<P> Manhole covers with Crapper's company's name on them in Westminster Abbey are now one of London's minor tourist attractions . Thomas Crapper & Co owned the world's first bath, toilet and sink showroom, in King's Road until 1966 . The firm's lavatorial equipment was manufactured at premises in nearby Marlborough Road (now Draycott Avenue). </P> <P> Crapper was born in Thorne, South Yorkshire, in 1836; the exact date is unknown, but he was baptised on 28 September 1836 . His father, Charles, was a sailor . In 1853 he was apprenticed to his brother George, who was a master plumber in Chelsea . After his apprenticeship and three years as a journeyman plumber, in 1861 Crapper set himself up as a sanitary engineer, with his own brass foundry and workshops in nearby Marlborough Road . </P> <P> The flushing toilet was invented by John Harington in 1596 . Joseph Bramah of Yorkshire patented the first practical water closet in England in 1778 . George Jennings in 1852 also took out a patent for the flush - out toilet . In a time when bathroom fixtures were barely spoken of, Crapper heavily promoted sanitary plumbing and pioneered the concept of the bathroom fittings showroom . </P> <P> In the 1880s, Prince Edward (later Edward VII) purchased his country seat of Sandringham House in Norfolk and asked Thomas Crapper & Co. to supply the plumbing, including thirty lavatories with cedarwood seats and enclosures, thus giving Crapper his first Royal Warrant . The firm received further warrants from Edward as king and from George V both as Prince of Wales and as king . </P>

Who invented the first flush toilet in 1500