Rat catchers, powder monkeys, and resurrectionists: 20 jobs that no longer exist
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- Before computers, refrigerators, and modern medicine, basic menial tasks required human labor.
- People once relied on jobs like ice cutters and knocker-ups in their daily lives.
- Some jobs, like leech collectors and the groom of the stool, are every bit as bizarre as they sound.
The current labor market is struggling due to factors such as the implementation of AI, creating uncertainty about the future of many jobs. AI experts have even predicted the technology's takeover of blue-collar jobs in the near future.
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But this isn't the first time that whole swaths of the labor market have faced extinction: The Industrial Revolution did away with gigs that your great-great-grandparents might have had that could sound preposterous to us today.
Using the Bureau of Labor Statistics' occupational classification list from 1850 and our own research of other countries' employment, we found 20 unusual — and now largely extinct — occupations that were once part of daily life.
Knocker-upA knocker-up (or knocker-upper) essentially acted as a human alarm clock.Everett Collection/Shutterstock
How did people get up for work before alarm clocks? Easy — they hired a knocker-up to tap on or shoot peas at their windows at an appointed time.
This profession became popular in Britain and Ireland in the early 19th century, continuing well into the Industrial Revolution. Some areas in industrial Britain still had a couple of knocker-ups as late as the 1970s, the BBC reported.
A knocker-up (or knocker-upper) usually carried a bamboo stick — sometimes several feet long — to tap on high-up windows, waking workers. The task was mostly performed by older men and women as a way of making extra cash.
But who woke the knocker-ups? They were reportedly nocturnal to begin with.
"The knocker-uppers were night owls and slept during the day instead, waking at about four in the afternoon," author Richard Jones told the BBC.
Ice cutterAn ice cutter in Norway, Maine, circa 1929.Underwood Archives/Getty Images
Before you could get ice from your fridge, you had to cut it from a lake. You'd hire an ice cutter to do so.
In the 19th century, crews of up to 75 men could harvest 1,500 tons of ice in a single day before transporting it across the country via train.
People in some parts of the US had never seen ice in such large quantities being shipped from city to city. But thanks to loose snow or a bit of sawdust, and modern technology, workers could keep large quantities of ice from melting for hours.
In the 19th century, the industry peaked at 90,000 ice cutters in the US, according to the London School of Economics and Political Science.
With the refrigerator and the freezer becoming household items in the mid-20th century, however, ice cutters were no longer needed.
PinsetterPinsetters in Brooklyn, New York, in April 1910.Library of Congress
Before mechanical pin setters were invented in 1936, boys were hired to set bowling pins after they were knocked down. They were called pinsetters.
When mechanical pinsetters made bowling more efficient by reducing wait times between turns, attendants were still kept around to clean the machines and fix jams before more advanced machines were patented, per The Hart Cluett Museum.
BadgerWorkers load cabbages into a bag, a more modern iteration of the profession.Hennepin County Library
Back when the farmers market was just the market, people called badgers would buy produce from the farmer, bring it to the market, and sell it to customers.
While people still sell goods in open-air markets all over the world, the term "badger" was more popular in Britain. It was still in use in America up until around the Civil War.
Linguists think the phrase "badger someone" came from their relentless salesmanship — either that, or the occupation derives from "bagger," someone who carries a bag, according to the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica.
Leech collectorLeech collectors would collect leaches for medicinal purposes.Ekaterina Gerasimchuk/Shutterstock
When medicine was in its "let's just bleed the patient" phase, people called leech collectors would cull leeches from the ground with animal legs and then sell them to doctors.
This practice was common in the 18th and 19th centuries in both Europe and America. For instance, documents from 1833 show France's population used 100 million leeches that year, per the Canadian Museum of Health Care. Bloodletting via leeches was thought to release the patient of bad humors that made them sick.
To attract leeches from swampy water, leech collectors would lead old horses into the water, then pick off the fresh leeches that would fix themselves onto their skin. If they didn't have any horses, they'd simply use their own legs.
