page_title: Rag-and-bone man
section_title: 20th century
hierarchical_section_title: Rag-and-bone man / 20th century
caption_attribution_description: Rag and bone man in Croydon, London, May 2011.
context_page_description: A rag-and-bone man or ragpicker or ragman, old-clothesman, junkman, or junk dealer, also called a bone-grubber, bone-picker, rag-gatherer, bag board, or totter, collects unwanted household items and sells them to merchants. Traditionally this was a task performed on foot, with the scavenged materials kept in a small bag slung over the shoulder. Some rag-and-bone men used a cart, sometimes pulled by a horse or pony.
  In the 19th century, rag-and-bone men typically lived in extreme poverty, surviving on the proceeds of what they collected each day. Conditions improved following the Second World War, but the trade declined during the latter half of the 20th century. However, in more recent years, partly as the result of the soaring price of scrap metal, rag-and-bone men may once again be seen at work in many Third World countries.
context_section_description: A 1954 report in The Manchester Guardian mentioned that some men could make as much as £25 a day collecting rags. Most used handcarts rather than a bag, and some used a pony and cart, giving out rubbing stones in exchange for the items that they collected. In 1958, a Manchester Guardian reporter accompanied rag-and-bone man John Bibby as he made his rounds through Chorlton and Stretford, near Manchester. For his handcart's load, which comprised rags, furs, shoes, scrap car parts, a settee and other furniture, Bibby made about £2.
  The rag-and-bone trade fell into decline; in the 1950s, Manchester and Salford had, between them, around 60 rag merchants, but this had fallen to about 12 by 1978, many having moved into the scrap-metal trade. Local merchants blamed several factors, including demographic changes, for the decline of their industry.  
  A 1965 newspaper report estimated that in London, only a "few hundred" rag-and-bone men remained, possibly because of competition from more specialised trades, such as corporation dustmen, and pressure from property developers to build on rag merchants' premises.  
  In the 1980s, Hollywood star Kirk Douglas mentioned in an interview with Johnny Carson that his father was a ragman in New York and "young people nowadays don't know what is ragman." 
  Despite the popularity of the BBC's popular television comedy Steptoe and Son, which helped maintain the rag-and-bone man's status in British folklore, by the 1980s they were mostly gone. In more recent years, rising scrap metal prices have prompted their return, although most drive vans rather than horses and carts, and they announce their presence by megaphone, causing some members of the public to complain about the noise they create.
caption: A rag-and-bone man in Croydon, London, May 2011
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