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General => The Common Room => The Lighter Side => Topic started by: chiddicks on Wednesday 11 May 22 18:54 BST (UK)
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We sometimes come across unusual occupations or some that have long since died out, what's the most unusual occupation you have discovered whilst researching your tree?
For me, it's the rather macabre "Rabbit Killer"
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For me it's onion peeler. I can't imagine having to do that all day, every day!
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For me it's onion peeler. I can't imagine having to do that all day, every day!
You need these
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;) 8)
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Mine is a female listed in 1901 as a female "Medium" and "Herbalist"
Carol
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I like "farmerette" because, of course, a woman couldn't be a farmer even if what she was doing was running a farm.
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Sagger maker’s bottom knocker!
In the pottery industry.
Viktoria.
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My great grandad (in Cheshire) was a Night Soil Labourer- he used to come along and shovel poo and take it away from houses.
One of his son's,my mum's uncle was a knocker upper.
He used to walk along street by street with a long pole and bang on each house's window in the early morning to wak people up.
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Not one of mine but when I was helping a visitor to the Heritage Centre where I am a volunteer, the lady told me that one of her ancestors was a Rate Collector, she was taken aback to learn that the said ancestor was actually a Rat Catcher She wasn't impressed. ;D
Carol
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Carol
You’ve just reminded me of an ancestor who was a chemist (pharmacist). His wife died and he turned to drink. Have a picture of him as a rat catcher.
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Carol
You’ve just reminded me of an ancestor who was a chemist (pharmacist). His wife died and he turned to drink. Have a picture of him as a rat catcher.
I would love to see it ;D
Carol
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Just looking at one of my OH's ancestral couples in Guelph, Ontario in 1891 - one of their sons was a "butcher to kill" and another was a piano key maker.
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Sagger maker’s bottom knocker!
In the pottery industry.
Viktoria.
There are some wonderful and amusing occupations here, but have to say that a Sagger Maker's bottom knocker is priceless ;D
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Something to do with when unfired pots are put in the kiln,a sort of support I think and the bottom had to be removed to free the pots when fired .
It was on TV years ago, “What’s My Line?”
About early 1960’s.
Viktoria , you wouldn’t forget something like that would you ;D
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My husbands Great Uncle was a Bottom Maker, he moulded the bottoms for saggers in the pottery industry in Stoke. My distant relative was a Horse Marine but nothing to do with the Royal Marines sadly, he used his legs to propel the barges through tunnels on the canals, when horses couldn't be used.
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I don't know why but one that always brings a smile to my face is "custard powder manufacturer". It just sounds such a happy occupation.
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Oh that is straight out of a Goon Show script!
Like the graving dock they had in the middle of the Sahara ,where according to Bluebottle ,the winds were “ Light to variable”.
Said dock financed by The First National Bank of Jerusalem” ———-Neddie’s aside —————————“ No mean feat in itself!”
I can hear it now:- “ The exploding Custard Powder”.
Well not the actual explosion but the script , they had an exploding Christmas Pudding ,so exploding Custard Powder compliments that.
I am laughing already ,so if a yellow van pulls up it might be The Custard
Express or Custard’s last stand!
I don’t know what I am talking about .
Time for a cuppa.
Viktoria.
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I can hear it now:- “ The exploding Custard Powder”.
Well not the actual explosion but the script , they had an exploding Christmas Pudding ,so exploding Custard Powder compliments that.
Surprisingly, custard powder IS actually explosive. It's light enough to allow plenty of air between grains. Apply an ignition source and it burns very quickly. Lots of other powders, such as cement, do similar. Somebody once proposed running an internal combustion engine on powdered coal, but then found that the ash was very abrasive. How much a gallon is custard powder?
Mr. Bird invented his eponymous custard powder because his wife had an allergy to eggs, which I used to think was a recently invented ailment.
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Surprisingly, custard powder IS actually explosive. It's light enough to allow plenty of air between grains. Apply an ignition source and it burns very quickly. Lots of other powders, such as cement, do similar. Somebody once proposed running an internal combustion engine on powdered coal, but then found that the ash was very abrasive. How much a gallon is custard powder?