ResurrectionistResurrectionists would dig corpses out of graveyards and sell them to medical schools.Ann Ronan Pictures/Print Collector/Getty Images
In a similarly unsavory case of early medicine, resurrectionists would dig corpses out of graveyards and sell them to medical schools. The practice became especially popular in Britain in the 18th and 19th centuries, per Britannica.
Naturally, resurrectionists weren't well-regarded by British society, which preferred to call them "body snatchers." Eventually, the British government had had enough of bodies being stolen from cemeteries everywhere, so they let doctors have access to their workhouse dead — the deceased people who lived in workhouses for the poor.
Gong Farmer18th century London nightmen.Mayhew, Henry 1851, "London Labour and the London Poor"
On a similar but even less sanitary note, the Gong Farmer or "nightman" would clean up human excrement. The profession of cleaning outhouses and cesspits dates back to pre-Victorian England.
In the US, these workers were known as night soil men, and frequently performed their duties in cities that couldn't handle the amount of waste produced by its inhabitants, according to Atlas Obscura. Hundreds of men at a time would be employed by cities to perform this dirty deed.
The waste would be transported for use as fertilizer or permanently disposed of. As a silver lining to the odious nature of the job, workers would generally be well compensated, per RuralHistoria.
Powder monkeyA Civil War powder monkey circa 1864.Library of Congress
Powder monkeys existed long before child labor laws did.
If you were a young boy between the ages of 12 and 14 on a warship back in the seafaring days, your quick hands would be called upon to stuff gunpowder back into cannons. Poor working-class boys had no choice but to join these voyages, which were extremely dangerous. A cannon blast from an enemy ship could mean instant death or a sunken ship.
Computer"Human computers" at work in 1949.Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images
"Computer" used to be somebody's title. Before electronics took over, these workers — usually women — would convert figures and crunch other numbers by hand. They literally computed.
They worked in a variety of fields — including engineering at NASA — until they were replaced in offices by what we know today as computers, beginning as early as the 1970s.
PhrenologistA phrenologist examined an infant's head around 1840.HUM Images/Universal Images Group via Getty Images
Before it was dismissed as pseudoscience, many people went to phrenologists, who could "read" their intelligence and determine traits by the shape of their heads.
Phrenology gained traction in the 19th century, especially in Edinburgh, Scotland, where the Edinburgh Phrenological Society was founded in 1820. It also became a convenient basis for racism, a way to "scientifically" prove that whites were the superior race.
Despite the ridiculous notion that feeling bumps on people's heads to diagnose psychological issues works, phrenology influenced modern psychology, The Atlantic reported. Today, neuroscientists know what certain parts of the brain are responsible for, and psychologists have a much better understanding of how our thoughts and emotions work.
LectorA lector reads to cigar rollers in a cigar factory in Havana, Cuba.The Print Collector/Getty Images
Factory workers needed a little entertainment to distract them from their mindlessly repetitive tasks, so a lector would read news and literature aloud to them.
Cigar factory workers would even pitch in portions of their weekly salary to fund their lectors, Mashable reported. Some instances where a lector would be removed by the company led to thousands of workers going on strike.
JapannerJapanese crafts would be imitated by Western Japanners.USC Pacific Asia Museum/Getty Images
Japanning was the art of imitating Japanese finishing and designs in crafts and furniture. Western artisans would apply such designs to various items, and the practice grew into a sizable industry in the 17th and 18th centuries.
In the United States, for example, the 1916 Cincinnati directory lists three dedicated companies in the city for the practice, per Cincinnati Magazine.
MilkmanMilkmen were crucial until home refrigeration took over.Library of Congress
Before everyone had refrigerators, it was difficult to keep milk from going bad. So you'd need it delivered regularly by your milkman.
Milkmen were ubiquitous in Britain, America, and other countries for much of the 20th century, per the BBC. They came almost every morning and left milk on doorsteps, much like a paper boy would with a newspaper.
But with home refrigeration, this profession largely disappeared, aside from a small number in the United Kingdom.
