Odd occupations

[GUT]

"Night soil man" must be one of the worst.

Still had one till I was a teen.

[Errata]

True enough. Given it was an age before automobiles and decent plumbing, there would have been any number of genuinely crappy jobs.

One job which I wouldn't mind doing was 'cleaner of the Bank of England' - imagine what you might find when emptying your dustpan!

Most jewelers have a sort of drain trap kind of thing in their floors, and as an apprentice my job was to clean out those traps.

Lots of metal shavings, bits of wax, this kind of cyanide dust, and diamonds. Gems of all shapes and sizes.

So imagine how irritated I was when a 7 ct. diamond I dropped somehow evaded the trap and went straight down the drain. Never got it back.

[Joshua Rogan]

Most jewelers have a sort of drain trap kind of thing in their floors, and as an apprentice my job was to clean out those traps.

Lots of metal shavings, bits of wax, this kind of cyanide dust, and diamonds. Gems of all shapes and sizes.

So imagine how irritated I was when a 7 ct. diamond I dropped somehow evaded the trap and went straight down the drain. Never got it back.

That must been annoying. I hope your boss believed you!

[Joshua Rogan]

"Night soil man" must be one of the worst.

Still had one till I was a teen.

Indeed. Necessary, but not appealing.
Were they known as 'dunny men' in Oz?

[Joshua Rogan]

Today's cull of declared occupations;
'Image maker' - did they have PR people in those days?
'Wheel chair man' - unclear whether this means manufacturer or user.
'Coal whipper' - a real job. But as fossil fuels rarely respond to a good thrashing, it actually involved a shovel and backbreaking labour.
'With Out Lure of Sauls' - your guess is as good as mine!

[Joshua Rogan]

I really like the "knocker up", whose job was to wake people up in the morning.

Hey, I saw that very photo on QI this week! Apparently they had a "knocker upper's knocker upper" so they themselves didn't oversleep and forget to wake everyone else.

[Robert]

But who knocked up the knocker upper's knocker upper?

The occupation is probably 'without cure of souls.'

http://rmhh.co.uk/occup/c2.html

[Pcdunn]

Interesting site, Robert-- thanks for the link!

[Joshua Rogan]

Cheers Robert, that does look an interesting site...at least the top bit does. For some reason if I try to scroll down the page it jumps back to the top before I can read anything. Just me?

[Robert]

That's strange, Joshua. Are you sure you're not accidentally clicking on 'top of page' in bottom right corner?

[Pcdunn]

Cheers Robert, that does look an interesting site...at least the top bit does. For some reason if I try to scroll down the page it jumps back to the top before I can read anything. Just me?

I had the same problem at first, but if you scroll slowly on the left side of the screen, you can make it all the way to the bottom of the page.

[ChrisGeorge]

A lamplighter doing his rounds in London, 1962