Dorset clergyman, Henry Moule’s claim to fame was the invention of the earth closet toilet. Born in 1801, he was the sixth son of twelve children of a solicitor, went to Cambridge University and was appointed Rector of Fordington in 1829 - now part of Dorchester. In 1860, he patented his invention. At the time, Fordington had an inadequate water supply from polluted shallow wells. All the closets in the village were cesspits or privies and as a consequence fever was hardly ever absent. Conditions were ripe for the spread of cholera and he became convinced that its spread was caused by appalling sanitation. Cholera outbreaks in Fordington in 1849 & 1854 had a devastating effect on the clergyman. The village suffered in particular from crowded dwellings, filthy courtyards and a poverty stricken population. When administering to a dying man, Moule witnessed sewage bubbling up through the cottage’s floor. Within a space of no more than five acres some 1,100 people were congregat...