Henry Moule

Henry Moule /ˈmoʊl/ (1801–1880) was a priest in the Church of England and inventor of the dry earth toilet, a type of pail closet.

He was made vicar of St George's at Fordington in the same county in 1829, and remained there for the remainder of his life.

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.

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.

In two letters in the Times of 24 February and 2 April 1874 he advocated a plan for extracting gas from Kimmeridge shale.