Sir John Harington installs the first water closet in England.
A courtier, author and master of art, Kelston has become a prominent member of Elizabeth’s court, and is known as her 'saucy Godson', but because of his poetry and other writings, he has fallen in and out of favor with the Queen.
The work for which he is best known today, A New Discourse of a Stale Subject, called the Metamorphosis of Ajax (1596) is in fact a political allegory, a 'device' in the contemporary sense of an emblem, not in the modern sense of a mechanical device.
It is a coded attack, as his autograph marginal notes make clear, on the 'stercus' or excrement that is poisoning society with torture and state-sponsored 'libells' against his relatives Thomas Markham and Ralph Sheldon.
The work enjoys considerable popularity on its publication in 1596.
The book describes a forerunner to the modern flush toilet installed at his house at Kelston.
The design has a flush valve to let water out of the tank, and a wash-down design to empty the bowl.
The Ajax will not be taken up on a wide scale in England, but will be adopted in France under the name Angrez.