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General => The Common Room => The Lighter Side => Topic started by: AnneMc on Tuesday 16 August 05 02:15 BST (UK)
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Does any one remember the rag and bone man??? I was out to lunch today with my friend from Scotland and a Canadian friend and I don't know how we came up with the topic of the rag and bone man but my Canadian friend had no idea what we were talking about. Must say my Scottish friend and I had a good chat and I can remember that I took my grandmother's washing to the rag and bone man as my grandmother told me she had no old rags to give him. She had to chase him down the street to get her washing back!!!!
My Canadian friend asked what did they do with the rags? We thought about it and we had no idea. Does anyone know??
Anne
Canada
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Hi Anne,
Just read your post and it took me back many years. l remember as a kid the Rag and Bone men with their horse and cart. Thinking about it, l would say it was a form of recycling, today we have charities that have op shops, the rags which were no good to wear l think would go to factories for cleaning material. Also the coal was delivered by horse and cart.
Jean
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Anne,
I remember the rag and bone man to the point we used to hide old clothes etc and give them to him when he called for sixpence and a lolly ( early 1970's) Shame they are no longer about.
Now to answer your question.
Rags were and are still occasionally used to make paper. When they are torn into tiny pieces they are left in a liquid until the individual cotton threads have turned to mash ( as they do when recycling paper). These were then dried out on frames. The quality of the paper wasn't that good but it was a cheap. This is one of the things I learnt when researching my 5 x Great grandfather who was a master paper maker in Derbyshire circa 1800 - 1814
Back to reminiscing. I used to love watching the local R&B man sharpening scissors and knives. Those sparks were like drugs to an addict to me. I guess thats why I have a fascination with Pyro-techniks. It is a shame they are no longer around :(
Rob
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Hi Everyone:
Thanks for the replys. I did suggest that the rags were used to make paper but my two friends did not think so. Another thing we talked about was bread and dripping !! I just love that have not had that in years. I must say my canadian friend often wonders about my friend and I. I come from England and Phyllis from Scotland so when we get together you never know what we will come up with. I must say my Canadian husband some times wonders about my food tastes!! He can't understand me liking a chip butty. But my two children like them. I have passed on some of my tastes to them. But then I can;t understand him liking peanut butter sandwhiches!!
Anne
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AnneMc,youve done it now!STIRRED the old ragbag of a memory,jam jars,rags+bones,any that would re-cycle,Old Steptoe +Son was the best programme to explain all this wonderful world !!!
Our local dealer had a miniature carousel,or for those not so daring at 5 y.o,a Goldfish,bring your own bowl.Could go on ,never ending!!
When the younger ones want another' old fashioned' meal try the boiled tripe +onions,cow heel soup or ox tail with stale crusts and dripping!that should keep 'em happy.
Loved it!!Goggy. ;D
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Where I grew up used to have the Rag and Bone man on horse and cart. Lived on a very step hill, so the horse and cart would be left grazing while they went door to door. Many neighbors hoped for a deposit from the horse to put on their gardens. Also had the knife sharpener with his cart and stone. Scrap Iron, would also come around. Dad had a motor bike frame that this scrap iron guy wanted, thankfully even as a child I shoowed him off. Thanks goodness, my Dad was rebuilding an old BSA bike, I would have been blood and bone if I had let him take that. Gypsies used to come around selling the wooden dolly pegs, or tell your fortune if you crossed their palm with a piece of silver. We also had a fruit and veggie wagon come around once a week.
Bread and dripping I used to eat with my dad, in the kitchen with the door shut as my mum couldn't bare to watch us. Dad still eats hock, chickling (not to sure how its spelt) Tripe, onions with parsley sauce YUCK! stuffed heart YUCK! just writing that I can smell them being cooked.
I've given my children a few bad habits, bread and gravy after a nice roast dinner, dunking your biscuits in tea or coffee.
There are a lot of old traditions or way of life in the past that has changed, and future generations will never know it, shame!
Jane
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Hi Jane:
I still have bread and gravy. Another thing I liked was potty meat!!
Anne
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Hi Anne,
What's potty meat? maybe I know it as something else.
I crave on occasions black pudding, I have never found a real good black pudding here in Auss, or smokey bacon crisps to have a nice crusty cob. Its amazing when you can't get certain things how bad you want them.
I knew someone years ago, who was just going crazy for a Marks & Spencer, cheesecake I think it was. Anyway paid a fortune to have one flown in, he sat down and said, thought it always tasted better than that!!!
Jane
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I remember Bread and Dripping and my mom's favourites roll mops (pickled herring) - the smell was awful.
My mother remembers milk being... delivered is quite the right word. It was brought round in churns on horse and cart and you took out your enamel jug and the milkman used a measured dipper to get the milk from the churn and pour it into your jug. This was then covered with wet Muslin to keep it fresh.
Everyone on the street grew their own produce, often including rhubarb and there was much competition for anything the horse left behind. My Grandfather had an intense rivalry with a neighbor, Billy, a very short little man. When the milkman cam round my Gran would keep watch and when she saw the horse 'doing its business' would shout for Grandad.."Bert!, Bert" the horse..."
Grandad would run for the door, grab the bucket and shovel that was kept handy and rush out to claim the prize. More often than not, however, he would be beaten to it by Billy and he'd stomp back into the house muttering "Damn Billy, he knows before the horse does when its going to do something..." ;D
Just how do we archive these memories and pass them on to our kids.....
Adrian
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What memories all this has conjured up of my London child-hood. I still like bread and dripping - plenty of salt on top ! I remember our rag-and-bone man always wore a cap and a scruffy old muffler round his neck - can see him now.
My mother would often tell me of the street-vendors in the London of her day. One of her favourites was the 'cat-meat ' man - ' Come and get yer cat-meat ' was the clarion call.
What a pity most of this is lost - but thankfully not the bread and dripping .
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My memories of the rag and bone man include receiving a "donkey stone " for the old clothes. Said stones were cream or white and I always had to ask for the white one. Mum used these to stone the doorstep and window sills. One day the horse stumbled in the street and all the children gathered round to watch the vet stitch the horses knee. All this was happening in the sixties in Manchester.
Linda
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Hmmmm Bread and Dripping I still eat today. Some of the local butchers still produce it. Potty meat or potted meat or paste as more know it today I still love. As for mopping up the gravy after a meal ......well I eat at work now and I always look longingly at the plate and wish I had a loaf in front of me. Old habits die hard. Apart from the dripping my kids have taken up the old habits.
