Henry Moule - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Henry Moule was a priest in the Church of England

Church of England

The Church of England is the officially established Christian church in England and the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The church considers itself within the tradition of Western Christianity and dates its formal establishment principally to the mission to England by St...

and inventor of the dry earth closet.

Education and priesthood

Moule, sixth son of George Moule, solicitor and banker, was born at Melksham

Melksham

Melksham is a medium-sized English town, lying on the River Avon. It lies in the county of Wiltshire.It is situated southeast of the city of Bath, south of Chippenham, west of Devizes and north of Warminster on the A350 national route. The 2001 UK census cited Melksham as having 20,000...

, Wiltshire

Wiltshire

Wiltshire is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset, Somerset, Hampshire, Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire. It contains the unitary authority of Swindon and covers...

, on 27 January 1801, and educated at Marlborough grammar school. He was elected a foundation scholar of St John's College, Cambridge

St John's College, Cambridge

St John's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college's alumni include nine Nobel Prize winners, six Prime Ministers, three archbishops, at least two princes, and three Saints....

, and graduated B.A. 1821 and M.A. 1826. He was ordained to the curacy of Melksham in 1823, and took sole charge of Gillingham, Dorset

Gillingham, Dorset

Gillingham is a town in the Blackmore Vale area of Dorset, England. The town is the most northerly in the county. It is 3 miles south of the A303 lying on the B3092 and B3081. It is near to the town of Shaftesbury which lies 7 miles to the south east. Neighbouring hamlets included Peacemarsh, Bay...

, in 1825. He was made vicar of Fordington

Fordington, Dorset

Fordington is a part of the town of Dorchester, Dorset; originally a separate village, it has now become a suburb. Taking its name from a ford across the River Frome, it grew up around the church of St. George , though the parish was much larger and surrounded Dorchester on three sides...

in the same county in 1829, and remained there for the remainder of his life.

For some years he undertook the duty of chaplain to the troops in Dorchester barracks, for whose use, as well as for a detached district of his own parish, he built in 1846, partly from the proceeds of his published ‘Barrack Sermons,’ 1845 (2nd edit. 1847), a church known as Christ Church, West Fordington. In 1833 his protests brought to an end the evils connected with the race meetings at Dorchester.

Dry earth closet

During the cholera

Cholera

Cholera is an infection of the small intestine that is caused by the bacterium Vibrio cholerae. The main symptoms are profuse watery diarrhea and vomiting. Transmission occurs primarily by drinking or eating water or food that has been contaminated by the diarrhea of an infected person or the feces...

epidemics of 1849 and 1854 his exertions were unwearied. Impressed by the insalubrity of the houses, especially in the summer of 1858 (the Great Stink) he turned his attention to sanitary science, and invented what is called the dry earth system

Composting toilet

A composting toilet is a dry toilet that using a predominantly aerobic processing system that treats excreta, typically with no water or small volumes of flush water, via composting or managed aerobic decomposition...

. In partnership with James Bannehr, he took out a patent for the process (No. 1316, dated 28 May 1860). Among his works bearing on the subject were: ‘The Advantages of the Dry Earth System,’ 1868; ‘The Impossibility overcome: or the Inoffensive, Safe, and Economical Disposal of the Refuse of Towns and Villages,’ 1870; ‘The Dry Earth System,’ 1871; ‘Town Refuse, the Remedy for Local Taxation,’ 1872, and ‘National Health and Wealth promoted by the general adoption of the Dry Earth System,’ 1873.
His system was adopted in private houses, in rural districts, in military camps, in many hospitals, and extensively in the British Raj

British Raj

British Raj was the British rule in the Indian subcontinent between 1858 and 1947; The term can also refer to the period of dominion...

Later years

He also wrote an important work, entitled ‘Eight Letters to Prince Albert, as President of the Council of the Duchy of Cornwall

Duchy of Cornwall

The Duchy of Cornwall is one of two royal duchies in England, the other being the Duchy of Lancaster. The eldest son of the reigning British monarch inherits the duchy and title of Duke of Cornwall at the time of his birth, or of his parent's succession to the throne. If the monarch has no son, the...

