Rag and bone man

[pennine]

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

[ozlady]

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!!!!

[MKG]

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

[bevbee]

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!! 

[Jean McGurn]

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

[GeoffE]

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

[jacquelineve]

 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.

[Billy Anderson]

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 !

[AiredalePete]

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.



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.



This is multicolour cotton and wool shoddy.