As a Yorkshireman the one thing I despise now but loved as a kid was drinking tea from the saucer and not the cup. Always have bikkies though to dunk although you can guarantee every cup as a sodden rich tea at the bottom cos it broke off
Rob
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I remember getting Goody when Iwas sick
it was bread with boiled milk and a sprinkle of sugar.
remember going to the local farmer with a bucket for our milk
all we got all our water from the stream down the end of the road
ah the memories
Anne
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Emmeline. what a beautiful picture.
We used to get goldfish off our Rag and Bone Man.
Don't mention donkey stones to me. That was my Sunday morning job as a child, Donkeystoning the front steps (we had three, living in a shop). My other job was boiling and scrubbing all the snotty hankies ugh! I had two brothers and my Dad's to scrub, I remember retching everytime I had to do it. Thank goodness for the invention of the tissue.
Su :-[
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Ugh snotty hankies - been there and done that Su but loved ironing them afterwards... . I also used to help Mum black- lead the kitchen fire/oven. I had to wear one of her 'pinnies which came down to my feet.
Some favourite childhood foods - black pudding and potted meat (both of which I still love), chittlings and bag (I think they belong with the tripe family). We also had "cold fish" - didn't have the same batter as fish-shop fish. It was sold at the tripe shop and tasted delicious.
Swampduck
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Rag and boneman
I always remember my sister running down the street and coming back with a gold fish. minus her knickers. mom alway went mad at her every time she did it.
I'm sure if she got the chance she would do it again & she is fifty odd now. ::) ::)
Wellie
P/s whoopee I'm a 100 today
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Congratulations on being 100!!
You made me laugh so hard about your sister - thanks I needed that today!! ;D
Annie
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Bless me little cotton sock's!!
you wont find info like this on any other site,and nor wiil you find the humour that goes with it!!
Now then,about the Salt Seller,no the man with the handcart with large blocks of salt on it?
you bought it by weight,put it into a salt box in kitchen,and scraped off it as needed,for the table was a salt pot,into which you placed a small spoon,or if' 'blue collar',the tip of a clean knife to sprinkle on the meal.
Not only but also the Chippy salt shakers had large holes in 'em,i believe this was sea salt,just dont taste the same now!!
As one Aussie said,Black Puddings are a dead loss!
Slavering,Goggy. :'( :'( :'(
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Wellie!!
Really 100??Congratulations,many of 'em,get your telegram from H.RH?
Goggy. :D :D :D
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Can I add th cry "Rags, bones, rabbit skins".
Any suggestions for uses?
Rags for paper maybe, bone for the china industry, rabbit skins for the felt for hattters.
Off topic: Hatters were mad 'cos the fumes from the mercury they used affected their brains.
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Hi all
I can remember when I was a child I would sometimes go out with my uncle Terry who had a round in Peckham S.London. He never called himself a rag and bone man though, he said he was a 'Totter' and he used to go 'Totting'.
Mick
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In Liverpool and even when we moved out to the "new town" of Kirkby, we still got the rag and bone man around and he exchanged the rags for either blue and white striped crockery or a balloon if there weren't enough for a cup.
Even though this isn't the Book Club thread I think some of you might find Helen Forrester's "A cuppa tea and an aspirin" will give a lot of background about the Courts which were in Liverpool which thank god we don't have now. The main character used to collect rags or "fents" as they were called, washed, ironed and hemmed them to sell on again to men with greasy or dirty jobs. She was even doing the job up until WWII and trying to get big enough pieces to use as blackout curtains.
A lot of talk about bread and dripping, but I haven't seen anybody mention a sugar butty, which used to tide us over until dinner was ready.
Mary
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There was still a rag-and-bone man
in Blackburn Lancashire about twenty years ago.
He used to call at my place of work at that time
for scrap metal. I worked in a car parts place.
Dont know if he is still around because I have
changed jobs many times since then.
Jinks
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Oh what memories! The rag and bone man and his horse (which also provided a useful service), bread (or toast) and dripping - my father had it for breakfast every day of his life, the milk cart and even the water cart! What about the Onion Seller on his bike and the policeman on his beat; anyone remember those blue police boxes?
Jill
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Yes Mickgall - You are quite right about the rag and bone man sometimes being called a Totter.
Casting my mind back ( also to Peckham) I remember that still in the late 1940's for a funeral procession one would see a hearse with it's team of horses - all with plumes on their heads - driver with top-hat on his. Much posher than the rag and bone man ! Was it the same elsewhere ?
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Right up until a few years ago, some funerals which took place at Our Lady and all the Angels and All the Saints in Fox Street, Liverpool, still had those horse drawn carriages. The church, which served a part of the Great Homer Street area, was famous for large affairs and wakes. It was proposed to close the church a while ago, but such was its popularity to people even outside Liverpool, that it remained open, don't know how long for though
Mary
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I can't say I remember blue police boxes, but as a Pc in the 60's I did use blue pillar phones. These were like a small lighthouse on a pillar and the blue light on top would flash as a metalic bell clanged to summon the beat Bobby. In those days 8-10 men would walk the City streets, with one man doing a continual circuit of the main centre streets, so if you needed a policeman in the town centre, one would walk by in less than five minutes! Oh by the way, "Bobbies on bicycles two by two" as the song went was almost true, one by one the outer beats were patrolled on a bike.
I can remember my Gran buying milk straight from the churn on the milkmans float.
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rag and bone man ..... had no idea what we were talking about.
"Steptoe and Son" was all about the rag and bone trade - well vaguely anyway. I'm sure you could get a video for your freind. Mind, watching it now it would be as feeble as " 'allo, 'allo". Funny when it was new, but 20 years down the road .......
http://www.bbc.co.uk/comedy/guide/articles/s/steptoeandson_7776035.shtml
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i remember the Rag and bone man, who came around Alvaston, Derby in the late 60s, he used to shout " Rag and Bone, any old Iron", people used to follow him for the horses do, to put on the garden, i have seen him recently, as a chap i now know is his Son and although he is in his 80s he still looks the same in his trilby Hat as he did in the 60s, happy memories
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MaryA,sorry to butt in here,have you been in to Scottie Press?Ithink that Church get's a good write up there,plus lot's more enjoyable stuff.
Cheer's Goggy. ;)
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"Steptoe and Son" was all about the rag and bone trade - well vaguely anyway. I'm sure you could get a video for your freind. Mind, watching it now it would be as feeble as " 'allo, 'allo". Funny when it was new, but 20 years down the road .......
