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Full Listing of Going, Going, Gone Jobs  Jobs of Yesteryear Jobs not linked are currently being worked on M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z A - L Listing |
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Vivian
Bullwinkel in her Matron's uniform.
Matron was the job title of
a very senior or the chief nurse in several countries, including the
United Kingdom, and other Commonwealth countries and former colonies.
Today, in Australia, this term has been replaced mostly by Director of
Nursing.
Milkmen
(Source:
Ethical Jobs)
Before household fridges and long-life milk, milkmen had to deliver milk
on a daily basis to ensure it didn’t spoil. Milkman hasn’t been a common
job since the 1970s, though in some places it is seeing a revival.
Before pasteurized milk and household refrigerators, milkmen had to deliver milk daily to ensure it didn't spoil. With the rise of home refrigeration, however, the occupation disappeared. (Source: Indeed)
(Source:
LoveInc)
In the UK, this cheery hawker would go from house to house at breakfast time carrying a tray of freshly-baked English muffins on his head. The practice continued well into the 20th century in some cities. This photograph of a London muffin man was taken in 1924.
Night
Soil Collector
(Gong
Farmer, Night Soil Farmer)
(Source:
LoveInc)
This most revolting of occupations called for a weak sense of smell and super-strong stomach. Night soil collectors had the unfortunate job of removing human waste from people's privies. The profession was prevalent in 19th-century America, Europe and Australia before widespread sewerage systems were built, and still survives nowadays in some countries, notably India and Japan.
(Source:
The Atlantic)
(Source:
Ethical Jobs)
Between the world wars there were a variety of acoustic mirror devices
that were used to help army’s detect enemy radar. The job of being the
“listener” generally became extinct during World War 2 with the
development of the Chain Home radar system.
Before World War II, governments employed aircraft listeners who used acoustic mirrors to detect the sound of an enemy's aircraft engine. While acoustic mirrors may have been effective in detecting sound, enemy aircraft was often too close to take preventive action by the time the listeners issued a warning. (Source: Indeed)
Puddling machines, or
"puddlers" were pioneered on the Victorian goldfields in the early
1850s. This technology was developed as an affordable way of processing
gold-bearing clay on a large scale. Puddling machines are a very
significant development in the history of Victorian gold mining, as they
are one of the only technologies or methods developed entirely on the
Victorian Goldfields.
The person who used the puddling machines were also called "Puddlers".
This Invention Changed
Everything during the 1850s Gold Rush!
https://youtu.be/abV3UIE6-V0
Before the advent of municipal waste management,
a subset of the desperately poor eked out a living by gathering,
sorting, and reselling scraps. Through the nineteenth century, in cities
including London and Paris, these ragpickers roamed the streets,
collecting and sorting refuse as they went.
Ragpickers constituted an unofficial, self-employed recycling corps.
They search mainly for cloth rags, as the papermaking industry was in
constant need of them. But glass bottles and metal scraps were valuable,
too, as they could be melted down and reused indefinitely. Even dog dung
could be sold to tanneries for treating leather.
In Paris, ragpickers were identifiable by their hooks, with which they picked through trash; the baskets in which they carried their scraps; and the lanterns they used to make their way through the darkened streets—for, by law, they were only allowed to work at night. They lived in makeshift neighborhoods on the outskirts of Paris, many sleeping simply on piles of straw that they had gathered from the streets.
While the advent of municipal trash services ended wide-scale ragpicking in Paris, it remains a global phenomenon among the very poor.
(Source:
Jstor Daily)
Rat Catcher
(Rattener)
(Source:
Ethical Jobs)
"While we’re animal lovers at EthicalJobs.com.au, the job of rat catcher
was vital to keeping rat populations under control in Europe to prevent
food damage and the spread of disease.
Children or young people became rat catchers
during the Victorian era because cities like London were infested with
rats, commonly known by then as carriers of various diseases. To solve
the problem, rats were either poisoned or killed with wooden sticks to
eradicate them from the streets."
(Source:
Indeed)
Is the Rat Catcher really gone ....in New York?
13 April 2023
Kathleen Corradi has been appointed as the first ever Citywide Director
of Rodent Mitigation and will lead a team of rodent experts to deal with
the city's critical rat problem.
(Source:
Daily Mail UK)
(Source:
Ethical Jobs)
One of the more gruesome extinct jobs is that of the Resurrectionist.
Hired by scientists, Resurrectionists – or “body snatchers” – would
illegally dig up dead bodies for anatomical research.
Resurrectionists exhumed bodies of the recently dead and delivered them to doctor's offices and medical colleges in the 18th century. As modern medical science grew into a true profession, the demand for corpses increased. Practicing anatomists and medical students needed bodies to dissect to learn the human body's inner workings. (Source: Indeed)
(Source:
Drivepedia)
Soda jerks, or soda jerkers, were responsible
for maintaining soda fountains and dispensing soda into a glass from a
spigot behind a counter. They also made egg creams and milkshakes.
