A grim history of toilet tragedies
When historians Steven Gunn and Tomasz Gromelski delved into the coroner records of Tudor England for their book “An Accidental History of Tudor England,” they uncovered a startling truth: in the 16th century, answering nature’s call could be a death sentence.
The archives reveal that Tudor sanitation was not merely primitive—it was perilous. With basic facilities and cumbersome clothing conspiring against users, England’s lavatories claimed lives in ways both tragic and absurd.
When fashion met fatality
Consider the unfortunate elderly clergyman of Westoning, Bedfordshire, whose final sermon was delivered not from the pulpit but from the privy. The coroner’s inquest tells a tale of sartorial doom: he ‘tumbled backwards off a toilet seat’ and was left ‘suspended by his hose until he expired.’ In Tudor England, long robes and basic toilet seats proved a deadly combination.
The clergyman’s death illustrates a broader hazard of the era. Tudor garments—flowing, lengthy, and often elaborate—transformed simple bodily functions into dangerous endeavors. What should have been routine became risky when restrictive clothing could trap a person in fatal positions.
The cesspit catastrophe
If indoor facilities were treacherous, outdoor sanitation proved equally lethal. John Dunkyn, a baker from Cambridge, discovered this truth in the most harrowing way possible. After an evening of drinking, Dunkyn stumbled near Trumpington Gate and fell backwards into his own garden cesspit.
The coroner’s jury painted a grim picture of his final moments. ‘Qweasomed’ by the overwhelming stench, Dunkyn found himself trapped in sewage just yards from his home. Unable to escape the suffocating filth, he died alone in his own waste—a victim of both poor planning and primitive sanitation.
Dunkyn’s death highlights the double danger of Tudor waste management: not only were cesspits poorly constructed and maintained, but their contents could prove immediately fatal. The toxic fumes and liquid waste created death traps that claimed lives with shocking regularity.
A deadly combination: alcohol and excrement
James Johnson’s demise in 1565 demonstrates how alcohol could transform already dangerous sanitation into a fatal combination. Johnson, thoroughly intoxicated, fell asleep in a Southwark alley. When he awoke, the coroner noted, he was ‘barely possessed of a healthy and calm mind’ and decided to relieve himself in a nearby ditch.
His impaired judgment proved fatal. Unsteady from drink, Johnson lost his footing and fell into the water, drowning in the very ditch he had chosen for his bathroom. His death serves as a grim reminder that in Tudor England, the combination of alcohol and inadequate sanitation created a particularly deadly hazard.
The historical record
These deaths, documented in nearly 9,000 coroner records from the 16th century, reveal a side of Tudor life rarely examined by traditional histories. Tudor law required investigation of all suspicious or sudden deaths, creating an invaluable archive of everyday tragedies.
The records demonstrate that in an age remembered for royal drama and religious upheaval, ordinary people faced extraordinary dangers from the most mundane activities. Basic sanitation, a necessity of life, regularly became an agent of death.
These toilet and cesspit tragedies offer a sobering perspective on Tudor England—a world where even the most private moments could prove publicly fatal, and where the call of nature could become a call to the grave.
An Accidental History of Tudor England is published by John Murray Press.