Glory hole
Maker: unknown persons of the Red X
Glory Hole Relic, c.1707
Sgraffito earthenware, wood, 14.5cm x 14.5cm x9cm.
Museum no: C. 100
At the turn of the 18th century, the first toilets, known as ‘bog houses’ opened to service London’s Inns of Court.
Not only did they provide much-needed sanitation, but they inadvertently became an ideal space for blackmail.
The intriguing sgraffito box reports the case of Thomas Vaughan and Thomas Davis and the first recorded glory hole on 16th October 1707.
The Thomases ran a notorious blackmail gang of boys who “cry’d out stop him, he bugger’d me”, once a gentleman left the bog house. To add to the toilets’ elicit nature, the gang made holes between its cubicles, in which a ‘privvy member’ could be inserted, known as a glory hole.
Both Thomases were charged with extorting money from Mr Barker, an Apothecary, and Mr Guillam, A Tallow'-Chandler, by swearing sodomy against them. The scoundrels were ‘whipp’d’ from Temple-Barr to Charing Cross.
Upon closer inspection of the box’s contents, the glory hole becomes visible.
