The success of public lavatories used at the Great Exhibition, held at Hyde Park in 1851, led to the widespread installation of public toilets in London.

The Great Exhibition comprised works of industry from all nations and was the first international exhibition of manufactured goods. It was modelled on successful French national exhibitions, but it was the first to open its doors to the world.

In 1851 Great Britain was widely recognised as the leader of the industrial revolution. The exhibition in London was conceived to symbolise their industrial, military and economic superiority.

George Jennings, an engineer, was given responsibility for providing public conveniences at the exhibition. Over 827,000 people paid to use public lavatories for the first time. When you consider that over 6.2 million people visited the exhibition it was clear the 'necessaries' were highly popular.

The popularity for public conveniences was one aspect of the general desire to improve general hygiene levels in the mid 19th century. Words can hardly describe how bad sanitary conditions were in London during this time. Without a sewer network, the waste for some 3 million Londoners was channelled into rivers that flowed into the River Thames.

Indeed, on many occasions the rivers were so clogged with waste that the rivers did not flow at all. On particularly hot days the rivers appeared to be boiling, and the smell was so bad that shuttered windows plastered in lime could not prevent the odour from overpowering everything.

In 1848, Britain passed the Public Health Act, which would become a model plumbing code for the world to follow. It mandated some kind of sanitary arrangement in every house, whether a flushing toilet, or a privy, or an ash pit. The government also released £5 million for sanitary research and engineering. The construction of a sewer system also began.

Following the success of the Great Exhibition, Jennings began to design and construct what became known as the quintessential Victorian public convenience. They typically consisted of distinctive tiled underground chambers marked by iron railings or arches at street level.

Eventually a new phrase entered the English language; 'I'm just going to spend a penny', which is still in common use today to describe our 'necessary' functions.