Typically energetic young men with big personalities, soda jerks
operated the soda fountains in America's drugstores, and were in charge
of whipping up syrup and ice cream sodas for customers. The soda jerking
craze kicked off in the 1920s and was popular right up until the 1950s
when self-service fast-food restaurants and drive-ins arrived on the
scene.
(Source:
LoveInc)
A stoker or fireman was the unlucky individual tasked with tending the fire in the boiler of a steam train, ship or saw mill. The job entailed lots of shovelling coal in horrifically high temperatures, and was not for the faint-hearted. Mercifully, the introduction of electric locomotives, ships and so on in the 20th century rendered the profession obsolete.
(Source:
Ethical Jobs)
Until the 1960s companies used switchboard operators to connect incoming
calls.
“Operator, please
connect this call” was a frequently uttered phrase back when phone
companies had manual switchboards. The operators, who were mostly women,
inserted a phone plug into the relevant jack to connect a call.
Automated switchboards were widely adopted from the 1960s onwards, and
by the 1980s the profession had all but vanished.
Switchboard operation was an early example of women entering the
workforce, as their “courteous manner” was deemed more suitable to this
type of role. Sadly, they were also considered a preferable employee
because they could be paid a lot less.
T
One of the most popular office employees was the ‘tea lady’, who dispensed tea, coffee and biscuits to employees from a trolley. Tea ladies were employed in many businesses, including factories and offices, ostensibly as a means of increasing productivity, and office routines revolved around their twice-daily appearances. It is not clear when tea ladies first became a fixture in Australia, but they were introduced in Britain during the Second World War and advertisements for jobs as tea ladies began to appear in Melbourne after the war.
Johns and Waygood Ltd. of South Melbourne advertised for a tea lady in the Argus in October 1948. They offered £3/1/3d for a five-day week, with hours of work from 11am to 4.45pm. (15 October 1948) The tea lady knew everyone and often everything. She knew how workers liked their tea and which biscuits were particular favourites, but more importantly, she knew the workers and often chatted about their families as she served the tea. A good tea lady was held in great affection, and many mourned her departure when the economic downturn of the 1990s prompted many businesses to dispense with her services.
Eve Wilson serves tea in china cups from her
trolley at the Melbourne Town Hall in 1967.
(Source:
Old Treasury Building)
Hundreds of women lost their jobs at this time. Some offices replaced the tea lady with dispensing machines, serving instant tea and coffee in disposable cups. This was universally despised. Others created small cafes, usually operating on a franchise basis. Eventually, the growing passion for barista-made coffee would come to dominate, sending office workers on a daily, or twice-daily pilgrimage to their local cafés of choice.
Telegraph Operator
Telegraphist
(Source:
LoveInc)
The
electric telegraph was invented in the 1830s and remained the fastest
way to communicate over long distances until it was superseded by the
telephone in the 20th century. The telegraph operator sent and received
the messages, and had to be fluent in Morse code. In return, wages
tended to be generous and competition for available roles was fierce.
A telegraphist, also called a telegraph operator, was responsible for
sending and receiving Morse code using telegraph equipment to
communicate by radio and landlines. A telegraphist was one of the first
"high-tech" occupations of the modern era.
(Source:
LoveInc)
In Europe and North America, telegraph or telegram boys were employed to deliver telegrams, which had to be sent or received at a post office or telegraph company like Western Union. The boys, who were usually in their mid to late teens, delivered the messages on foot or by bike, and later via motorcycle. The practice lasted into the 1970s in some parts of the UK.
(Source:
Sydney Morning Herald)
Toll collectors worked in toll booths on bridges, highways, and national tolled roads. Their job was to collect the toll payment from customers using the roadway. They verified the amount the customer owed, collected the cash fee, and provided change if necessary.
(Source:
LoveInc)
For much of the 20th century, access to decent dental treatment was limited, particularly in Europe, and many people who couldn't afford to visit the dentist resorted to buying second-hand false teeth when their pearlies had rotted away. The foundation of the NHS in 1948 ended the icky trade in the UK, though it carried on in other parts of Europe for a while longer – this photo was taken in Amsterdam in 1955.
(Source:
The Guardian)
Video store clerk assisted customers with movie and game selections,
collected returned videos and games, and stocked shelves, logged in
returns in a computer system, contacted customers about overdue rentals,
maintained store cleanliness, and hung up signage and promotional
material.
Material sourced from
Business Insider
Drivepedia
Ethical Jobs
Good Housekeeping
Indeed
LoveInc
Mental Floss
Old Treasury Building - The Tea Lady
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