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Rag And Bone Man Ragman Tatters

My Grandad & Dad were rag & bone men. They started around 1939. Dad went in the RN, 1940, and got married before he went. On his wedding lines it says Occupation, "Walker".
Grandad had 6 pony's and carts, they were kept in a yard on the corner of Landor St and Midland St. Saltley. In the phone book he was an Iron Merchant.
At the end of the war, Grandad had a yard by the School in Arden Rd Saltley. He purchased ex-army lorries and sold off the ponies.
He opened a big tard in New John St about 1950, they broke up ex RAF planes. Grandad died 1952, and that yard was closed.
Steve
 
I remember the rag and bone man and his goldfish and little yellow chicks. I don't know if this is true but as a child I was told that in by gone days the cart carried coffins to the cemetery or grave yard. Is this true?. Jean.
 
Jean, I hadn't heard of that one before, but I guess if you were unable to pay for a posh hearse hiring a pony or horse & cart would seem logical.
I'd hate to be pushed in my box to the crem in a wheelbarrow.
I remember people hiring the carts when they were moving house, or large things like wardrobes & piano's.
Steve
 
Teffan it is just something I remember being told as a child so they were probably referring to the turn of the century. Jean.
 
Hello Everyone

Does anyone who lived in the Yew Tree Road area remember the one armed rag and bone man who used come round in the1950s?

Linda
 
i too remember well the rag and bone men...used to give us a goldfish or balloon...heres a pic of toms horse and cart outside some terraces in guildford st..

astoness
 
My Husband has just been telling me of his Granddad George Wheeler who was a Ragman and tatter ,his said that he would help him clean out the basket that was attached to three wheels that he would push about all day,and one day he found an old tanner which was such a bonus. He toured the streets round Summer Lane (I wonder does anyone remember him )
 
Linda a bit late but I have just caught up with your post and yes I do remember the one armed rag and bone man who gave me a chick. I lived in the next road to Yew Tree. Holte road. Bye. Jean.
 
sylviasayers said:
How many of you remember the rag and bone man?..
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Sylvia, there was one that lived almost opposite us in Parliment St.
I remember, vaguely that he had a son about my age and I was invited to look at the goldfish, which, if I remember right, they had in some sort of pond in the back yard...I was nervous for some reason about going, but was ok
 
That's interesting Maz-beth, I don't remember him, I know Jennings used to hire out basket carriages and those large wooden carts that hawkers used to sell fruit and veg. from.
 
Barrows Lane/Ollerton Rd traffic island, Sheldon circa 1960 with a Rag & Bone man. Len. ​
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Thanks for posting the photo Len. I used to love to hear the rag and bone man calling not like todays scrap metal wagons and there b....y loud trumpets first thing in the morning. Wouldn't mind so much if our cockatiels didn't screech so much as they hate the sound. Jean.
 
sylviasayers said:
How many of you remember the rag and bone man? they would tour the streets of "the old end" regularly shouting "any old iron" , my memories are of an old flat wooden cart pulled by an old horse, piled up with clothes and if the rag man had gathered any old iron pots etc., they would be hanging round the sides of the cart. My early memories are of being given day old chickens which were kept in a large cardboard box with holes in the side, you would get one or two depending on how much tat you gave, when we took them home, we would find a box and put in a piece of old blanket or an old jumper the carefully put the box in the hearth near the fire, we would feed the chicks with water from an eye dropper and mom would mix a little weetabix with warm milk for them to eat, sad to say they never survived more than a couple of days.
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You were lucky! The ''day old chickens'' ALWAYS turned out to be 'day old cockerels'! They were released to the tender mercies of the 'Tatter' after they had been 'sexed' . However, a top-tip here, my gran used to put young chicks under a new, fluffy mop-head .... it works too! I've saved many a young chick with this old method. Mind you, it's a dead loss with goldfish!
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The Council has recently found 18 different Scrap Collectors from the Black Country who have been using trumpets and sound recordings of 'Old Iron' illegal to use I think. The area they congregate at currently is Sutton ,Erdington and surrounding, disturbing the Sunday morning sleep in, and at weekdays.
Were scrapmen the same as ragandbone men in 60's?
I recall the fish, but of course it would not be allowed to happen now regarding cruelty, not sure about fairs having fish for prizes.
I found Astoness photo's interesting in the fact that one of those guys could have collected in our Nechells street in the 60's, it's amazing,
 
hi folks thought we could have a new thread going to post photos of the good old rag and bone man...i am sure most of us remember them..will kick off with these 2 that new member gord has sent me..think it was gord who took them but i will confirm that...dated 1963Rag & Bone Man in Grange Road 1963.JPG Rag and Bone Man in Grange Road (1).jpg ...look forward to seeing other photos members may have

taken in grange road aston..

