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Rag And Bone Man Ragman Tatters

S

sylviasayers

master brummie
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.
 
Then there were the goldfish. I remember a brother and sister, who lived up my yard, arguing over the ownership of a goldfish obtained from the ragman. In the end the wisdom of Solomon prevailed: The sister bit it in two and they had half each - wonderfully cute little kids they were. :roll:
 
I too remember the rag and bone man. We used to live on the eighth floor of a block of flats ( Queens Tower ), and you could still hear him shout from the road even that distance away. Mind you, you had to rush like mad to either catch the lift or run down the stairs to catch him, just so I could take possession of yet another gold-fish. Wonderful days, wonderful memories.
 
Rag and Bobe Men

I always used to look out for the Rag and Bone men and must have had
quite a few goldfish in a jam jars over the years. Sadly, they never lived very long. The Rag and Bone men used to shout out something like "old Iron" over and over again as they went on their way. The earlier ones were usually older men and drove a horse and cart. The goldfish used to hang underneath the back of the cart in the shade. Sometimes they gave out uninflated coloured balloons or windmills as well. It was always hard to find things to give to them since everyone used everything they had until it fell apart and some days there was hardly anything on the cart.

When my parents were out and the rag and bone man was in the street we would run all over the house looking for anything we could find in order to get a goldfish. We were often tempted to give away my father's gardening gear just to get a goldfish but we mostly decided that it was best not to do that because we would have been in a lot of trouble when it was discovered where it had gone! Also, we thought it was better to
save those clothes to dress up the Guy when the time came to make one
to collect money for fireworks on Bonfire Night.

In later years the Rag and Bone men seem to be younger in age and
were more mobile and cheekier. We often caught them peering over our fence and eventually one of them took my bicycle from our garden. Someone close by saw them taking it. The piles of iron, etc. in their
vans were quite large and they didn't seem to have any goldfish!!!!!!!!!
 
Rag & Bone.

I too remember the Rag and Bone man coming down Vicarage Rd
and one day I had a gold fish from him, which I called Charlie.
I was lucky because I had Charlie for a good few years.
Trouble was as he grew my mom had to buy a bigger bowl for him.
Also remember had to take the bucket and shovel out with me when the horse was about, just in case he left a bit extra.
If you know what I mean.

Tat Tar June.
 
Hey June, do you remember the rag and bone man who came down Vicarage road had a brown dog? We used to call him Stubby cos he had a docked tail. I seem to remember he looked a bit like a bloodhound (the dog, not the man). Stubby would follow the guy round, but would appear on his own a couple of days later looking for a bone. He used to do the same round as his master but on different days. I think the R&B man lived in Catherine Street.
 
Hello Nipper,

I do remember the the rag man having a dog, but for the love of me I cant remember what it looked like, must say its a good few years ago.
Did you live in the top part of Vicarage Road ? I lived at number 53 in the middle.

Bye Now June.
 
:D Paul I didn't think that a RAGMAN could collect anything he would be too floppy, or am I being 'Blond' again :!: :?: :lol:
 
dont you know he went with Judy Garland down the yellow brick road for a new skeleton that's why he was shouting rag and bones he put them in is skeleton collection so now you know OK
 
Like June, I used to have to follow the rag & bone man (or the bread man) with a shovel :( ( actually, it was his horse that I had to follow). My dad being an avid gardener and allotment tenant used to praise the goodness that it used to give to his rhubarb. But you know, to this day I still prefer custard! :lol:
 
Hi Frantic,

Glad to hear I was not the only one with a bucket and spade.
We only had a very small garden and my dad had 3 rose bushes and they had to have the best (horse food)
Also what about the shell fish man who used to sell by the jug full he did not have scales his horse always left some extra out side our house.


Tat Tar June.
 
Rag and Bone Man

Where I lived, on the "Erdington Borders" (sounds better than Perry Common or Kingstanding) I don't remember a rag and bone man, probably cos I was at school. But I do remember at Aston Grammar, especially when I was in forms 1B, 4B and 5A (where the classrooms faced Albert Road) the call, on average once a month I suppose, the words of which sounded like"Ag a Bo", to a tune which consisted of the first three notes of the "Marseillaise" French national anthem, but at half the speed. This was 1944 - 1949, and he certainly had goldfish (in a bowl, no plastic of course). I'm not sure if he had a dog, I thought the bones were used for making glue
Peter
 
