ARTICLE: Vanished Occupations: 'Any Old Iron'

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It’s been a while since I did one of these, and today, I want to offer up a workman that was still part of my mum’s childhood growing up in London, but one that stretched way back into history. They were junkmen to Americans, chiffoniers to the French, but to us Brits, they were the humble rag ‘n’ bone men.

If you have never watched Steptoe and Son, cancel your plans and get over to YouTube. For the non-Brits among you, brace yourself, because this vintage sitcom is going to blow any Downton Abbey, Bridgerton perceptions of my nation sky high. Because you’re about to be introduce to a lesser known quintessential British phenomenon.

The Dirty Old Man.

The ‘dirty’ in this case means disgraceful. I suppose google Gregg Wallace. The prototype is smutty, without actually laying hands on anyone, and mostly, telling them to piss off because their jokes aren’t funny will have the desired result. Or setting your nan on them. They’re less prevalent now that the world has gone woke, but most of us out here are probably still related to one.

The plot for Steptoe and Son follows the antics of Albert and his idiot offspring, as they negotiate life in working class London as rag ‘n’ bone men whilst hating each others guts. Somehow, Albert always gets the better of junior, despite Harold’s airs and graces. His subsequent smug face is a thing to behold. At the bottom of this you’ll be able to see what happened when Steptoe and Son tried to bust out of the rag trade and aim for the antiques market; I’ve posted you a complete episode to enjoy. That theme tune by the way, is award winning and instantly recognisable to pretty much any Brit over the age of 35 who’s watched enough television. In fact, Rory Graham literally performs as Rag’ n’ Bone man because he is one of those Brits who soaked up the repeats in his youth.

Wilfrid Bramball as Albert Steptoe. He was actually Irish, and his first experience of acting was entertaining wounded troops in the First World War. (BBC)

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What was a Rag ‘n’ Bone man?

In short a bloke dragging old tat (London speak for junk) behind him who would appear at the end of your street.

How did it work?

The rag ’n’ bone man would go out before dawn collecting, scavenging basically, for hours every day. They were poor. Henry Mayhew’s famous London Labour and the London Poor, which was published in 1851, counts 800-1,000 of them in the capital, many of them with no fixed abode:

The bone-picker and rag-gatherer may be known at once by the greasy bag which he carries on his back. Usually he has a stick in his hand, and this is armed with a spike or hook, for the purpose of more easily turning over the heaps of ashes or dirt that are thrown out of the houses, and discovering whether they contain anything that is saleable..