Hmmm I find Steptoes to be funnier now than they were back in the 70's. Manybe this is because I understand the jokes now where as a child I didn't. This is one comedy that will stand the passage of time and shows that clean comedy was and can be the best around
Rob
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you have stirred up memories now
does anyone remember the pig bins where you put your waste food in
and the pig man would come round to collect it, it used to stink like todays dust carts, but fed the pigs i suppose
jake
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made better bacon tho',and you could chew it,you didnt have to inhale it!
much better than the rubbish we get from pig's fed on mushy cardboard,whatever!
Goggy. ;D
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MaryA,sorry to butt in here,have you been in to Scottie Press?Ithink that Church get's a good write up there,plus lot's more enjoyable stuff.
Cheer's Goggy. ;)
Hi Goggy yes, at the risk of veering off topic, this is the link for anybody who has an interest in Liverpool history and places http://www.scottiepress.org/main.htm
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Yes, rags exchanged for a donkey stone, I too had to do the steps Su,
He did have goldfish, but we never got one.
Bread and dripping, which I never ate, untill I moved to London in the 60s and it came round the office on the tea trolly, so I tried it, to think all the years I had refused it, it was smashing.
We had the pig swill man as well, and every Christmas we got a leg of pork from him in payment for saving the swill.(vegetable peelings mainly) I think.
And the coal man, and the chimney sweep,
I was going to say happy days, but I am not so sure,
Jakky
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Some of the rags were recycled. The resulting cloth was known as Shoddy - hence shoddy goods. They were fine until you wore them out in the rain apparently!
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Thanks ringwarrior - I had never heard before where the term 'shoddy' came from. One learns something every day - especially on Rootschat !
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;D ;D
Just came across this topic, and thought you might like to see a photo of a Rag & Bone Man in Wigan, Lancashire, circa. 1900.
;D ;D ;D
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I'm very envious of those of you who could understand what the totters were shouting. The totter who went round Tooting (S. London) in the 1960s had a call which sounded like "Eee Erpp" - completely unintelligible. I seem to remember he had balloons and clothespegs.
Philip
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My Gran used to go bonkers at the rag and bone man - he used to give the kids liquorice or bouncy balls if we brought out some rag for him. However, he used to shout "lick er arse" and "rub er balls" - odd bloke! My gran, a tough Manchester woman, would come out screaming to get him away from us - funny now, but all I wanted was some liquorice- thank God for Grannies!
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Thank you Mobo for the wonderful photo of the Rag & Bone man. I wonder whether there are other similar photos around ?
Recently learnt I had a Gt.Gt.Grandpa born Wigan, Lancashire c1825 - added to the interest.
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;D ;D
Glad you liked it Emmeline. What was the name of your Wigan ancestors ??
I love the lady in the glorious hat - who was she ?
:D :D :D
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Hi Mobo - The lady in the photo was my mother's mother - my Grandma whom I knew well when a small girl in London. Emma Louisa married a Hodgkinson and it was her husband's grandpa who was born in Wigan - Robert Hodgkinson. He was an engine driver and eventually ended up in Battersea.
Have not yet been able to find out about his early days.
Emma's 17 grandchildren are now spread around the world but glad to say the bonds are still strong !
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;D ;D
I only asked as I have Wigan ancestors - but sadly none of them married a Hodgkinson, as far as I know (see my website on the profile below)
:D :D
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Dear Mobo - I enjoyed looking at your web-site - particularly the photos. Thank you.
No doubt Robert Hodgkinson and kin will keep my little grey cells going for a while yet. Fun though !
Kind regards..........
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Rag and Bone men, Milkmen with their horse and cart - yes, I recall them too. My children can remember visiting the Rag & Boneman's horse in his stable round the back, in Notting Hill, London, around 1978.
Muehsam reply 4
Dad still eats hock, chickling (not to sure how its spelt) Tripe, onions with parsley sauce
Chickling=Chitterlings=Pigs' large intestines ( the small intestines are used as sausage casings).
I think we used to have them as they were cheap on the rationing. Can't get them now - but in France they still use them to make Andouilette sausages, which we buy at every opportunity.
Hock and trotter, yes.
Tripe - I agree with you there, though a favorite meal of my mother's.
Stuffed lambs' hearts - Can't get them here unless one buys a load of "boff" which includes the lights, for dog food.
Black pudding - local substitute much the same, but without the pearl barley.
They are quite into "eat all the pig apart from its squeak" here - traditional pig-killing day coming up - 1st November.
Watermusic
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??? And what cobbled lane did your local Rag & Bone man's Horse & Wagon go clip clop, or were you too busy fantasizing about the Galloping Hoofbeats
of old "Black Bess" in her nightly run from Highgate to Hampstead Heath? ;D
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Portabello Road - but I don't think the cry of "Any old iron!" brought out the antiques
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Portabello Road - but I don't think the cry of "Any old iron!" brought out the antiques
I wonder if our MABB relatives in Dorset every heard the term
"Any old iron"?
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Dear Zelley - here I am in NZ amusing myself by giving a rendition of ' Any old iron ' as taught me by my mother years and years and years ago. Every word came back to me ' just like that ' and there are quite a few other old songs I still remember. My father once taught me ' Put your feet on the mantleshelf ' - another gem !
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Wasn't that Lonnie Donegan? My favourite was Does your Chewing Gum Lose it's Flavour on the Bedpost Overnight, another one whose words stick in your mind for ever!
Mary
PS Now you've got my son looking at me very strangely while I'm singing "can you catch it on your tonsils and you heave it left and right" ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D
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Dear Mary Anne - I think the songs I quoted were old Music Hall favourites.
It's nice to retain these bits of history - even Lonnie Donegan !
Best wishes and keep singing.
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Dear Zelley - here I am in NZ amusing myself by giving a rendition of ' Any old iron ' as taught me by my mother years and years and years ago. Every word came back to me ' just like that ' and there are quite a few other old songs I still remember. My father once taught me ' Put your feet on the mantleshelf ' - another gem !
Well if it is songs we want while thinking about the Rag & Bone Man or
the Gypsy Flower Lady:
"Tavern In The Town", "Don't Dilly Dally", "Yes. We Have No Bananas",
"Whistle A Happy Tune", "put On Your Old Grey Bonnet"
and any tune by Vera Lynn.
