Image courtesy of the Archive, Harrods Limited

One great advantage of Virtual Reality is that you don't have to queue to use the toilet. Victorians, however, would have thought that our Museum's lavatory, supplied by Harrods, was well worth the wait!

This 'Bolding's Patent "Laydas" Syphonic Action Pedestal Closet' from the 1902 Harrods catalogue was available in was available in three designs: white, white and gold or patterned, like ours, which would have cost seven pounds and ten shillings. The toilet had a lead P-trap, a 2 gallon syphon water waste-preventing cistern, brackets, pull and chain, a vertical discharge pipe and a polished mahogany seat (a horizontal discharge pipe was available at ten shillings extra).