RECENT HISTORY.

The new chairman owned Crapper & Co. for the next twenty-nine years but did little with the business. Thankfully he kept it alive until it was acquired by its current owners Simon Kirby and Warrick Knott, English enthusiasts with a passion for the great heritage of the famous old firm. Simon, an historian of the bathroom industry and (believe or not) a collector of antique loos, basins, taps and even baths, explains that for him Thomas Crapper & Co. is the ultimate prize!

The current owners have gathered around them like-minded, committed individuals with their own separate specialities and their joint aim is to treat the company and reputation with the respect deserved.

Now based at Shakespeare's Stratford-on-Avon, the traditions of quality, attention to detail and service are maintained as strictly as they ever were. Exact re-creations of the sanitaryware of 100 years ago are produced, mostly by hand and all in Great Britain as in the past. At the base in Warwickshire, there are a few products on display, but not everything, as Crapper & Co. now sell through a network of specialist retailers both at home and abroad, as well as by 'mail order' through the printed brochure and the web-site.  There are always a few restored, antique W.C. pans available for sale; rare and beautiful Victorian creations covered with ornate, coloured transfer decoration. There is also a large private collection of some extraordinary antique sanitaryware, including Crapper goods, various manufacturers' catalogues and tiny salesmen's samples. Pride of place, of course, is the original company seal and the leather-bound account books and minute books. Some of these contain Thomas Crapper's own delightful 'copper-plate' handwriting.

All involved with the company hope that Thomas Crapper would be greatly pleased to see his company prospering and creating such fine and exclusive products in the twenty-first century, even though he would probably consider everything to be rather old fashioned. But, after all, that is the point!

These are a few of the original accounts from our archives, some of which date from the establishment of the firm in 1861.

The leather-bound, gold-tooled ledgers contain entries in Mr. Crapper's 'copperplate' handwriting. Also shown are several of the founder's Victorian patents (bottom left), a few old catalogues and the company's official seal (centre left). The latter is still used for endorsing documents and share certificates.