:D ;D
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;D I don't know if the dustman, chimney sweep boy, or the rag & bone man sung these close contact songs, but they add to the thread:
"Hands, Knees And Boomps A Daisy", "Cheek To Cheek" and
"Let's Face The Music And Dance"
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;D ;D
Another to add to the collection - A Rag & Bone man in Lincolnshire, circa 1904
;D ;D
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;D ;D
Another to add to the collection - A Rag & Bone man in Lincolnshire, circa 1904
;D ;D
A "little bit of allright!"
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I love the wheels - old mangle handles!
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I used to love bread and dripping as a child, used to eat it with my dad, my mum thought it was horrible. Another childhood memory, jelly and carnation milk on a sunday tea, we used to dip bread and butter into that also, my kids would die if i made them eat anything like that.
Those were the days eh!! :D
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I remember getting a lovely little fluffy chick from the rag and bone man and named it Peggy,it grew into the
nastiest cockerel ever, tasted nice though!
Incidently,my g.g.grandparents were "rag and bone
gatherers"
Jacqueline.
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I remember getting a lovely little fluffy chick from the rag and bone man and named it Peggy,it grew into the
nastiest cockerel ever, tasted nice though!
Incidently,my g.g.grandparents were "rag and bone
gatherers"
Jacqueline.
Poor Peggy ;)
Ermmmm has this question been asked? What sort of bones did they collect and what did they do with them? And am I sure I want to know the answer?
Mary
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I think it was any old animal bones and they used to sent them to the glue factory?
Watermusic
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Bone is used in the making of bone china but only a very small quantity of the thousands of tons produced in this country every year.Most of it was turned into meat and bone meal, some of this product was used as a fertilizer but for the last fifty years or so a lot of it has been incorperated into cattle feed and it was this practice of feeding back to cattle their own remains that hes led to the recent BSE crisis. This practice has now been stopped but not before a great deal of damage has been done. Bone is used for many many things, once it has been through the rendering process, along with other animal waste products: soap,wine gums, lipstick are just a few
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I think it was any old animal bones and they used to sent them to the glue factory?
Watermusic
Thanks for those replies - glue makes sense but ewwww whiffy!
Wine gums? but they are my favourites!!!
I said I wasn't sure I wanted to know ;D
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I 've just remembered something my dad told me about
when he was youngster in the early 1930's.
His mom's reply to his request for some rag's for the r & b
man was
" You jump on the cart, then he will have rags and bones"
Poor thing!
Jacqueline.
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An excellent thread that has had me saying out loud "I used to have that" (dripping, black pudding etc and I thought that I was the only one to have jelly and Carnation milk). I remember going in to the hospital to see my dad after he was recovering from a heart attack and sitting up in bed opposite him was another patient chomping away on a bread and dripping sandwich that their daughter had brought in. Every time a nurse went past the bread and dripping was tucked out of sight!!
This thread has also brought back memories of child hood when we had the R&B man come round. Our local R&B man lived at the top of our road and the slow but heavy sound of his horse coming down our road always had the kids gathering around to see if it was either a goldfish of plastic windmill thingy that you held that he had to offer. If it was the Goldfish then we would rush back in doors to see what we could get.
Other things that come back to me as I type are, the Paraffin man (Esso Blue and all that), the onion sellers on the push bikes in the summer, the Stop me and Buy One ice cream seller with his three wheeled bike, and the tally man with his thunderous knock at the door!!
Listening to Jimmy Clitheroe on a sunday afternoon with two way family favourite's following (or did that come before the wee fella?) and for sunday tea cockles and winkles and the like, whilst watching Dr Finlay's case book on the beeb.
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Oh yes Old Rowley, more lovely memories, I suddenly remembered that as we sat down to Sunday dinner the Billy Cotton Band Show was just starting with his Wakey Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaakeeeeeeeeeeey.
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A update for this entertaining thread would be welcome
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I can just about remember this. ::)
meles
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Just caught up with this thread, it brings back so many memories.
Mary, I read the book "cuppa tea and an aspirin" really enjoyed it, and I can remember my Granny giving me sugar butties. also Sunday lunchtime with Billy Cotton Show.
Dipping bread and butter into jelly and carnation milk ooooh soooo good.
We had a chimney sweep and his young apprentice always wore a tailcoat with a top hat. I remember in winter the top of the milk in the bottle being frozen and the blue tits used to peck through the silver paper and have a feast.
My Mum sending me out with the bucket when the Milkman's horse did his business, she used to put it on the rhubarb. (Mind you I much prefer custard on mine ;D)
Nessy
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I can just about remember this. ::)
meles
Good picture!
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I remember the Old Lamplighter who used come round to the gaslights in the little street where I lived (early 1940s), pink blancmange as a Sunday treat (whatever happened to blancmange?), and evaporated milk to pour over tinned fruit – bought a small tin recently but won’t buy anymore!
Dripping and also sugar or sugar and Ovaltine sandwiches; mother making soused herrings (which stank the place out!) and were an “eugh!” for me! – as were home cooked ox tongue (the whole thing being placed on a plate!), and brawn. :o
Remember collecting newspapers to take to a salvage place – and getting sixpence; the place had lots of rabbit skins hanging from the ceiling – and the place smelled horrible.
I visited Holland when I was 15 and the milkman came round with a little cart – which had yoghurt and also custard in bottles, the milk was in a huge churn and was ladled into a jug for you. Also had a favourite there – lovely smoked sausages which we had regularly, and then on the last day I discovered they were horse-meat ones.
John
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I love this thread. The Rag and Bone man I remember didn't have a little cart like those in the pictures. He had what he called a trap. He did a different area of Sheffield every day. Later on in the day, as I went into town with my Grandmother on the bus, the Rag and Bone man could be seen on the Wicker with the pony going at a fast trot . The man used to sit on the back of the trap with his legs swinging and a very long rein on the pony. Mostly the pony responded to his shouts and calls to turn left and right. I recall the pony being ' a Piebald'. His reins were covered in bells and a loud gingling sound accompanied the clip clop. Buses and trams gave way to the Rag and Bone man and he ignored cross roads just carrying on oblivious. I often wondered where he was going in such a hurry. He always had about an 1/8th of an inch of cigarette stuck permanently in his mouth and he had three days growth of grey bristles on his chin. He mostly gave out balloons or small whistles but he once gave me a packet of Spangles and a shiny sixpence for Grandpa's huge, wollen, great coat which he promptly put on. His skill of negotiating around the three wheeled trucks with a flat trailer, delivering to Victoria Station was to be admired.
