The History Forum

By, Wendy Storey, HIST 3030 Student A toilet or septic tank, were not common household’s terms in Barbados in the post-emancipation period. Common phrases for excreta disposal were “night soil”, “totsi”, “potty”, “pit –toilet”, privy pit or latrine. Frank Ramsey, a Barbadian physician, tells us “there was no water carriage system of sewage disposal, nor any undertaking by any sanitary authority to remove excreta.” Excreta disposal was solely a household duty until policies were created around the 1970’s to ensure proper methods of discarding it, which meant that disposal was not always disposed properly but in a way the resident saw fit. There were several methods of disposal adopted by the Barbadian population. According to Ramsey “water closet emptying into a closed cesspit; closet or privy with a cesspit in the earth or limestone subsoil; a pail closet emptied into the sea; or a keg or tin in a corner of the yard with an oat bag as an improvised screen.” Even though these methods...