Rag and bone men

Does anyone remember 'Raggy Allens'?
If we were ever taking scrap or rags in anywhere thats the 'Catch all' name we used to give them..was there a Raggy Allen?
And as for you Frantic following the bread man with a shovel..
I preferred butter or marge on mine.
 
rag & bone

Yes indeed, there was a "Raggy Allens" it was in Garrison Lane by the Blues ground. :twisted:
He had loads of those wooden handcarts, which he hired out to the local rag & bone men. At the end of the day they would take the carts back to his yard and sort out the "tat" into different piles, i.e. rags, copper, brass, lead etc. then he would pay them the going rate and of course deduct the cost of the hire of the handcart.
It was a very busy place ! :wink:
 
Following the horse (or is this a new topic?)

In our road on the Erdington Borders, there were unwritten rules about following the horse and his/her droppings. You only scooped up what was outside your property and on your side of the road. Furthermore, if you you knew your neighbours and/or friends were away you scooped up their dues and put them on their garden.
I think the same sort of thing applied elsewhere as well. Agreed?
Peter
 
Smelling of Roses..

They might have done the 'Gentlemanly' thing in your area Peter but I grew up in Nechells where Men were Men and Roses blossomed.
We shovelled up what we could...
 
No Peter in Witton it was first come first served............ Woe betide me if my father heard that a horse had walked down Woodall Road and I hadn't filled the bucket.
 
they still have the rag and bone man here in south wales came round yesterday in fact . harley. a brummie through and through.
 
A lot of rag & bone had a trumpet just a one note one, to let you know they were in your road, the trumpet gave us the derogatary comment of "He wants sh***ng with the big end of a ragmans trumpet!", aimed at a person who had upset me/you or any one.
 
this is how i remember the rag and bone man. according to my dad he name was tom. wales.
 
I lived on Hanley Street in the early sixties, and remember the rag and bone man too! I'd forgotton about him 'til I read this thread. Thanks for that memory!

How about the coal man? In the earlier part of the sixties, he used a horse and cart too. I remember having to walk down the street and pick up any bits of coal he may have dropped. Every little bit counts you know!! Thats what my Dad said. One of my jobs was going down the coal cellar and breaking the big pieces with a hammer, and then carrying them back upstairs beside the fire. Fun times!

Mark
 
mark. type in the coalman in the search box. theres a thread about them. wales
 
Yes there were a few horses still around - folks would run into the and shovel horse droppings for their gardens and then there was the Onion man
 
We would get periwinkles off our Rag and Bone man and if you were lucky sixpence...Cat

For the children.... Periwinkles.... LITTORINA LITTORIA....a small edible species of sea snail....Very tasty, i have picked them myself with my children off the rocks at Torquay. you need to boil them, The fine Art is to get them out of the shell without breaking them in half I would not pick them from there today, due to pollution, but they are still picked from cleaner waters and sold today.
 
We have what they call the tat man coming round here in a lorry blowing his trumpet. There must be about 6 different ones and we must have 2 a day coming round. the trouble is they take anything that is lying around even the kids bikes they leave outside while they pop in the house. They have even tried people's gate to see if they are open and go into there gardens, my friend had that happen and she found them in her garden looking round, she was a bit afraid as they gave her a mouth full. She called the police but they said they couldn't do anything can you believe it. I suppose they can make quite a bit of money as all they get is free, I have seen a house in Dudley that a scrap man lives in, it's like South-fork in Dallas
 
It seems that all the Romanticism associated with the rag and bone men went out with the horse and cart. Todays variety just don't have the allure of the the old ones.

They hold no fascination for todays kids because they have no chicks or goldfish in fact they give nothing for the scrap iron they receive and are not interested in rags.

In this ever changing world they are just another thing of the past. We don't even see the later version "the tatter" with his pram made barrow anymore.

Phil
 

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Patty, we have chaps with a lorry blowing the horn calling out for metal scrap almost as often as you. A couple of weeks ago we had a special collection arranged by the Council, the scrap men had a field day touring the area repeatedly and taking anything useful to them before the Council collection.
 
Hi ASTONESS; His name was old Charlie I used to serve him to balloons and other
bits to give away for rags. He also went to Pimms for his goldfish and Georgy Lowes
for crockery. Other tatters were Scotty, Big Blue, Kenny ex boxer. We had a wall
at the warehouse in Warstone Lane with all the debts written on it we never ever
got paid when we shut and moved to Summer Lane No 308.
 
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