lyn
 
No pictures Lyn, however a rather amusing rag & bone man tale from Paddington St. I will not name names, but one day this lady came out to the yard to find a rag & bone man checking out her washing on the line. She yells at him saying "Hey that's my washing!!" He turns round and replies, "I've got better on my cart lady!"
Dave A
 
well ive never seen one like that froth:eek:...thanks

i know i have a couple but i cant find them at the min
 
Our rag and bone man used to come round with a horse and cart and rang a bell to tell you he was in the street. From what I remember he liked to collect a lot of metal stuff like old (gas) pipes, that sort of thing. Can't remember us giving him anything in particular, as I think we hung on to our old junk! Usually ended up somewhere in the garden. Remember sometimes he'd have piles of rags on the cart too which I used to find repulsive.

What I vividly remember is watching Steptoe & Son every week, like clockwork. Mum and Dad always watched it - don't ask me why, I couldn't stand the programme. And to this day I still can't stand it. Think it's having re-runs on TV. Used to give me the creeps. Viv.
 
Come on viv
you have to have a sense of humuor to watch them it was a great gas indeed
So did millions of us , i know you said it gives you the creeps watching the replays
but in my case i cannot like watching programes from the past
 
I remember the rag and bone man coming down Court Lane. We would rush into the pre-fab and nag Mom for a few things. Don't remember what he gave us in return.

Viv, I totally agree with your comments on Steptoe & Son - I hated it and I wasn't a fussy child by any means. I know it wasn't possible but I always felt that it smelled! Apparently it wrecked the career of Harry H Corbett who had been a serious actor until then. They had a programme on some years ago where they recreated his life and strangely, although I watched it, I felt the same about that.

I suppose the rag and bone men of yesteryear have been replaced by the scrap metal merchants of today. My friend was having a new kitchen and threw away her old, solid wood one. We had it to replace our out-dated one. We only left the sink outside for half and hour and it had gone by the time we went back for it!
 
I recall our rag and bone man, he was possibly the same one who Lady Penelope would see too.

His name was Teddy and had had a horse and cart with gold fish and balloons to give if you gave his something.

He had a yard in Jerrys Lane, the entrance was right next to where the hovel is now.
 
I was wondering when the last Brummie rag and bone man disappeared. Here in Eastern Crete until a few months ago we had a guy with a handcart going around the villages collecting scrap metal He was fairly fussy in that he didn't want old metal water tanks unless you cut them up into pieces first because they took up too much space on the cart. Today we had the 40 litre (steel) expansion tank from our pumped water system replaced with another of the same type, because these things work under pressure and, of course, the plumber didn't want to take it away. "Give it to the scrapman", he said, and it was at that point I realised that we hadn't seen the scrapman for at least nine months.

Now almost all normal water tanks and cold water pipes these days are plastic, which have no scrap value. I presume that a similar change in materials has led to the disappearance of the rag & bone man.

Maurice
 
Frothy
I dearly love that cracking photograph you put up,
and i think it is a reall clasic ,
Well;; it say alot about our old longbridge then, don,t you think so ;?
I say that with thought of our yester years when they had the fight on there hands regarding the closing of Longbridge works
because 95 percent of the work force all turn out and up to the meeting with there forign makes of car
So the old Bull Dog is dead and burried then,,
Classic photo frothy,, best wishes Astonian,,,,,
 
Tatters on the move...
 

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I'm now wondering if our Anderson air raid shelter ended up on the rag and bone cart. It disappeared from our garden so assume it must have. Don't remember anyone else coming round to collect the old corrugated metal. Viv.
 
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