Pennine
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Further to my previous post I think those three wheeled trucks and trailers were called Scammels and I think they were electric. Someone might want to correct this if I am wrong.
Pennine
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I remember getting a gold fish from the rag and bone man. The fish's name was Sammy and I had him for about two years. One night he jumped out of his bowl and when we found him in the morning he was frozen in a little block of ice. Mum thawed him out in front of the fire and gently rubbed him and he started to gasp. We popped him back in his bowl and he lived for ages after that.
My Mum and Nan used to embarass me by making a headlong dash outside with bucket and shovel when they heard the R&B man coming up the street. They had to get outside quick...... otherwise "her next door" would get the lot!!!!
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Further to my previous post I think those three wheeled trucks and trailers were called Scammels and I think they were electric. Someone might want to correct this if I am wrong.
Pennine
Scammel Scarab, I think - and I also think there were both electric and petrol versions. I'd forgotten all about those!
Mike
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Only just seen this thread and it's brought back some memories.
Our local rag and bone man had a horse and cart, and only had one arm, so when we were children we used to watch him going along the road, because sometimes the naughtier boys used to spook the horse in order to make him go fast and we would see the man fall off. Children are cruel!! ;D
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Further to my previous post I think those three wheeled trucks and trailers were called Scammels and I think they were electric. Someone might want to correct this if I am wrong.
Pennine
Scammel Scarab, I think - and I also think there were both electric and petrol versions. I'd forgotten all about those!
Mike
If anyone is not sure what these looked like there is one featured in the old film "One of our Dinosaurs is missing". Although that one is steam driven.
Think Joans Sims was driving it whilst the other nanny's were stoking the fire.
Jean
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Scammel Scarab, I think - and I also think there were both electric and petrol versions. I'd forgotten all about those!
Mike
MY only real memory of "working horses" during my childhood in Lincoln was seeing horses pulling the dustcarts of Lincoln. When the cart was full, a "mechanical horse" would arrive with an empty one, and take away the full one to the tip.
Here are some mechanical horses - http://homepage.ntlworld.com/malcolm.ruscoe/mechanical%20horse.htm
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This is going back to the 1950's,when my cousin, for what
ever reason had'nt attended school for about a fortnight.
One day the truant officer knocked on the door,and asked
my aunt the reason why her son had been absent, she re-
plied that he was still very ill with flu and was in bed, at that
my cousin came tearing down the entry shouting "Mom have
got any old rags for the rag + bone man,I want a goldfish"
Jackie.
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My brother and I found our fathers old Trumpet.
We use to take it outside and blow it Rag and Bone man Style I think I was 9 and he was 7.
We would give the old Trumpet a blast out at the front door hiding in the bushes and run back inside and watch our neighbour across the road run out with the rags only to have to go back in again as she had just' missed' the rag and bone man!.
We would do this a few times on the trot and each time she would run out with the rags and we would be rolling around with laughter!
Ah happy childhood memories !
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I've enjoyed reading the various recollections in this thread, many of which I share too.
The practice of collecting a recycling unwanted textiles began in the Heavy Woollen district of West Yorkshire, of which the largest town is Dewsbury.
As Ring Warrior mentioned, the rags were indeed converted into 'shoddy' and 'mungo', from which an inferior woollen material was generated in a process invented by Benjamin Law in 1813. By 1860, the neighbouring town of Batley was producing around seven thousand tons of shoddy per year, an industry that consisted at that time of around 80 firms employing a total of 550 people to sort the rags for the shoddy manufacturers.
(http://www.pgtaylor.co.uk/Peter/Shoddy.jpg)
Although this mill has now been converted into dwellings, it is probably a listed building and its former association with the shoddy trade is still evident in the sign on the wall.
Wool is graded into various categories, the main four in descending order being 'tops', 'noils' 'shoddy' and 'mungo'. Each category is basically the leftovers from having combed out the previous one. The 'tops' would be used for clothing and quilts, the 'noils' were more likely to be used for carpets and cheaper clothing, shoddy would probably end up as felt and mungo as soundproofing material for car engines.
Re-manufactured wool, from ripping up old woollen cloth, would begin as shoddy and the leftovers from that would be mungo.
(http://www.pgtaylor.co.uk/Peter/Multicolor_Cotton_Wool_Shoddy.jpg)
This is multicolour cotton and wool shoddy.
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I remember the rag and bone man - used to come down our street in Brum - sometimes on the same day as the Davenports Beer man!
The rag and bone man had a lovely grey horse and a horrible smelly cart that was piled high with icky stuff! Mother wouldn't let us have a goldfish - She said Dad was allergic to animals!
He evidently wasn't allergic to hops!
;D ;D ;D ;D
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The rag and bone man
The man delivering beers, mineral water, dandelion and burdock, sasparilla, all in stone jugs.
The provisions man in a converted 1930's bus
The knife sharpener and his bike
Door to door brush salesmen
Cobbled streets
Gas lamps
Steam trains
No cars about, football and cricket and many other games played in the street.
The 'Doctor Who' type police boxes
The Goons, Educating Archie, The Clitheroe Kid, Ray's A Laugh, on the radio
This was the 50's
All the offal [ bloody offal, I can tell you ]we were made to eat, tripe, trotters, black puddings, brains etc. etc.
[Some of the posher restaurants now sell this at at silly prices!.]
Words like 'ginnell' 'gradely' 'nowt' which I have not heard in years having flew south
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Talking about horse and carts,i remember when i was about 8,we moved house by horse and cart.All the furniture was tied onto the cart and i sat with the driver.We must have did 3 or 4 round trips as it wasn't very far away.A lot of people did this because it was cheaper than a van.I can also remember seeing him cutting the long grass by the side of the roads with a scythe ,to make hay to feed the horse.By the way this was in the mid 1960s ! !
Steve
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My Great Uncle Cecil (or George as he was known) was a rag and bone man. My mum remembers going on his cart in Leeds when she was young. He 'disappeared' for 2 years - probably to prison. He made quite a lot of money if the rumours are right....
When I was a student in Leeds in 2000-2001 there was a man on horse and cart who used to go round collecting stuff - these people live on....!
Claire
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Here's a picture of our rag and bone man with his fold down roundabout.
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Judging by the fashions and the house decorated with bunting, that photograph would have been taken around September 1945.
