Henry Moule (1801–1880) was a priest in the

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britai ...

and inventor of the dry earth toilet, a type of

pail closet A pail closet or pail privy was a room used for the disposal of Human waste, human excreta, under the "pail system" (or Rochdale system) of waste removal. The "closet" (a word which had long meant "toilet" in one usage) was a small outhouse (pri ...

Life

Education and priesthood

Moule, sixth son of George Moule, solicitor and banker, was born at

Melksham Melksham () is a town on the River Avon in Wiltshire, England, about northeast of Trowbridge and south of Chippenham. At the 2011 census, the Melksham built-up area had a population of 19,357, making it Wiltshire's fifth-largest settlement aft ...

, Wiltshire, on 27 January 1801, and educated at

Marlborough Grammar School Marlborough Royal Free Grammar School, previously known as Marlborough Grammar School and King Edward's School, Marlborough, was a grammar school in the town of Marlborough, in Wiltshire, England, founded in 1550. Originally for boys only, the s ...

. He was elected a foundation scholar of St John's College, Cambridge, and graduated B.A. 1821 and M.A. 1826. He was ordained to the curacy of Melksham in 1823, and took sole charge of

Gillingham, Dorset Gillingham ( ) is a town and civil parish in the Blackmore Vale area of Dorset, England. It lies on the B3095 and B3081 roads, approximately south of the A303 trunk road and northwest of Shaftesbury. It is the most northerly town in the coun ...

, in 1825. He was made vicar of St George's at Fordington in the same county in 1829, and remained there for the remainder of his life. For some years he undertook the duty of chaplain to the troops in Dorchester barracks, for whose use, as well as for a detached district of his own parish, he built in 1846, partly from the proceeds of his published ‘Barrack Sermons,’ 1845 (2nd edit. 1847), a church known as Christ Church, West Fordington. In 1833 his protests brought to an end the evils connected with the race meetings at Dorchester.

Dry earth closet

During the cholera epidemics of 1849 and 1854 his exertions were unwearied. Impressed by the insalubrity of the houses, especially in the summer of 1858 (

the Great Stink The Great Stink was an event in Central London during July and August 1858 in which the hot weather exacerbated the smell of untreated human waste and industrial effluent that was present on the banks of the River Thames. The problem had bee ...

), he turned his attention to sanitary science, and invented what is called the dry earth system. In partnership with James Bannehr, he took out a patent for the process (No. 1316, dated 28 May 1860). Among his works bearing on the subject were: ‘The Advantages of the Dry Earth System,’ 1868; ‘The Impossibility overcome: or the Inoffensive, Safe, and Economical Disposal of the Refuse of Towns and Villages,’ 1870; ‘The Dry Earth System,’ 1871; ‘Town Refuse, the Remedy for Local Taxation,’ 1872, and ‘National Health and Wealth promoted by the general adoption of the Dry Earth System,’ 1873.
His system was adopted in private houses, in rural districts, in military camps, in many hospitals, and extensively in the

British Raj The British Raj (; from Hindi ''rāj'': kingdom, realm, state, or empire) was the rule of the British Crown on the Indian subcontinent; * * it is also called Crown rule in India, * * * * or Direct rule in India, * Quote: "Mill, who was him ...

Later years

He also wrote an important work, entitled ‘Eight Letters to Prince Albert, as President of the Council of the Duchy of Cornwall,’ in 1855, prompted by the condition of Fordington parish, belonging to the duchy. In two letters in

the Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' (f ...

of 24 February and 2 April 1874 he advocated a plan for extracting gas from

Kimmeridge Kimmeridge () is a small village and civil parish on the Isle of Purbeck, a peninsula on the English Channel coast in Dorset, England. It is situated about south of Wareham and west of Swanage. In 2013 the estimated population of the civil p ...

shale. He died at Fordington vicarage on 3 February 1880.

Family

Moule married Mary Mullett Evans in 1824; she died on 21 August 1877. They had eight sons: : Henry Joseph Moule (1825–1904), watercolour artist and friend of Thomas Hardy : George Evans Moule (1828–1912), missionary and Bishop of Mid China :Frederick John Moule (1830–1900), Vicar of St Peter's Church,

Yaxley, Cambridgeshire Yaxley is a village and civil parish in the Huntingdonshire district in Cambridgeshire, England. Yaxley lies approximately south of Peterborough, just off the A15 road. The village is located near the Hampton township, and is approximately thr ...

: Horatio Mosley Moule (1832–1873), short-lived friend of Thomas Hardy : Charles Walter Moule (1834–1921), librarian and president of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge :

Arthur Evans Moule Arthur Evans Moule (1836–1918) was an English missionary to China. He was the son of Henry Moule, vicar at Fordington, Dorset and his wife Mary. He was educated at the Malta Protestant College and the Church Missionary Society College, Is ...

(1836–1916), missionary & Archdeacon of Mid China :Christopher Cooper Moule (1838–1839), who died an infant :

Handley Carr Glyn Moule Handley Carr Glyn Moule (23 December 18418 May 1920) was an evangelical Anglican theologian, writer, poet, and Bishop of Durham from 1901 to 1920. Biography Moule was schooled at home before entering Trinity College, Cambridge in 1860, where ...

(1841–1920), a well-known theologian and scholar and the

Bishop of Durham The Bishop of Durham is the Anglican bishop responsible for the Diocese of Durham in the Province of York. The diocese is one of the oldest in England and its bishop is a member of the House of Lords. Paul Butler has been the Bishop of Durham ...

His grandson Arthur Christopher Moule was a noted sinologist. A great-grandson, C. F. D. Moule, was a notable Anglican theologian.

Publications

In addition to the works already mentioned, and many single sermons and pamphlets, Moule wrote *''Two Conversations between a Clergyman and one of his Parishioners on the Public Baptism of Infants'', 1843. *''Scraps of Sacred Verse'', 1846. *''Scriptural Church Teaching'', 1848. *''Christian Oratory during the first Five Centuries'', 1859. *''My Kitchen-Garden: by a Country Parson'', 1860. *''Manure for the Million. A Letter to the Cottage Gardeners of England'', 1861; 11th thousand, 1870. *''Self-supporting Boarding Schools and Day Schools for the Children of the Industrial Classes'', 1862; 3rd ed. 1871. *''Good out of Evil. A Series of Letters publicly addressed to Dr. Colenso'', 1863. *''Pardon and Peace: illustrated by ministerial Memorials, to which are added some Pieces of Sacred Verse'', 1865. *''Our Home Heathen, how can the Church of England get at them'', 1868. *''“These from the Land of Sinim.�
The Narrative of the Conversion of a Chinese Physician
zing, Seen Sang', 1868. *''Land for the Million to rent. Addressed to the Working Classes of England; by H. M.'', 1870. *''On the Warming of Churches'', 1870. *''The Science of Manure as the Food of Plants'', 1870. *''The Potatoe Disease, its Cause and Remedy. Three Letters to the Times'', 1872. *''Harvest Hymns'', 1877.

References

;Attribution * {{DEFAULTSORT:Moule, Henry 1801 births 1880 deaths People from Melksham Alumni of St John's College, Cambridge English inventors 19th-century English Anglican priests