Name/Title
Enamel wash set on stand from Uckfield Police Station c1904 - 1920Entry/Object ID
5Description
Black metal wash stand, containing white enamel metal washing set comprising: a washing basin, a water jug, a soap dish, two flasks, two mugs, and a bucket with a lid.Use
For washing where no sink or other facilities exist.Context
Before the days of bathrooms with running water and plumbing, wash stands of various types were a common feature throughout the Victorian and Edwardian periods. Water would be heated elsewhere and taken to wherever someone was to wash in a jug, the waste being taken away for emptying elsewhere.
This particular set of items came from Uckfield Police station, which was constructed in 1904 (Kyrke 1969 page 122). It was probably used to allow prisoners to wash in their cells and being portable could be carried in as and when required. The cells at Uckfield did have toilets so the pail would not have been used for toilet waste but they would not have had sinks in them. By this period it was common practice for police stations to be constructed with toilets in their cells and Uckfield Police station was part of a 20th century re-building programme within East Sussex Constabulary that saw new police stations built at Bexhill in 1903, Portslade in 1909 and Crowborough in 1910. Even the existing male cells in Brighton Town Hall, which were constructed in 1871 had toilets and are also thought to have had small sinks as well, as shown on the original plans.
The flasks that are with this particular wash set may well have been for giving prisoners hot drinks, they are not thought to be connected with washing.