The cart, with its small, metal tyred wheels, must have been very noisy and uncomfortable to move from one place to another.
I wonder if the owner really was a rag and bone man or whether he was a 'showman'. I think that in those days, unless the carts were carrying coal or dairy products, everyone with a horse and cart was regarded as either a 'rag and bone man' or a 'gypsy', just as nowadays the people who travel around with fairgrounds are often incorrectly termed 'gypsies'.
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Our rag and bone man was a Gypsy. His name was Levi Lee. He had a particular affinity with horses.
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Aye,When i where a lad,way up in the Pennines,we did'nt have a rag n bone man,we wore the rags,except on a Sunday,
Black Pudding,Tripe & school mince made me retch and still do'es to this day,
Anyone remember "The Jack Jackson" show,he played a bit of music but had clips from other shows so you got the impresion Harold Steptoe was talking to Tony Hancock,
Sometime during the show somone would mention a colour,ie "The sky is blue today" to which another voice would say "Not blue,mate,More of a dirty yellow" it creased me for years,
The Glums,with Jimmy Edwards was another prog that made me laugh
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They were shows that you could let your children AND your children's friends watch, without needing to worry about any of them pcking up any language they shouldn't.
I'm beginning to sound like my dad.
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Hi, as well as being pulped for paper making some old rags were shredded and used for SHODDY and MUNGO, these were inferior types of cloth and the "flock" that pillows and mattresses were stuffed with.Not much went to waste in those days.Our Rag and Bone man gave donkey stones for stepstoning the front steps and back entry steps and the back yard.
We had toast cut into cubes with an OXO crumbled over, a lump of dripping and salt & pepper then boiling water poured on. It was tasty and went down easily when you had a sore throat-of which I had many!. We also liked cubes of bread with a bit of butter if possible,sugar and grated nutmeg in a basin with hot milk poured over. That seemed real "cosy" food when you had a bad cold.
I never seem to get much dripping from beef these days. There used to be a layer of lovely tasty essence at the bottom of the dripping basin which was lovely on toast- but the toast ought to be made in front of a coal fire whilst kneeling on a pegged hearth rug made from all the old coats etc we had not traded with the Rag Bone man. Happy days!Viktoria.
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It has been very interesting reading the comments and looking at the pictures.
Little bit of alright!
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How our eating habits have changed! When I was a child we used to have pork pie and picallili for breakfast on Christmas Day. On Boxing Day breakfast was turkey jelly on toast.
On winter days mum used to give me the water the cabbage had been boiled in (for about half an hour, knowing my mum) sprinkled with white pepper. I suspect that I got more vitamins drinking the water than eating the soggy cabbage.
We had the knife grinder man knocking on the door even into the '70's. My dad said not to let him sharpen anything as he ruined Dad's scissors once!
I remember the Rag and Bone man leading his horse down the road and shouting something I couldn't understand. We never gave him anything (shame, I didn't know he paid for rags!) and I was always a bit scared of him.
I was also scared stiff of the coal man, he used to grin at me; his teeth looking very white against his coal-dusty face.
I was scared of a lot of things when I was little. What a funny kid I must have been!
Janet
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How our eating habits have changed! When I was a child we used to have pork pie and picallili for breakfast on Christmas Day. On Boxing Day breakfast was turkey jelly on toast.
On winter days mum used to give me the water the cabbage had been boiled in (for about half an hour, knowing my mum) sprinkled with white pepper. I suspect that I got more vitamins drinking the water than eating the soggy cabbage.
We had the knife grinder man knocking on the door even into the '70's. My dad said not to let him sharpen anything as he ruined Dad's scissors once!
I remember the Rag and Bone man leading his horse down the road and shouting something I couldn't understand. We never gave him anything (shame, I didn't know he paid for rags!) and I was always a bit scared of him.
I was also scared stiff of the coal man, he used to grin at me; his teeth looking very white against his coal-dusty face.
I was scared of a lot of things when I was little. What a funny kid I must have been!
Janet
And what about the gypsy flower lady!
Funny thing, is when I was pre-seven, visiting the wax museum in London
I asked a wax policeman if he had the time??? I didn't get an answer!!!
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We still get Gypsy flower ladies in town now. They try to sell bits of 'lucky' white heather. I once refused the offer, a few years ago, and the gypsy looked into my face and said gravely 'You're going to a wedding!'. I laughed and said that was a safe bet. I did go to a wedding though, about 5 years later. She didn't need her crystal ball to tell me that!
Homes seemed to be much busier places in those days. So many people used to call; insurance men, milk man, window cleaner etc., all for their few sixpences or shillings. Mum used to leave the insurance books on the hall table with the money on it. Sometimes we didn't know he'd been and gone until we noticed he'd taken the money.
Grandmother said her milk was delivered in churns and he poured the family's share into her large jug. Once the cat was helping himself and got his head stuck. That was one of her favourite stories. Imagine drinking your milk and finding cat hairs in it! They also used to send one of the kids to the baker's with the Sunday dinner to have it cooked in the big ovens at the bakery. My uncle once dropped the cooked dinner on the 'passage' floor and mum remembered her sister saying 'we'll have to eat it, we've got nothing else' as she scraped it off the floor!
None of these unhygenic practices seemed to do them any harm. ;D
Janet
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THE ICE MAN & THE FLOWER LADY
In compiling a story on my days as a child in London, and then a small city in Western Canada, I titled it "The Iceman & the Flower Lady".
The iceman delivered ice to houses in Canada, and when I was about nine, I got a ride around the neighborhood with ice delivery man, and got to watch him carry the blocks of ice into the houses. and put them in the ice boxes.
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THE FLOWER LADY - It has been some time since I touched base on the flower lady or the rag and bone man stories.
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I've just remembered my mother telling me that nuns used to knock on their door when she was young.
Grandmother always gave them sixpence or a shilling as giving coppers would have made them look poor! ::)
Mum used to get cross because she knew her parents needed every penny for the large family.
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Back in the 60s/early70s when was a child and lived oop north we used to have a rag n bone man come round on his horse and cart. And a fish man in a van. And the coal man used to deliver huge sacks of coal - I think he had some kind of truck but it could have been a horse and cart.
I did't think was that old but it seems like another world now ;D ;D
Milly
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It was another world!
My grandmother rarely carried her shopping home. The butcher, baker and grocer all employed someone to deliver the customers' goods. All they had to do was to call into the shop, order and pay and the stuff would be delivered to the house.