Mr. Bird invented his eponymous custard powder because his wife had an allergy to eggs, which I used to think was a recently invented ailment.
They exploded white flour on Monday's edition of Food Unwrapped and had to do it under controlled conditions.
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It is surprising what is explosive as you say and what is easily combustible .
Who would think that fine cotton fibres which floated about textile mills in great profusion were?
Hence the horrendous job done by six year old children ,creeping beneath moving machinery to collect them , before they built up to any amount .
We do not know we are born!
Viktoria.
P.S.Bird’s Custard Powder is but a shadow of its former self .
Weak.pale, tasteless unless you use twice the amount formerly needed to make a nice sweet sauce.
They leave nothing alone! >:( >:(
Viktoria.
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My brother thought that gawd-awful custard powder was the greatest thing in England. Our aunt sent him a care package of the stuff for Christmas.
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My brother thought that gawd-awful custard powder was the greatest thing in England. Our aunt sent him a care package of the stuff for Christmas.
;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D
In the 1950s-1960s there was a chap serving in H. M. Forces and every day he'd eat a fried kipper (bloater) smothered in hot custard. ;D ;D
We didn't eat Birds custard until that company bought out Monk & Glass custard, which had been owned by comedian Bob Monkhouse's father RIP
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Erato, it was a substitute for proper egg custard sauce .
Mr Bird’s wife ,an invalid, could not eat eggs so he concocted the substitute we know and love!
In wartime when sugar was rationed ,well after the war really, Mum made it with Golden Syrup which was not rationed ,it was truly delicious with a slight caramel flavour ,on rhubarb ,stewed apples or other fruit ,fruit pies and hot steamed puddings - mmmmmmmm.
Make it with a good portion of double cream and it is really good in a trifle .
We had to adapt a lot !
Another unusual occupation, knocker upper, people so poor that they could not afford an alarm clock paid a tiny amount each week to someone who did-
they had a long stick and tapped on bedroom windows until someone opened the window and acknowledged the knocker upper.
People had to be at the mills for six am.
A minute or two late could mean the witholding of half a day’s pay.
Already on starvation wages ,half a day’s pay lost was disastrous .
As said before, we do not know we are born!
Viktoria.
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My grandfather claimed to be a Wedding cake icing decorator. Strange occupation for an ex miner.
From op
Does anyone know exactly how a Rabbit Killer killed rabbits ?
Bird’s eye view
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bird's_Custard#History
‘ Bottom Maker moulding the bottoms for saggers’ sounds like it could be a plumb job ;)
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My great grandfather and his eldest son were lamplighters this may have involved some knocker upping too
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We had a lot of custard served with various stewed fruit, fruit pies or crumble, but our Mum made her own, she always said the "Packet stuff tasted too yellow" ???
However, it became a standing joke for a while, if we said we didn't like sprouts it was because they were too green, carrots were too orange Etc.... ;D
Carol
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It is surprising what is explosive as you say and what is easily combustible .
Who would think that fine cotton fibres which floated about textile mills in great profusion were?
Hence the horrendous job done by six year old children ,creeping beneath moving machinery to collect them , before they built up to any amount .
We do not know we are born!
Viktoria.
P.S.Bird’s Custard Powder is but a shadow of its former self .
Weak.pale, tasteless unless you use twice the amount formerly needed to make a nice sweet sauce.
They leave nothing alone! >:( >:(
Viktoria.
There is a list of many substances which are or may be explosive in a finely powdered form
https://tinyurl.com/yt6y3hzr
Cheers
Guy
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Ref fire hazards:-
In 1987 there was a catastrophic fire at King's Cross St Pancras tube station, a major interchange
What surprised many passengers was the speed at which the fire travelled along wall tiles.
The fact was that the fire was enabled to expand into other areas by the dust on the walls.
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Fires were often started in cotton mills ,especially where spinning was done.
Loose fine fibres from the raw cotton floated in the air( causing bysinosis -(lung cancer) and were a fire hazard ,as a spark from the steel spinning frames would set them alight ,much of the fibrous dust gathered under the moving spinning frames and collected in soft rolls,little children of six years had to crawl under the moving machinery to gather them up.
Viktoria.