,’ in 1855, prompted by the condition of Fordington parish, belonging to the duchy. In two letters in the Times

The Times

The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...

of 24 February and 2 April 1874 he advocated a plan for extracting gas from Kimmeridge

Kimmeridge

Kimmeridge is a small village in the Purbeck district of Dorset, England, situated on the English Channel coast. Kimmeridge is about south of Wareham and about west of Swanage and is on the Isle of Purbeck...

shale

Shale

Shale is a fine-grained, clastic sedimentary rock composed of mud that is a mix of flakes of clay minerals and tiny fragments of other minerals, especially quartz and calcite. The ratio of clay to other minerals is variable. Shale is characterized by breaks along thin laminae or parallel layering...

. He died at Fordington vicarage on February 3, 1880.

Moule married Mary Mullett Evans in 1824; she died 21 August 1877. They had eight sons:

Henry Joseph Moule Henry Joseph Moule Henry Joseph Moule was an English watercolour artist, and friend of Thomas Hardy.He was born at Gillingham, Dorset on 25 September 1825, the eldest of eight sons of Henry Moule, and educated at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, gaining a B.A. in 1848 and M.A. in 1853...	1825 - 1904	Water Colour Artist and friend of Thomas Hardy Thomas Hardy Thomas Hardy, OM was an English novelist and poet. While his works typically belong to the Naturalism movement, several poems display elements of the previous Romantic and Enlightenment periods of literature, such as his fascination with the supernatural.While he regarded himself primarily as a...
George Evans Moule George Evans Moule George Evans Moule was an Anglican missionary in China and the first Anglican bishop of mid-China....	1828 - 1912	Missionary and Bishop of Mid China
Frederick John Moule	1830 - 1900	Vicar of St Peters Church - Yaxley
Horatio Mosley Moule Horatio Mosley Moule Horatio Mosley Moule was the fourth son of Henry Moule, and is best remembered as a friend of Thomas Hardy. He was generally known as Horace, to distinguish him from his Uncle Horatio, after whom he was named....	1832 - 1873	short-lived friend of Thomas Hardy
Charles Walter Moule Charles Walter Moule Charles Walter Moule was an English academic, who was librarian and president of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge.He was born on 9 February 1834 at Fordington, Dorchester, where his father Henry Moule was the incumbent...	1834 - 1921	librarian and president of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge Corpus Christi College, Cambridge Corpus Christi College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. It is notable as the only college founded by Cambridge townspeople: it was established in 1352 by the Guilds of Corpus Christi and the Blessed Virgin Mary...
Arthur Evans Moule Arthur Evans Moule Arthur Evans Moule was an English missionary to China. He was the son of Henry Moule, vicar at Fordington, Dorset, and was educated at Malta Protestant College and the Church Missionary Society, Islington College.-Missionary in China:...	1836 - 1916	Missionary & Archdeacon of Mid China
Christopher Cooper Moule	1838 - 1839	Died an Infant
Handley Carr Glyn Moule Handley Moule Handley Carr Glyn Moule was an evangelical Anglican theologian, writer, poet, and Bishop of Durham from 1901-1920....	1841 - 1920	a well-known theologian and scholar and the Bishop of Durham

A grandson, C. F. D. Moule

C. F. D. Moule

Charles Francis Digby Moule CBE FBA , known to his friends as Charlie but professionally by his initials C. F. D. Moule, was an Anglican priest and theologian...

, was a notable Anglican theologian.

Publications

In addition to the works already mentioned, and many single sermons and pamphlets, Moule wrote

Two Conversations between a Clergyman and one of his Parishioners on the Public Baptism of Infants, 1843.
Scraps of Sacred Verse, 1846.
Scriptural Church Teaching, 1848.
Christian Oratory during the first Five Centuries, 1859.
My Kitchen-Garden: by a Country Parson, 1860.
Manure for the Million. A Letter to the Cottage Gardeners of England, 1861; 11th thousand, 1870.
Self-supporting Boarding Schools and Day Schools for the Children of the Industrial Classes, 1862; 3rd ed. 1871.
Good out of Evil. A Series of Letters publicly addressed to Dr. Colenso, 1863.
Pardon and Peace: illustrated by ministerial Memorials, to which are added some Pieces of Sacred Verse, 1865.
Our Home Heathen, how can the Church of England get at them, 1868.
“These from the Land of Sinim.” The Narrative of the Conversion of a Chinese Physician [Dzing, Seen Sang], 1868.
Land for the Million to rent. Addressed to the Working Classes of England; by H. M., 1870.
On the Warming of Churches, 1870.
The Science of Manure as the Food of Plants, 1870.
The Potatoe Disease, its Cause and Remedy. Three Letters to the Times, 1872.
Harvest Hymns, 1877.

Education and priesthood

Dry earth closet

Later years

Publications

See also