I remember waiting to give the milkman's horse an apple. I was so small the horse's head was above mine but he was a gentle giant.
Some years ago I accompanied my daughter's class on a day trip and we stopped to look at some cows in a field. A small boy tugged at my arm and said 'What are they, miss? It turned out that he'd only ever seen cows from a car window and had no idea of the size of the animals! :D
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My Great Granddad was a Rag and Bone Man :)
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My Oh is a modern day rag and bone man - at least you would think he was by the state of the house and the amount of old junk he picks up!
I'm sticking some of it on ebay while he is away... I suppose it is a modern day equivalent
Milly ;D
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How our eating habits have changed! When I was a child we used to have pork pie and picallili for breakfast on Christmas Day. On Boxing Day breakfast was turkey jelly on toast.
For most of the last 20 years I've made a 3lb pie for Christmas (especially breakfast). The meat composition varies - last year was sausage and black pudding.
Turkey dripping on toast sounds rather familiar too ... pity I dropped the turkey last year so gravy was in short supply :(
Still, unlike on the TV soaps, we had our Christmas dinner at the intended time :D
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We only have a turkey crown these days but even the whole ones don't seem to produce the lovely stock that turns into the jelly and fat.
I never really liked the Christmas dinner as a child but I loved Boxing Day; we always had bubble and squeak to go with cold turkey and a cold buffet tea.
One of my most enduring memories of Christmas (probably about 1965) was when the trifle froze solid. It had been left on the larder shelf. We put this confection on top of the calor gas heater until it thawed enough to be eaten. It must have been a freezing cold day as we had this heater on as well as a coal fire!
Cold or not, we ate this melting mess of a half thawed out trifle and told each other what a merry Christmas it had been.
Our name should have been CRATCHIT! ;D
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Coal in London in me yoof was delivered by a man with horse and cart ... and it was always an embarrassed me that had to go out after with a coal shovel and bucket to pick up what the horse left for my Grannies roses !
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I wouldn'b be embarrassed to go and collect some horse droppings nowadays. It makes wonderful compost as your Grannie knew! ;D
Slightly off topic; I was watching one of the 'Jimmy's' programmes about cows the other day and apparently, something is done during the process of preparing milk for our consumption that prevents the cream forming on the top of the milk.
We just thought that the swindling so and so's had pinched it to sell in other products! ::)
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Homogenised ?
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Coal in London in me yoof was delivered by a man with horse and cart ... and it was always an embarrassed me that had to go out after with a coal shovel and bucket to pick up what the horse left for my Grannies roses !
Yes I had forgotten about that!
Milly ;D
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And the other thing I remember is the end of shift siren going off at the factory a mile or so away - and then a few minutes later there would be loads of men on bicycles riding up our road on the way home.
Anyone would think we lived in a back to back like Coronation Street but it was actually a really nice 1930s semi
Milly
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Homogonised? Yes, I think that's it! Thanks for that.
A mile away? You were lucky ;D
We lived in a terraced house and there were four factories in our street. Not all of them had the sirens but the one opposite did, if I remember. It was all lit up at night as they had a night shift. Mum used to dream of a house with a view. All she could see from her bedroom window was the sign 'H Marriott and Son' :'(
It was the sort of street where all the housewives would scrub the front steps every week and make a mysterious 'figure of eight' as they finished it.
Mum used a donkey stone and an old pair of dad's pants to do this job ;D
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Something pagan about that ... :o ... the figure of eight, not Dads old pants !
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LOL; I never questioned the mysteries of Mum's houswork until I got married.
She phoned me one day, in the 1980's. It was about 11 am and I said I was ironing.
Mum said 'what a funny time to do the ironing!' ::)
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I remember the rag and bone man with his horse and cart. I can still hear his "Rag 'n Bones" although I didn't know what it meant at the time.
We have textile collections here in Switzerland but it states very plainly on the plastic sacks they deliver, that only wearable clothes are to be put in them. So I collect the "rags" in a large drum and have to put them in the rubbish bin sacks (payable) grudgingly....
My mother's sister (much to my mother's horror) used to give me dripping on bread with salt on it in the Winter when I visited her.
As for potted meat, I was invited to all the little girls' birthday parties from the neighbourhood as I was well known for finishing off the bridge rolls when all the others were eating sticky cakes.
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euugh! Potted meat.... sandwiches for school every day for years! Not great for swapping with other people.
Milly :-X
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I Remember the Rag and Bone Man well..Our Rag and Bone Man Used to Give us Windmills or Goldfish Depending On What You Gave Him.. I remember one time when i was about 12 years old Giving Him One of My Mams Best Coats and Getting a Goldfish ..I called the Goldfish Jaws that Goldfish Lived For 7 Years .. :)
I Call my Husband Posh because he Never seen the Rag and Bone man when he was Younger as He came From Wavertree and i came from Toxteth ..lol
Iria
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I remember my Lancashire/Cheshire Granny eating Yorkshire Puddings with sugar in them after her Sunday lunch.
Yuk !!
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We had yorkshire pudding with golden syrup for puddings at school in Sheffield.... I'd never comes across it at home because my parents were southerners...
It was VERY nice..... ;D
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We used to have Yorkshire pudding cooked with sliced apples and sprinkled with sugar.
I hated the stuff but ate it because I was hungry ;D
This was a mid week 'afters' in the Midlands.
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Yorkshire pudding is in fact a starter and shoule be served with onion gravy. Over the years it as become part of the main meal. My ex father in law would say he hadn't had Sunday Dinner if it didn't include Yorkshire puddings.
Rob
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Every Christmas Day, my Geordie Grandad, when we sat down to Christmas lunch used to say to my Granny -
"Where`s the Yorkshire puddings?"
According to Granny, no Yorkshire pudding with Christmas lunch, it just wasn`t the done thing. I don`t know why. But every year he said it just to wind her up and get a response from her.
Now, the family still carry this on, every year someone asks the question and we still don`t have Yorkshire puds with Christmas lunch.
I wonder if this is a `class` thing? We also never watched ITV when I was a child ::) They thought we were posher than we actually were ;D ;D ;D
So does anyone else have Yorkshire pud with Christmas lunch?
Tracey
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I have Yorkshire puds with any roast meal but then I am a Yorkshireman. My step mum god rest her soul used to be old fasioned and made the yorkshire pud as a starter but her onion gravy was terrible so I used to make excuses not to be there for Sunday Dinner
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Weeeeeell--- some-- not me you understand --- say that to have Y.Pud before the main meal does tend to fill up some of your appetite and is a way of ensuring that not too much meat is eaten at the main meal. This could be a dastardly slur on Yorkshire folk by Lancastrians. Then again it could be a wind up the other way round.There`s sitting on the fence for you.
