Bourdaloue

A flexible toilet for women, where women are not restricted to one room to relieve themselves.

A bourdaloue is a boat-shaped vessel with a raised lip at one end and handle at the other, which was designed for traveling or long sermons. Bourdaloues helped women, wearing gigantic dresses, in order to meet their natural human function. Since the availability of public toilets was limited until the 19th century, a bourdaloue was used by many women. Instead of their mistresses, the maids were responsible for carrying as well as emptying the bourdaloue.

After the 19th century, due to the introduction of water closets inside homes and buildings, the use of bourdaloues dramatically decreased.

Sources

VIC, Jane Austen's World. "Regency Hygiene: The Bourdaloue." , 16 July 2012, https://janeaustensworld.com/2012/07/16/regency-hygiene-the-bourdaloue/ Accessed 2 January 2023.

Belle Assemblée: Or, Court and Fashionable Magazine, 1823, https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=mcERAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=editions:arylUsFTJlYC&hl=en&sa=X&ei=oGa1T87PAuLR0QXIq_jWDw#v=onepage&q&f=false https://archive.org/details/LaBelleAssembleVol.1718Jan-dec1818/page/n481/mode/2up Accessed 2 January 2023.