Share Posted May 10, 2007 The brass founding firm already existed in 1864, because they made a claim for compensation after the Sheffield flood: flood claim William EMERY died in 1900 (aged 68 ) but the business continued under his name. I don't know when they went into cisterns - does your cistern have brass fittings? Hugh Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
broncolives Posted May 12, 2007 Share Posted May 12, 2007 Emery's where an old established plumbers merchants. Back in th 60's it was said that if you knocked on the right door of the warehouse on a saturday morning you could walk away with almost anything for a quid. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skippy Posted May 12, 2007 Share Posted May 12, 2007 Emery's where an old established plumbers merchants Back in the 60's. My brother in law drove the truck for Emery's in the 50's, delivering plumbing supplies all over Yorkshire, I used to go with him when I was on school holidays, they were very well known back in those days. Dry pan toilets were the norm in the 40's & 50's especially around Loxley, Stannington, Bradfield etc where sewerage pipes had not been put in. These days a lot of properties out in the sticks have seepage tanks & have to have the solids removed every 10 years or so, we had a dry toilet when we first came here to Oz, as someone already mentioned, a bloke would come and empty them once a week like they do the dustbins, after we moved house, we had a concrete tank that was sunk in the garden where all our water & waste was collected, it got pumped out every week, it was quite expensive & used to stink, it was a blessing when sewerage finally came to our little town. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobbinsme Posted May 18, 2007 Author Share Posted May 18, 2007 Thanks for your responses most enlightening. Thanks for the info HughW it is some reason nice to know where it originated. Unfortunately the cistern did not have any fittings on it when I rescued it. I've cleaned it up. It is still water tight and now provides a bird bath with character in my back garden. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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