I like Y.P. anytime, savoury or sweet, like Mum used to have with syrup as afters . Cheerio. Viktoria.
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Viktoria,
What do the Lancastrians know about us Yorkshiremen hehehehehehe
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Well I did say I was on the fence --- but just as a joke ,Some --again not me-- Lancastrians say that when a Yorkshireman invites anyone to their home it`s with the proviso "You`ll have had your tea won`t you" and it`s not a question.
But you can`t generalise like that can you -some of the most generous people I know live in Yorkshire( mind you they could be ex-pat Lancastrians ) and some really "careful " people inhabit my home town in Lanky.They might have got over the border concealed in a van. Theres a lot of it about on the West bound M62.
That`s set the cat aong the pigeons.Cheerio. Viktoria.
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I used to be scared stiff of the Rag and Bone man that toured around the Hereford Streets.
He had a really weird voice......."Raaaaaaaaggggg Boonnneee!" & "Any old Iron"
He used to plod along on his cart with a poor old horse pulling it!
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I was scared of the Rag and Bone Man as well, and the coal man. If the coal man smiled at me, showing his white teeth in his coal-dust blackened face I would run into the house, fast!
We all loved the milkman, though. Although I have never liked milk it was a treat if Mum gave me 3d to buy a little bottle of orange juice. :D
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So does anyone else have Yorkshire pud with Christmas lunch?
Oh yes! And I'm from London (so probably don't know any better...)
meles
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No I don't have Yorkshires with Christmas Lunch, However I do love beef curry in a large Pudding!
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Just caught up with this subject. My step great great grandfather was a rag and bone man until he died in1926. One of his granddaughter told me that after becoming a widower he would have lunch at his daughters house but first put the meal bag on the horse she found it amusing that horse and man would work and eat together. He had another business which was as proprietor of swings at local park. These were the large boat swings don't know how much he charged.
His son in law (my g-grandfather ) was described as a ' scavenger' in one document so must have worked for him at one time. I'm big on recycling so perhaps its hereditary :-\
I'm surprised your friend from Scotland didn't also use the word scavenger as I have heard this word in the North of Scotland. My OH has family from Orkney who were also described as scavengers but for the local Roperie.
MY worst food memory is of my gradmother eating or rather sucking pigs trotters. :-[ :o :-X
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They are not totally a thing of the past. We still have one who comes down our road fairly regular, not horse and cart of course, 4 wheeled vehicle with an engine, driven very slowly, but he does shout out 'raaaaag and bone'. Think he is from the local traveller community.
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Here we go again. Whats wrong with pigs trotters???? ;D ;D ;D
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Here we go again. Whats wrong with pigs trotters???? ;D ;D ;D
What's right wi' pigs trotters?? ;D ;D
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Here we go again. Whats wrong with pigs trotters???? ;D ;D ;D
Nothing wrong with them - or tails, tastier even than ribs, yummy
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Here in Cyprus the local butchers counter has skinned goat heads sitting in the cabinet - looking at me :o
Put me right off
There may be more strange things there but I divert my eyes in case one of them winks at me ;)
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Here we go again. Whats wrong with pigs trotters???? ;D ;D ;D
Nothing ... as long as they are still carrying the pig around !
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Pigs trotters, in themselves, are I think, revolting (Mum loves 'em!), but I do think they are an essential ingredient for split pea soup. Or any pea soup. Just don't tell OH what's in the soup that makes it so rich and tasty. ::)
meles
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A "rag and bone man" came to my MIL's house and said, "Excuse me missus, have you got any old beer bottles you can let me have?"
At this, she indignantly replied, "Do I look as if I drink beer?"
At this he said, "Sorry love, I suppose not..........
But, perhaps you have got some old vinegar bottles then?"
;D
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I make pea soup with a ham bone ... and peas !
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Here we go again. Whats wrong with pigs trotters???? ;D ;D ;D
Granny had no teeth ::) The noise was terrible :'(
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Thank you, Wred, for tonight's nightmares! ;)
meles
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Here we go again. Whats wrong with pigs trotters???? ;D ;D ;D
Granny had no teeth ::) The noise was terrible :'(
:o :o :o :o :o :o :o Ban that man ! woman !! person !!! (Profile not saying which !)
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Hello everyone. I have just spent a long time reading all your messages about Rag and Bone men and all your memories. Talk about a blast from the past. I did so enjoy reading them as they were my memories also. Every single one. Sugar butties and jelly with carnation milk were firm favourites in our house as was pink pudding. (Blancmange.)
I have lived in NZ for many years but I have never forgotten growing up in Preston and still have very Lancashire ways much to the amusement of my daughters.
They keep asking me to write down all my daft sayings and the old stories so I guess I should make the effort.
I have just remembered something else that was part of our culture way back then. The knocker upper with his long cane and the layer outers who would wash and lay out friends to keep funeral costs down. I will try to remember some more.
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Anyone remember the nightsoilman?
I remember visiting relation in London area, and my auntie was panicing because she had not taken the washing line down, could cause a nasty accident! :o
I found this it may explain the situation; http://www.bures-online.co.uk/NightSoil/nightsoil.htm
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I often wondered what the proper name was for those people,Up our way they were know as s**t shovellers, ;D this is probably where the phrase "Fell in the you know what" ::) came from,
What a disgusting subject,over lunch at that,
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my dad was a rag & bone man he blew a bugle for years, until he no longer had the puff when he swapped it for a brass school bell ( annoyed a few nightshift workers i can tell you ) i would go with him every school holiday on the horse and rully til i was about 9 or 10 . Sadie the horse was so tame i could sit beneath her nose bag while she was eating. I loved every minute of my childhood and all my children still like to hear what a tatters life was like in the 50s .Bliss for a kid freedom ,space and fresh air what more could anyone ask ? must remember to get that photo out and change my profile picture .
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Yes I remember the rag and bone man when we used to visit my grandmothers in London, he used to shout "Rag-a-bo!" at least that's what it sounded like.
Also on a Sunday afternoon about 4 the Winkle Man used to come round and it was a great treat for the adults to have some winkles or whelks and the kids had cockles with vinegar on.
Happy memories, great to share them.
Pat