Chimney sweepA woman cleaning a chimney in the early 20th century.Heritage Images/Getty Images
Chimney sweeps cleaned out the chimney soot that had built up over time. If you've ever seen "Mary Poppins," you probably have an idea of what one looks like. The reality, however, was much harsher.
Chimney sweeps would regularly inhale harmful smoke from fires, get stuck in chimneys, get cancer from too much soot, and, of course, get burned frequently, Historic UK described.
Though the job is synonymous with the 20th century, the New York Times reported that it could be making a comeback in the UK thanks to factors like high energy costs and the modern use of wood-burning stoves.
White lead manufacturerDesign for Lincoln Pure White Lead, a 19th-century white lead paint brand.Library of Congress
Yes, as white lead paint was historically very common, it used to be someone's specific job to work with this toxic compound.
White lead paint was produced on a mass scale in the 19th and 20th centuries, resulting in laborers closely working with the substance and breathing in its dust.
Safety standards in the industry were uncommon, leading to many health complications and death, according to the Brooklyn Public Library.
DaguerreotypistA daguerreotype of Edgar Allan Poe.Library of Congress
Before we had digital photography or even negatives, we had daguerreotypes, the earliest kind of publicly available photograph. These images on polished silver were made by dedicated daguerreotypists.
At the height of the phenomenon, it's estimated that close to 3 million daguerreotypes were produced each year in the US, per the Art Institute of Chicago.
By the late 1860s, however, daguerreotypes were already falling out of fashion as cheaper methods were developed, including modern film photography.
Rat catcherThese rat catchers, pictured in London in 1935, used dogs, ferrets, poison, and guns to catch rats.Imagno/Getty Images
Rat catchers snagged the disease-carrying rodents that once ran rampant in residential neighborhoods.
With the outbreak of the Black Plague, which raged on and off throughout Europe for centuries, rat catchers were crucial for a community's health and the safety of their food supplies, as photos show.
Besides exterminators, modern iterations of the job can be seen in dense urban areas like New York City. Current rat hunters in the city use dogs to sniff out rodents, and the city's former mayor, Eric Adams, even appointed a "rat czar" to oversee the reduction of the rat population, the city said.
GoldbeaterA gold beater hammers gold into a thin layer known as gold leaf.Science Museum/SSPL/Getty Images
This extinct profession is exactly what it sounds like. Goldbeating is the process of beating gold into extremely thin sheets known as gold leaf, mostly used for decorative applications.
While the occupation was found in the US, cities in Europe emerged as hubs for the craft. In the town of Schwabach, Germany, in the 19th century, 70% of the population practiced the line of work, per Norris Gold Leaf Factory.
Sometimes given the title of the last goldbeater in the world, one goldbeater, Marino Menegazzo, still practices the profession in Venice, Italy, the New York Times reported.
LamplighterLamplighters used to be responsible for lighting, maintaining and putting out street lamps.Hein Nouwens/Shutterstock
Before electricity, lamplighters were widespread and served a crucial purpose in cities. These workers would manually ignite gas street lamps at dusk and put out the flames at dawn. They'd also be tasked with maintaining and cleaning the lamps. As expected, the implementation of electric street lights in the late 19th century dramatically reduced the necessity for lamplighters.
In Europe, some lamplighters are still employed for tradition's sake. For instance, lamplighters light London's 1,500 gas lamps, which are preserved by the organization English Heritage, NPR reported.
Groom of the stoolThe groom of the stool would occupy the king while using the bathroom.Nowaczyk/Shutterstock
This occupation, oddly enough, may be one of the highest-ranking on this list.
The groom of the stool was an advisor to the English king. Or, to put it more bluntly, he spoke with the king while the king sat on the toilet. There were dozens of these esteemed advisors throughout English history.
With each passing groom, the position became more powerful, until the groom of the stool was more of an advisor on fiscal policy than a mere confidant in the commode.
Vivian Giang contributed to a previous version of this article.
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