Unusual professions

Before the industrial era, when there was no electricity, many jobs that now require no or little labor, were undertaken by humans. This list consists mostly of those jobs which are now extinct. In this list each job contains at least one strange element.

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1 – Gong Farmer

Gong farmer or gongfermor was a person who removed human excrement from privies and cesspits in Tudor England. Gong farmers worked only at night and collected the human waste, taking it out from the city or town. They were only allowed to work at night from 9pm to 5 am morning.

Now as flushing water closets became more widely used, this profession has blissfully disappeared now.

In easy words it can be said that really was a sh*t job.


2 – Groom of the Stool

A male servant in the household of English monarch with a royal duty at the excretion office and cleaning the monarch’s anus after defecation was called the Groom of the Stool.

This job was really prized one as it allowed one unobstructed access to the king’s attention. In spite of being bum wiper of the king, the groom of the stool was having a very high social standing.

3 – Whipping Boy

In 1600s and 1700s young boys were assigned to a young prince and was punished when the prince misbehaved or felt behind in his schooling, those boys who perform this job were called whipping boys.

During the monarchies of 15th and 16th century the whipping boys were established. The idea behind this was that as there was a code for kings in which it was stated that kings were appointed by God and no one can punish king’s son except king himself. As king was rarely around to punish his son when it was needed the educators and tutors face difficulty to enforce them for learning.

Whipping boys generally were of high birth and they were brought up and educated along princes since birth. As the prince and whipping boy were brought up together that’s why usually they were having strong emotional relation to each other and that idea really works as prince see his friend being punished for mistakes or if he had done something wrong, and that make clear for prince to not make such mistake.

4 – Fuller

In cloth making there is a step, which is called fulling that, means cleansing of the cloth especially to clean wool to eliminate oils, dirt and other impurities and making it thicker. In old times slaves did fulling job. They stand ankle deep in tubs of human urine and cloth.

For fulling urine was the most important element. Urine was a source of ammonium salts and assisted in cleansing and whitening the cloth.

5 – Resurrectionist

Snatching dead in Britain was only a minor crime that’s why if someone caught for that was only fine a small amount. In old times body snatching became a huge business as demand of dead bodies for anatomy in blossoming medical schools of Europe increased.

The body snatcher looks for recent dead persons and then they dig at the head of the recent burial, when they reach the coffin they break and then put a rope around the dead body then drag it out. While stealing the dead body they don’t steal the any other thing such as jewelry or clothes because that can cause them liable of felony charge.

To stop the body snatching activities in 1832 Anatomy Act was introduced and that allowed the unclaimed bodies and also the donated bodies by the deceased relatives for using in the study of anatomy. Because of that law body-snatching business ended.





6 – Dog Whipper

A church official was charged with a job to remove dogs from the premises of the church during services. In 16th to 19th century it was common that household dogs accompany or follow their owners to church services. To remove those dogs out from church was the job of a dog whipper.

Dog whippers were usually having a whip or wooden tong. They were paid for their dog whipping services.

7 – Toad Doctor

A specific tradition of medicinal folk magic practitioners was called toad doctors. They were operating till end of 19th century in England. Their main object was healing scrofula although it’s said that they cure other ailments including those resulting from witchcraft.

For curing the patient they place live toad on patient or leg of toad in a muslin bag and hanging that bag around the neck of the sick person. Obviously basic need for this job was to collect a large amount of toads.

8 – Knocker – Up

Knocker up was a profession in the England and Ireland and his job was to wake up sleeping people so they can go to their job on time. This profession was lasted in the Industrial Revolution.

The knocker up was having long bamboo stick so that they can reach the windows on higher floors, and they kept on knocking until they were not assured that the client had woke up. For this service they were pain a few pence every week. Now question is that who knocks up the knocker? Well till now I cant find its answer lol.

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9 – Toshers and Mudlarks

A tosher was someone who searches for collecting useful things in the sewer, especially in London during Victorian period. During 19th century it was a common sight in London that whole families take off the manhole cover and go down to find precious things.

Same like that Mudlarks were those people who dredge the banks of the Thames in the early morning when the tide was out. They even wade through unprocessed sewerage to find little treasures to sell.

Now it’s a popular hobby of some middle class Londoners to travel along the bank of Thames for cleaning up the trash.

10 – Jester

In the stories we had read about the court jester, the fool who was having the permission to insult the king without head off penalty, as long as he made the king laugh. This was a job with a high risk. Now this job doesn’t exist anymore.

But in 1999 the kingdom of Tonga had appointed an official jester. The American jester who was appointed by the kingdom of Tonga was Jesse Bogdonoff and that’s his picture. He became government’s financial advisor also but he was later embroiled in a financial scandal.





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